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 Emily Fishburn, 30, a public relations expert, who lives in Nuneaton with her partner, Ed, 31. Emily, originally from Surrey, purchased her first home in the Midlands, where she knew her money would stretch further. Emily isn’t convinced a £500,000 pension pot would give her a comfortable retirement and thinks her stocks Isa will generate better returns than any work pension.
Monthly budget
My monthly income: I earn between £2,800 to £3,200 from my job in tech public relations. My partner works as a rail engineer.
Our shared outgoings: Mortgage, £1,500; council tax, £229; groceries, £400; gas and electric, £100; water, £50. Our insurance policies are around £350 a year. We’re also overpaying our mortgage by £300 a month.
My personal outgoings: Subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify, £20; public transport, £400; money into cash savings, £200; money into investments, £500; money into pension, £100; eating out, takeaways, clothes, day trips, holidays and holidays, generally between £200 to £600 per month, though this is very variable. About £150 comes out of my salary each month to pay off my student loan, which is now £25,000. We share a car, but I use public transport most of the time.
I grew up in a quiet village near Guildford in Surrey. My family was reasonably well-off and my dad was self-employed, working six days a week, while my mum had a part-time job. We’d go on several camping or caravan holidays in the UK and take one trip abroad every year.
I studied business at the University of Surrey before pursuing a career in public relations. I started my career at a tech public relations agency in Surrey, before moving to a boutique tech public relations firm in London. I’m now an account director and earn between £2,800 to £3,200 per month.
I met my partner, who is from Nuneaton, at a music festival in 2019. We did long-distance dating before deciding to go travelling together around Asia and Australasia in December 2023.
We returned from travelling in July 2024 and decided that we would settle in his home town in the Midlands rather than in Surrey, where I’m from. A big factor in this decision was the value for money when buying a home in the Midlands compared to Surrey. We knew we’d be able to afford far less in Surrey than in the Midlands.
In March 2025 we had an offer accepted on a three-bedroom detached house with a garden, garage and driveway in Nuneaton for £325,000. We put down a £48,000 deposit to buy the house and completed in August.
Our monthly mortgage repayment is £1,500 and we make overpayments when we can. It does make sense for us to pay off as much of our mortgage as we can afford.
I commute to the London office two days a week.
There’s been rumours about a possible new property tax coming up in the next Autumn Budget. I don’t know what Rachel Reeves has planned, but from what I’ve read, if this went ahead, it would force more people like me who grew up in the south of England where property prices are generally high, to move somewhere further afield.
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Buying a home in the south of England, particularly in areas like Surrey, would become even more unaffordable and unrealistic, notably for first-time buyers.
I bank with Monzo and we have different savings pots for short-term and longer-term goals, including mortgage overpayments, house renovations, getting a new car and future needs, should we choose to get married or have children. I’m adding about £200 per month to our shared Monzo savings pots. Ed also adds £200 to the pots.
Recent findings by Tesco Bank showed that retirement was the number one goal for the majority of long-term savers. Planning for retirement is sensible and a long-term priority for me. I add £100 per month to a work pension.
I also have a stocks Isa with Trading212, which I plan to use as part of my retirement pot. I view my stocks Isa as the better retirement fund option than my actual work pension, as it has more scope to deliver higher returns on my investment without too much risk. I have around £15,000 in my work pension and Trading212 stocks Isa in total.
While I could probably make do with £500,000 in my pension pots when I’m older, I don’t think this sum would enable me to have a comfortable retirement or the kind of lifestyle I want.
For now, I live comfortably and can afford to do the things that I want to on my current salary. Within the next five to 10 years, I would love to get married and start a family. Within my career, I would like to continue to develop at a steady pace and be rewarded fairly for my work. Within the next decade I want to have paid my student loan off, and within the next 20 years I want to have paid off our mortgage.
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