Share Sounds presented by Sarah Pennells (1)

Sarah takes a look back at the big stories hitting the headlines over the past year which have affected investments including Brexit, property and buy-to-let and active and passive investing. Her guests are Julia Rampen, journalist at the New Statesman, financial journalist and author Rodney Hobson, Rebecca Taylor from Aurea Financial Planning and Richard Blanco of the National Landlords Association.

Sarah and her guests look at the big money stories affecting women in 2016, including changes to the state pension age, the role of women in business and on company boards and the gender pay gap. She is joined by Noreen Cesareo of Market Accents, Malcolm McLean from the pension consultants Barnett Waddingham and Fiona Chow from Pregnant & Screwed.

With the help of guests, Malcolm McLean, from Barnet Waddingham, Claire Walsh, head of advice at Unbiased, Cleona Lira from 2Plan Wealth Management and Caroline Siarkiewicz from the Money Advice Service. Sarah looks at how you can get a head start on your finances in 2017

2016 has been an eventful year for investments with the FTSE recently closing above 7000, just missing out on an all time high. Sarah is taking a look back at 2016 and what investments succeeded and which ones didn't. To look back with Sarah, she is joined by, Jeremy Leaf, from Jeremy Leaf and Co estate agents, Justin Urquhart-Stewart, one of the founders of seven Investment Management, John Mulligan director of market and member relations at the World Gold Council and Claire Walsh, head of advice at Unbiased.

Over recent years, finance has been moving into the online world, most of us now bank online, we can get financial advice online, invest online and even sort out a mortgage online. So how is financial technology developing and what does the future of finance look like? To answer this Sarah is joined by Gemma Godfrey founder of Moola, Victor Trokoudes, CEO and co-founder of Plum and Chris Skinner, a writer, commentator and chairman of the Financial Services Club.

It's estimated that we Brits spent around £4.5 billion on our pets last year - that's up 25% since 2010. And the Christmas treat and present market seems to have gone into overdrive this year. So, forget Brexit, the key question is whether or not you'll be buying your pet a present at Christmas. And, if you have a pet, will it be joining in the festive celebrations? Or perhaps you're heading abroad for a Christmas break and you're not sure who should look after your pet while you're away. Sarah is joined by Dr. Leigh-Anne Brown, a vet and the owner of Vets4Pets in Harrogate, Nicky Trevorrow, Behaviour Manager at Cats Protection and Bill Lambert, Health and Breeder Services Manager at the Kennel Club.

Christmas is supposed to be a time for giving, and millions of children will probably get some sort of cash gift - whether that's a few pounds in a Christmas stocking or a wodge of cash into a junior ISA. But what's the best way to give money away, assuming you have some cash to spare? Whether you want to give money to your children, grandchildren or to charity - what are the options? Sarah's guests are Claire Walsh, head of advice at Unbiased, Les Cameron who's a tax expert at Prudential and Peter King, a solicitor and partner at Nockolds.

Over the last year we've heard a lot about the gender pay gap, gender pricing, pregnancy discrimination by employers and the rise in state pension age. But, there's been some good news as well - the rise in the number of women taking board positions, the fact that the gender pay gap has narrowed - although it does remain stubbornly high - and we have the second female Prime Minister. To discuss this more Sarah was joined by Belinda Phipps from the Fawcett Society, Anna Sofat, the founder of Addidi, and Praseeda Nair from Vitesse Media, which is staging the Women in Finance Awards.

If you're a millenial - or younger - you're far more likely to use a peer-to-peer lender or crowdfunder than your parents' generation. The peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding markets have grown rapidly and with a rise in the number of financial disrupters, traditional ways of investing and borrowing are being challenged. And others are choosing crowdfunding as a way of raising money for anything from paying off debts to tuition fees. Sarah looks at the pros and cons with her guests; Young Money champion Amelia Murray, Tom Woolf, founder of EdAid, Lucy Bott of Ratesetter and Tom Britton, co-founder of the Syndicate Room.

Our rail fares are one of the highest in Europe. A recent study found we spend as much as six times more of our salaries on rail fares than our European counterparts do. We are often overcharged as rail firms do not show the cheapest price on two-thirds of cross-country routes. Well, change might be on the way. Rail firms may now be forced to display its lowest priced ticket on self-service ticket machines. Sarah Pennells spoke to Lianna Etkind about the constant rise of rail fares.