In our How I Manage My Money series we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.
This week we speak to Vanessa Urena, 34, who lives in London with her partner and their dog. Vanessa, who works in customer services on the supply line side, faced a bidding war to get in the rental flat she lives in. She wants to boost her knowledge of investing and would like to earn £80,000 a year, as she feels this sum would give her financial stability.
Monthly budget
My monthly income: Before deductions, the income from my job as a customer execution specialist at a consumer products business is £3,322.37 a month. This is before tax, my pension contributions and my student loan repayment. I also do some work as an online English teacher on a few Sundays a month, earning about £11 an hour, though this is ad hoc. My partner and I own a renovated property in Portugal which we rent out for about £870 a month. I also do ad hoc projects via Imagen Insights, which I sometimes make a bit of extra money from.
Our monthly outgoings: My partner and I earn roughly the same and believe in equity, so we split all the bills and groceries in half. Rent, £1,600; council tax, £249; groceries, £400; gas and electricity, £220; water, £46; broadband, £80; mobile phones, £90; Netflix, £5.99; pet insurance, £10.98; gym for two people, £60. I add £300 to a savings account each month and £100 a month to a cash ISA. I only buy clothes when needed and love shopping in charity shops. I am also adding money to a work pension via my salary.
I was born in California, but moved to Portugal, where my mother is from, when I was nine. At the age of 13 I moved to the UK with my mother and younger brother. My mother worked a lot so by the time I was 15 I knew how to manage a household and would do the cooking and cleaning. At 18, I secured an offer from the University of Essex and by 23 had a degree in modern languages.
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I’ve been working from a young age. My mother was a single parent and I didn’t like asking her for money. So, when I was 16 I got a job as a cleaner at an office for one hour a day, paying £10 an hour. It was a good first salary. As I’ve got older, I’ve had jobs in different sectors, such as recruitment and media sales, earning about £24,000 a year.
I now work as a customer execution specialist at a consumer goods company. I deal with customer service issues across the supply chain and my pay is about £3,322.37 a month.
As a teenager and when I started university, I was very frugal and kept to a tight budget when it came to groceries and going out. After Covid, my mindset changed somewhat and I decided I didn’t want to live life with regrets for not doing things or feeling bad for buying a coffee out here and there. So, although I do save, it’s probably not as much as I could. It’s a fine balance.
I have four different accounts. I have a standard current account which my salary goes into. I transfer money from that into our joint account each month.
We use money in the joint account for the rent and bills. I also have a savings account that I add £300 per month to and a cash ISA, which I add £100 a month to. I have looked into investing via things like stocks and shares but am quite risk-averse. I prefer investing in something more tangible like property.
Urena says she wants to learn more about investing
We live in a one-bedroom flat in south-east London, paying £800 a month each in rent. It was originally advertised for £1,400 a month in 2024, but as it’s in a prime location on a high street and a short walk to a train station, there was a bidding war and the rent was increased. Without me knowing, my partner offered to pay £150 extra and we secured the flat.
Last year, the rent increased to £1,600 a month. We were considering moving, but our landlord has not increased the rent yet. In the future, we would like to try living up north in somewhere like Manchester or Leeds. Eventually, we would like to build our own house in Portugal to live in.
Saving into a pension is a priority for me. No one knows what’s in store for them in the future and it’s good to be prepared. I don’t know how much is in all my pensions, but I am considering consolidating them into one. The sooner I can retire the better, so long as I can live comfortably.
I would say I am highly motivated by money, but I need to enjoy what I’m doing. As cringeworthy as it sounds, money makes the world go round. Money gives me the freedom to travel, enjoy experiences and do nice things for my family and friends. My ideal income, at least in London, would be £80,000 a year. This salary would enable me to not worry about my finances, save more each month and get us closer to self-building our dream home in Portugal.
I’m focused on increasing my knowledge of investing and finding the best ways to make my money work as hard as I do. I want to move beyond just saving and get smarter with things like ISA allocations, understanding the stock market, and maximising my pension so that my future is secure.
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