Money is the soundtrack to our lives. From squeezing a fistful of sweaty pennies as we navigated pick and mix treats, to the pounds earned during a Saturday job, to your first paycheck and last pension contribution. Given that it’s an ever-present force pulsing through every part of our interaction with the world – you’d think that by now we’d have got the hang of it. Instead, money is a worry. It can keep us up at night. It can extinguish our hopes. It can lead to depression. Women effectively work for free for nearly two months of the year compared to the average man.

Women are also losing out when it comes to investments, as they are far less likely to invest, which puts them at a financial disadvantage in the long term. Men have billions more in stocks and shares ISAs, investment accounts and pensions. But it doesn’t have to be this way.’’

Susannah, as head of money and markets for Hargreaves Lansdown, an ambassador for the campaign Financially Fearless and a campaigner for equal pay at the BBC, unlocks the mysteries of the financial system. She helps build the knowledge manual to help women negotiate getting a better deal at home, work and in the world of investments.

Susannah delivers unique insights into the trade turmoil affecting the global economy. As head of money and markets for Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest retail investment platform, Susannah keeps investors updated about the latest economic and financial moves, and how they should manage portfolios amid the turmoil.

She is in demand daily on national and international TV for her ability to break down the current complexity into clear analysis. She keeps audiences informed about the latest twists and turns in policy and how the repercussions are affecting financial markets, companies and consumers.

Susannah can draw on her experience of having worked with prime ministers, foreign ministers, defence chiefs and CEOs from across the world, which adds further depth to her commentary.

As the world fractures further and geopolitical risk comes to the fore, Susannah can also provide unique insights about how to build resilience in a fractured world, drawing on her experience as a former RAF Squadron Leader. She led the force’s combat camera team on operations and exercises in the Balkans, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and can talk about importance of keeping in risks long-term risks on the horizon.

‘’We are facing an increasingly fractured economic and political world, so finding new forums of communication and collaboration to find our way through the fog of war and corporate dislocation and are increasingly vital.’’

Susannah has a unique view of the power of communication and how it can help change the world for the better. This spans from her early days in uniform as the founding member of the Royal Air Force combat camera team when she used the power of film to enact change, to her senior anchor position for the BBC, up until now as a sought-after analyst and chair of politically sensitive global debates. She talks about how to build resilience, how to prepare for future shocks and how navigate fractured debates by bringing polarized views together.

‘’True inclusivity involves bringing all views together, often no matter wide the gulf appears to be. We need to learn from ignored groups as well as ostracized but powerful individuals, and rather than shutting down unwelcome voices, and create new cross feed lines of dialogue alongside traditional institutions.’’

‘Social media and the crypto world have collided with Kim Kardashian’s single post about a token considered to be the biggest financial promotion in history.’

As head of money and markets Susannah has witnessed the FOMO effect wave which gathered speed since the pandemic, and has swept vulnerable consumers up in a frenzy of speculation.

As trade turmoil shakes markets again, its putting crypto under pressure, potentially catching out speculators who have tried to ride the wave. Hopes that President Trump will be a catalyst for the crypto industry have faded as his punishing trade policy has hit financial markets hard.

The boom of high-risk investing has already caused huge nervousness among regulators, with the Financial Conduct Authority increasingly concerned. Now, with the cost-of-living squeeze intensifying, Susannah argues the focus should instead be on ensuring consumers have a resilient pile of savings and lower risk investments to fall back on. While the charge of new younger customers into the stock markets is a welcome trend, there is woeful knowledge about the financial dangers of investing in high-risk products, which include investment-based crowdfunding. It’s clear that education needs to be sharpened up pretty pronto. But there are also risks of going in too hard on the regulatory front.

There has been  a hesitancy until now about bringing crypto currencies into the regulatory sphere because of the risk it will add more legitimacy to the currencies. Regulators and central banks are walking a tricky tightrope, recognizing the need to foster new decentralized payments technology while ensuring enough rules are in place to prevent runaway speculation infecting the wider financial sector. If the environment is made too cumbersome there is a risk that innovation in the fast-moving world of decentralized finance could be quashed, slowing down the efficiency of operations and leaving the UK behind countries which are welcoming crypto with open arms.