Why it's great to talk about money

Certainly this ethos has been promoted heavily across various sectors to encourage people to open up about issues such as mental health or bullying with a view to improving people’s mental and emotional state. 

But while we are becoming more transparent in some elements of our lives, in others we are hiding our financial struggles: from our colleagues, from our families and even from our partners. 

This is especially true of women, and it is deleterious to our financial health. The Chartered Insurance Institute recently reported 79 per cent of millennial women do not even discuss money with their partners. 

For this reason, the CII has launched its Talk to 10K campaign, aiming to draw out our views on that last taboo subject - money - and raise awareness of how to improve our fiscal wellbeing.

While on maternity leave, I held a ‘money chat’ in my home. Female friends from all walks of life gathered in my living room to open up about their financial worries in front of strangers. There was cake, of course, but the primary reason for the gathering was to discuss our money woes and savings strategies and what we need to do to help protect ourselves in the future.

The value of a financial adviser is in helping clients not just to realise their dreams but to free them up to have these dreams in the first place

There was also a CII representative present, who talked us through the Insuring Women's Futures research and guided our thinking on key moments that matter in our lives, moments that could prove an opportune time for us to seek financial advice. 

Far from being a complaint-fest about our money woes, this became a productive and encouraging meeting, with key takeaways being to speak with financial advisers and visit their websites to get useful information and guidance about taking charge of their financial futures.

The value of a financial adviser is in helping clients not just to realise their dreams but to free them up to have these dreams in the first place. And that’s why it’s not just good to talk, but it’s great to talk about money.

Simoney Kyriakou is editor of Financial Adviser