Podcasts from Women & Money

Last month the Co-operative Bank put itself up for sale because it hasn't managed to improve its finances in the way it needs to. There's no immediate threat to the Co-op Bank, and the The Co-operative Bank has been at pains to say that it is not abandoning its principles. It was and is the first - and only - high street bank to have an ethical policy. But what is the future for the bank and what are the alternatives if you want to bank somewhere that does have some principles. Sarah Pennells was joined in the studio by founder of Fairer Finance James Daley, Anthony Elliot from the Fair Banking Foundation and Huw Davies, Head of Retail Banking at Triodos Bank.

Do you have a cash ISA? Government figures show that cash ISAs are one financial product that's more popular among women than men. These savings accounts pay interest without tax taken off - and, although a bit of the gloss has been taken off them in the last year or so because of tax changes to savings and low interest rates, many women still have them. And from April there will be a new ISA - a LISA or lifetime ISA. Sarah Pennells was joined by Helen Saxon, chief product analyst at Money Saving Expert, Harry Rose, editor of Which? Money and by Claire Walsh, who's head of advice at Unbiased.

In less than two weeks, on March 1st, the rules on child car seats change. You won't be able to buy a backless booster seat unless your child is at least 125cm tall or weighs at least 22 kg (around three and a half stone). Buying a car seat for your child - and buying things like a buggy or pushchair - can also be something of a minefield. Sarah Pennells was joined in the studio by freelance personal finance journalist Donna Ferguson, Anne-Marie O'Leary, Editor-in-Chief of Netmums and Kevin Clinton, Head of Road Safety at ROSPA.

Figures released today show that number of people having cosmetic procedures fell to just over 30,000 last year -- a fall of almost 40% on last year. But what are your rights when you have a procedure done - how do you choose a good plastic surgeon and what can you do if it all goes wrong? Sarah was joined by are Dr Uma Jeyanathan who is from Save Face, Judith Thomas-Whittingham who's head of clinical negligence at Stephensons solicitors Nilesh Sojitra, who is from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons and Martyn James who's an independent financial expert.

This week, we look into your rights if you live with your partner but you're not married. And if you're thinking of moving in with your partner, have you decided whether to have a joint bank account or to keep your money separate? There are over three million couples in the UK who live together and moving in together can bring some financial challenges as well as the financial benefits of sharing costs. Sarah Pennells was joined by Jo Edwards who's head of family at law firm Forsters and Nigel Shepherd who's head of family law at Mills and Reeve and chair of the family lawyers' organisation Resolution.

January is supposed to be the busiest month for divorce as, sadly, many couples contemplate ending their marriage. How do you pay for divorce, especially if you're not working or you're not the main earner? Sarah Pennells was joined by David Allison who's a partner with law firm Family Law in Partnerships, Mary Marvel from Advice Now, Elspeth Thompson from David Gray solicitors and Mary Waring from Wealth for Women.

Now, if you’re self employed or you get income from a range of different sources – you might have ‘filling in your tax self-assessment form’ at the top of your to-do list. The deadline for filing your tax self-assessment form is January 31st – just over two weeks away. So, if you haven’t got round to filing yours yet, fear not! We’re going to tell you exactly what you need to do. My guests are Anita Monteith who’s from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Elaine Clarke from Cheap Accounting and Jonathan Amponsah from The Tax Guys.

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.

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.

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.