Are You Financially Cheating on Your Future Self?

I have a slightly toxic relationship with Future Me.

I absolutely love her. I have huge plans for her. She’s financially secure, drinks coffee somewhere sunny on a Tuesday morning, and has the sort of retirement that involves deciding where to travel next rather than whether she can afford to put the heating on.

The problem is, Present Me keeps leaving her with an awful lot to sort out.

“I’ll start putting more into my pension next year.”
“I’ll look into investing when I understand it properly.”
“I’ll sort that debt once things calm down.”
“I’ll save more when I’m earning more.”

Poor Future Me. She must be exhausted.

We talk a lot about consciously investing in our relationships. We invest time in our partners, energy into our children, attention into our friendships. We remember birthdays, organise holidays, and spend an extraordinary amount of money on tiny humans who will then announce there is “nothing to eat” while standing in front of a full fridge.

But when was the last time you consciously invested in the woman you’re becoming?

There’s a financial relationship most of us completely overlook: the one between Present You and Future You. And some of us, if we’re being honest, are financially cheating on her.

Not because we’re irresponsible, or because we don’t care. Quite the opposite. We’re so busy creating security for our children, partners, parents, businesses and homes that our own future slips into something we’ll deal with “later.” Except later never turns up.

So here are three questions to help you start thinking about Future You.

Are You Giving Her Any Money?

And I mean that quite literally.

If Future You was someone you deeply loved, what would you want for her? Savings she could access if life suddenly changed? A retirement built on choice rather than compromise? The ability to leave a job, a relationship, or a situation that no longer served her, without money being the reason she had to stay?

That’s what savings, pensions and investments really are. Not boring financial products. Options. And options are one of the greatest forms of wealth a woman can have.

There’s a gap worth naming here. Across the UK, men collectively hold £567 billion more than women in investments and private pensions. Yes, billion with a B. Around 6.8 million women invest, compared with 9.9 million men, and women also tend to hold lower balances when they do. That’s the UK’s Gender Investment Gap, and it says far more about access and permission than it does about ability.

I don’t share that to send you into a Google spiral about index funds. I share it because building wealth starts with believing investing is something for you in the first place.

You don’t need to know everything today. You just need to stop assuming Future You will magically know it all tomorrow.

Even starting small changes the relationship. Paying Future You before Present You finds somewhere else to spend it, that’s the shift. Automate a regular amount into savings, a pension, or an appropriate investment, and you stop relying on motivation every month. Which is just as well, because motivation tends to vanish the second Zara emails about 30% off.

Are You Making Her Pay for Today?

There’s another side to this relationship: debt.

Debt can mean borrowing from Future You to fund Present You. That doesn’t make all borrowing bad, or mean anyone carrying debt should feel ashamed. Life happens. Businesses need funding. Houses require mortgages. Emergencies rarely check whether it’s financially convenient first.

But conscious borrowing means understanding what you owe, what it costs you, and whether today’s decision is slowly narrowing tomorrow’s choices.

Shame makes us hide from the numbers. Confidence makes us look at them. And Future You needs the second one.

Are You Investing in Her Earning Power Too?

Here’s the part we don’t talk about enough: investing in your future isn’t only about putting money away. Sometimes the sharpest investment you can make is in your own capacity to earn more of it.

Learning a new skill. Asking for the promotion. Raising your prices. Starting the business. Becoming more visible. Finally backing the idea that’s been sitting in your Notes app for eighteen months.

Women are constantly told how to spend less, but there’s a limit to how much you can cut. Your earning potential has far more room to grow.

So yes, look after the money you already have. But don’t forget to invest in the woman capable of creating more of it.

You’re here, which means you’re already a Money Maker.

Money Makers aren’t women who have it all figured out. We’re women who’ve decided to take control, to earn more, keep more, grow more, and make our money work for the lives we actually want.

So that’s your move for this month. Go and do something Future You will thank you for, for years to come. I’ll meet you back here next month for another Money Makers conversation.