Where do you hide your running away fund

And even then, there's no guarantee you'll win anything (years ago I had the maximum amount, which at that time was 30/35k, didn't win a thing). I wouldn't recommend PBs as a method of saving money, particularly if the OP isn't a UK resident.

I don’t have running away money (don’t plan on running away unless hubs and I do it together!) but I do have a couple of savings accounts with money stashed away. I bank with Monzo and their instant access savings pots pay good interest and pay it monthly so you don’t have to wait all year for it

OP said she wasn't in the UK @MOON

To get regular prizes, 10 out of 12 months, as stated by a pp, surely you’d have to have the maximum amount, £50k?

No, Premium Bond winnings do not have to be declared on your UK tax return. Prizes from NS&I Premium Bonds are 100% tax-free, meaning they are exempt from Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax. You do not need to report them regardless of your tax bracket or the amount won.

Key Points
Tax-Free: Prizes are entirely tax-free, even if you win the £1 million jackpot.
No Declaration: You do not need to list winnings on a Self Assessment tax return.
Inheritance Tax: While free from income tax, prizes are included in your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes, according to HMRC's internal manual.
Non-UK Residents: If you live outside the UK, your local tax authority might treat the winnings as taxable income.

For Premium Bonds you need a UK bank account. Not many UK banks still allow non-UK residents to open accounts. You'll also need to declare any winnings on your tax return and you'll get taxed on them (and you'll also have to declare the UK bank account).

@Somuchsugarinoneday for anyone asking about why a running away fund is needed, almost half of all marriages end in divorce! That’s terrible odds! It’s actually worse than that, as marriages fail without necessarily legally ending. Plus all of the co-habiting relationships that fail, that we don’t have statistics for. So if you are in any kind of relationship, the odds of it breaking down are very very high. We always think it won’t happen to us. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. I’d rather have a running away fund and never need it, than not have one and need it. Abusive behaviour isn’t always there at the start of a relationship, a common time for it to begin is during pregnancy sadly. I met a lady only today who thought she had the perfect marriage, young family, only to find out her husband was living a secret life, with a second family. Let’s hope she has a running away fund as her husband is certainly not looking out for her or the children.

I hid cash under my kitchen cupboards for a few years to save for my husband's 30th birthday. I took him to New York on Concorde, it was a long time ago!
One day he must have knocked the plinth with his foot, he bent down to put it back and found the stash of cash.
He phoned his sister to say I he'd found my Running away stash! 😅

By the way I'm not 95 and I still have a little cash pot, which helps out in emergencies, but I do agree with the Premium Bond idea, the money is safe and there's always a chance you could win.

Maybe a running away fund makes you feel you have “options “ is this about papering over the cracks ‘ do you have a fear of economic insecurity in the future ?

As others have said just choose paperless when you set I it up. Or go with an online bank, there are loads like Monzo and Chase. Definitely don't keep cash around the house!

OP is earning her own money? She just wants to put some of her increased earning in a place she can access but he can’t - presumably because he’s shit with money and spends it all or he’s financially abusive and will put it somewhere she can’t access quickly and easily to stop her from leaving the relationship or making decisions in the relationship.
Having some money in a fund only you can access doesn’t mean you are planning to hide in the case of a divorce either. You just might need it to leave the family home and put a deposit on a rental, for example. Or to pay a lawyer.

My own account, NS&I 🤷🏼‍♀️

Do you think all women are graduates and earning relatively decent money?

I can't understand why you think ALL women can support themselves.

If someone is working on the minimum wage full time, it's unlikely on its own to fund a mortgage unless it's in the far north or areas of cheap housing.

It's not just women - it's men too.

Have you any idea of the cost of housing, rents, and deposits needed for a tenancy?

You do indeed sound as if you're not quite up to date regarding living costs now.

Choice is not just a matter of choosing. It's about having the intelligence for a start to gain qualifications. Do you think everyone can just choose to be a lawyer, a doctor, an investment banker, or a teacher or a nurse?

There are millions of people on the minimum wage which is never going to buy a home, or even a rental in the SE.

Oh wow. Are you saying that in 2026, women are incapable of supporting themselves?

You're living in the past, women have choices now.

'Sheltered and privileged'. 🤣🤣🤣

Because you picked up on the PP's mum born in 1925 and don't seem to appreciate that for the vast majority of women they still earn less than men even 100 years later.

As long as they're earning, they have their own money so they don't need to squirrel.

Can't you see how it doesn't work that way for many women?
You appear to see this only from your own point of view as a 'higher earner'.

Earning money does not mean being able to be independent. Many women are working for the basic weekly wage. Part time jobs to fit in with children. Years not working at all, etc.
Many women use their income to go into the pot to buy food for the kids.

Older women your age often give up work/reduce hours to care for elderly parents.

It's simplistic to assume that just because a woman has a job she can support herself.

Employers' T&Cs- what's that got to do with it? You seem to have lead a sheltered and privileged life.

What has my age got to do with anything? I'm in my late 50's if that's relevant. I've worked all of my life since uni, apart from during mat leave. For most of my married life, I was the higher earner.

It's not about how much women earn it's about equal opportunities to work. i.e in 1925, most women didn't work whereas 100 years later most women do, (because they have equal opportunities to do so). As long as they're earning, they have their own money so they don't need to squirrel.

(I don't need to do the research, it's my job to understand employee T&Cs).

Women have only had a legal entitlement to equal pay for the last 50 years- there will be men on boards rn that grew up expecting women to be paid less than men. It would be naive to expect those formative years haven’t shaped their views.

Do not keep lots of cash in your house as your home insurance will not cover it if anything was to happen. Open yourself a savings account or ISA and set up a standing order from your account

I have 2 ‘just in case’ accounts in my name only even though I hope I never need to use them. DH is aware of one of them as the ‘reno’ account

How old are you?

Even in 2026 the vast majority of women earn less than men, usually because they take time out for childcare.
They often work part time.

Do some basic research on the ONS about women's earnings.

Having equal pay for the same jobs doesn't translate into the reality of a full time salary at the top of the scale in their career.

You're not very imaginative.

Many women earn a pittance so 'having a job' doesn't mean they have savings.

Have you never read the 1000s of posts here from women stuck in violent or abusive marriages? They can't leave because they have no money for a deposit for a rental.

Your bank account is private but they may write to you, do you have someone you can have correspondence sent to? Alternatively they can send letters to branch if you explain why. I have post for a lady experiencing domestic abuse coming to my church currently, we can’t do as much as I would like because you can’t interfere but I can do this for her

As others have said, women often lose out economically when children come along - even in this day and age.

ETA To be fair, women have equal opportunities in theory; in practice, that's the not the same.

As long as they've got a job, they've got independence. Why do they need more?

But things have changed an awful lot since 1925! It sort of made sense when women didn't have equal opportunities in the workplace but now they do. Women can make their own money and support themselves, they don't need to squirrel money away from their husband's.