Well invested

I grew up in Paris but came to London to study in a big city that wasn't home. What drew me to UCL was its interdisciplinary approach. I wanted broader exposure to all sorts of different people, not just economists.

At UCL, my housemates studied history of art, mathematics and physics, and I really appreciated the richness of that experience. In the classroom, one of my professors, Wendy Carlin, was changing up the economics curriculum, focusing on contemporary issues such as the financial crisis, climate change and the possibility of economic collapse. She would inspire us to think about what kind of economic model we wanted to live in.

During my studies, I was part of the Economics and Finance Society, organising talks and trips with Nobel Prize winners, industry figures from Google and others with all sorts of interesting backgrounds. I wanted to promote the idea that economics graduates can consider roles beyond investment banking, such as working for the United Nations or starting their own social enterprises. In my study abroad year at the University of Cape Town, I discovered Secret Sunrise, an outdoor guided dance and meditation class. I fell completely in love with it. I got back to London in May and with four months until term began, I founded Secret Sunrise London.

When September came around, it had really taken off and I had 15 dance facilitators teaching for me. It was my final year and I remember being in the library all the time, not studying but running my business. Six weeks before exams, I put my ‘out of office’ on and my friends helped me catch up and cram.

Thankfully, the exams went well but the business faltered during the pandemic. We tried a few online events, but they lacked atmosphere.

During that time, my sister, who studied finance, and I spent a lot of time talking about personal finances. We noticed – and were baffled by – the lack of education and resources for women on the topic. How are people supposed to manage their money, savings or investments without some basic knowledge?

At that stage we weren’t thinking of launching a business. Together with my best friend from UCL, Alana, we had the idea of creating a newsletter to send to our women friends. We would take personal finance topics and break them down into 12 newsletters, written by us, and include interviews with interesting people. We shared a link to the newsletter on LinkedIn and in a fortnight 2,000 people had signed up. That’s when I realised that we were on to something. The only problem was that we had told everyone that we'd personalise each newsletter for them.

The newsletters were exhausting, but they also prompted valuable conversations among Generation Z women and non-binary people around finance. We noticed that so many of our friends weren’t optimising their money as much as their male peers. As well as the gender pay gap, pension gap, credit card gap and the motherhood penalty, there is a huge gender gap around financial literacy.

It’s not surprising when you realise that it’s less than 50 years since women in the UK were first allowed to open their own bank accounts. The legacy of the man as the breadwinner and the woman as the spender is deeply anchored into our beliefs and most of our ideas about money exist by the age of seven.

These ideas are perpetuated by the media, who speak to men about “building their wealth” and “growing their investment”, whereas for women it’s always “ways to save money” and “how to spend less”. This makes women think less about seeking financial opportunities and be more risk-averse.

We founded Your Juno to redress the balance. It’s an app built around bite-sized learning experiences that build sustainable long-term financial habits, from having an emergency fund to clearing debts or building up a house deposit. Lessons, quizzes, videos and poll cards are all led by female financial experts. Crucially, our community of 25,000+ members is helping us break the money taboo.

When I was growing up, money was not a forbidden subject. My parents divorced when I was very young. We were raised by our mother who was always very open about our finances. For her, if a woman doesn’t have her financial independence, then she’s a prisoner. Not talking about money breeds shame and secrecy.

If you’re in debt, you may think you’re the only one. You may think you’re failing because you don’t own a home, but people aren’t transparent about how they got on the ladder. Our app is creating a safe space to speak openly about money, where people who might be in a similar situation can give you advice and offer support. We’re aiming to become a one-stop shop for financial education throughout a woman’s life, be that having children, divorce, buying a house or moving abroad.

 Margot de Broglie is Co-Founder of Your Juno