Single women have it tough, at least from a financial perspective. From a personal perspective you may well be having a better time than being in a relationship, and especially in an unhappy and unsatisfying one, but sadly society is built for couples. In this episode of video podcast series, Women and Wealth, Val Cipriani and Madelaine Apthorpe take a look at the financial hit of staying single and how to protect yourself from it.

Val, Investors' Chronicle's personal finance editor, explains to Madi, digital production journalist, how figures from Hargreaves Lansdown shows how much it costs to live, with a single person in the UK on average spending about 22 per cent more than someone in a couple on their rent or mortgage, council tax and fuel, while spending 28 per cent more on food. More depressing still, single people are taxed more than those in a couple, proportionally.

But this podcast aims to provide you with practical help in making your money work harder. Val and Madi explore help such as single-occupancy discount on council tax and on water rates and how to make sure your savings account pays a decent rate.

Responding to a reader's question, Madi and Val also look at how you can save and afford a home as a single person with practical advice.

Women and Wealth is a six part podcast series from Investors' Chronicle. You can listen and watch the episodes, alongside our other podcasts, on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.

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