Mark Gardner Award for Journalism

The award was set up in memory of Mark Gardner, a member of the AJ Bell Media Team who sadly passed away in 2022. Well done to University of Salford student Mia Willemsen who took the £1,000 prize associated with the award. The brief for participants was to discuss what they had learned about money in their lives. She impressed the judges with her ‘honest and brave’ contribution and the ‘interesting questions’ she raised.

Money is something that is daunting to me. It’s a constant worry in the back of my mind, but despite this, it doesn’t stop me buying unnecessary items that I don’t need. The only time I tell myself to budget my money is at the end of the month when I have £20 left until payday. Each time I get paid I tell myself not to let it get so low again, but I never manage to do that.

I have ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), and so managing money is a struggle for me. Impulse buying is a huge problem. I’ll get dopamine through shopping, and I’ll end up spending money and then instantly regretting it. I’ll go to supermarkets, most likely having forgotten my shopping list, and end up buying all the wrong things.

Working part-time at a pub allows me to afford this lifestyle. I pick up extra shifts when I know I need to and although my ADHD can cause me to go overboard with shopping, I’m able to work hard to stay out of debt. Not to mention all the hours I’ll put in during the holidays when we’re on break from university.

With all that being said, you could assume that I don’t have a savings account and I’m living paycheque to paycheque. But that’s actually not true. I’m really good at saving thanks to the advice I’ve received from family throughout my life. They’ve been able to help me whenever I’ve needed it thanks to their savings and that’s shown me that I want to be able to do the same.

However, I’d have liked to have received more advice from school. I’ve never been taught how to manage money well. I believe it would be good to teach this as part of the national curriculum. We’re in a cost-of-living crisis, and I see advice on the TV but where is the advice from schools?

This is another one of those skills that you are expected to figure out by yourself once you go into the real world. But, in my opinion, this is one of the most important things you should know. Money has a lot of power to cause a lot of problems. Why aren’t we hearing more about it?

Mia Willemsen

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