Money Talk for Sapphics – The Debrief

Jun 15

This debrief explores the key money issues affecting sapphic women, from pensions and property to financial security and family-building costs.

On 14th April 2026, Women’s Wealth hosted its first panel talk especially for LGBTQIA+ women; Money Talk for Sapphics.

Closing the Gender Wealth Gap: Key Takeaways

Our Money Talk for Sapphics session brought together three sapphics – Verity (Money Mentor), Davinia (Accountant), and El (Mortgage Advisor) – for an honest, practical conversation about the gender wealth gap, pensions, housing, and the unique financial challenges faced by queer women and sapphic couples. Here’s a clear, digestible recap of what we covered — perfect if you missed the live session or want to revisit the highlights.

The Gender Wealth Gap & Why It Hits Sapphic Couples Hard

Verity and El opened the session with a deep dive into the gender wealth gap — not just the gender pay gap, but the long‑term wealth consequences that disproportionately affect women, especially queer women.

Key points:

Sapphic couples often earn less as a household because both partners are women, meaning both are affected by the gender pay gap.

Lower earnings directly impact mortgage borrowing capacity, deposit savings, and long‑term financial security.

Verity highlighted a striking statistic: by age 60, women have around 75% less pension wealth than men.

For same‑sex female couples, family planning costs (fertility treatment, donor conception, adoption) add another layer of financial pressure.

The takeaway: the gender wealth gap isn’t abstract — it shapes real decisions about housing, retirement, and starting a family.

Pension Planning for Queer Women: What You Need to Know

Verity and Davinia explored why pensions are such a pain point for women — and why queer women often fall even further behind.

What came up:

Many younger sapphic women downplay their achievements or avoid financial conversations, which can lead to under‑saving.

Verity shared her own regret about cancelling her pension early in her career — a common experience that attendees related to.

We covered the basics of auto‑enrolment, self‑employed pension options, and how to track down old pension pots.

Practical tip: contact former employers’ HR teams or pension providers — they can help you locate lost pensions.

The message was clear: understanding your pension now is one of the most powerful steps you can take for your future self.

The Gender Pay Gap & Housing: What Sapphic Couples Face

El unpacked how the gender pay gap shows up in the housing market — and why sapphic couples often face extra friction.

Highlights:

Lower average earnings mean lower mortgage offers, even when couples have strong financial habits.

Saving for a deposit is harder when you’re also budgeting for fertility treatment or planning for parental leave.

Some attendees shared experiences of non‑inclusive estate agents and lenders, adding emotional labour to an already stressful process.

Davinia added insights from self‑employment research: freelance women charge £51 less per day on average than freelance men.

The panel emphasised that understanding your financial capacity — not just your income — is key to navigating the housing market with confidence.

Financial Empowerment for Sapphic Women: Where to Start

The session wrapped up with practical, empowering steps for queer women who want to take control of their finances.

Actionable steps discussed:

Do a financial audit — understand what you earn, spend, owe, and own.

Build an emergency fund — even a small buffer creates freedom.

Understand your pension — contributions, providers, and long‑term projections.

Know when to seek help from accountants, mortgage advisors, or financial planners.

Explore community spaces like Sapphin, https://sapphin.co.uk/ a new group for sapphic women to talk openly about money.

The heart of the session was simple: queer women deserve financial security, autonomy, and confidence — and community support makes that journey easier.

What questions were asked at the event?

How does the national living wage compare with the cost of living or national insurance contributions?

Although the National Living Wage has risen, for many queer women it still only covers the basics — once you factor in National Insurance, rent, and insecure work, it often supports survival rather than long‑term financial security. An organisation that you will find further information on this, is the Living Wage Foundation.

Who do you give your inheritance to if you have no kids?

If you don’t have kids, the law doesn’t know who matters to you — so writing a will is how you protect your chosen family. Check out Free Wills Month. When it comes to who you leave your inheritance too, you could choose to give it away in your lifetime and watch the good it does or leave it to a charity when you die.

What is the best way to finance starting a family? This is one aspect of my finances I feel the most stressed and discouraged about.

For queer women, the ‘best’ way to finance starting a family usually isn’t saving everything upfront, as we often meet later in life and, gosh, aren’t we aware of that biological clock! It’s carefully layering savings, time, and sometimes borrowing, because we, most of the time, fund access to parenthood as well as the child. We will be doing more content around this and hoping to have some events with fertility specialists coming up. In the meantime, Stonewall have just launched their LGBTQ+ Family Formation Guide which I am sure will be a helpful read for you.

I just would love to have some form of knowledge of savings/ISAs etc! I don’t earn a lot or have a lot saved, but the small bit that I do, I would like to know what to do with!

I don’t know how much you earn exactly but there is a government initiative called Help to Save that may be worth looking at. If you don’t qualify for that, then it’s important to consider putting your savings into something that has better interest than your current account (so we can try and manage the negative effects that inflation has on our money!). Cash ISAs can be a great stepping stone into the world of savings.

Useful resources

Pension wise; free government backed service for over 50’s https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise

Money helper; free government backed service to help everyone make clearer money and pension choices https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk

Enable; free financial learning platform including How To Invest mini course https://www.womenswealthnetwork.co.uk/

Mortgage calculator https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/homes/buying-a-home/mortgage-calculator

Budget planner Budget planner | Free online budget planning tool | MoneyHelper

Pension finder https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

Verity will be leading a lunchtime webinar in May about understanding and getting the most out of your pensions. Make sure you sign up to the newsletter so you can be notified when spots open