RONA MACDONALD no longer works for the RSPCA but she has a reminder of her eight and half years there. She lives in a three- bedroom terrace house in Croydon, South London with an RSPCA rescue cat, called Oliver. The 38-year-old public affairs manager was brought up in Peterhead, 40 miles north of Aberdeen but has worked in London most of her adult life.

Ms MacDonald left her job as a lobbyist for the RSPCA three and a half years ago and now works for BT. "When I worked for the RSPCA we were lobbying the Government on legislation," she says, "but now I'm involved in government procurement deals". She will be moving to a new job soon.

She has PPP cover with her BT job and has an old Abbey Life policy into which she pays pounds 30 a month. "I don't really know why I have life insurance - nobody needs it!" she says.

She separated from her husband after 12 years of marriage 18 months ago. "My biggest financial concerns have been splitting everything up with my husband without paying lawyers any money," she says. "We are now financially separate and I'm beginning to feel like I'm getting back on my feet."

She has a company car, a Rover 75, but she is thinking about coming out of the scheme and buying a run-about. "I don't need a big motor so I'm considering the cash alternative as I hardly do any business mileage," she says.

Ms Macdonald says her pension arrangements are a mess. She has a personal pension with Commercial Union which she started in the early 1990s but does not know how much it's worth. She took out an RSPCA pension which she transferred into her BT pension in 2000. "The whole thing is shambolic and needs sorting out," she says."

Ms Macdonald has pounds 5,000 savings and a few Bradford and Bingley shares. "I want to invest any money or bonuses I get and build up a solid base of savings in case I ever get made redundant," she says.

She bought her house 10 months ago and estimates it to be worth pounds 230,000. She has a pounds 110,000 fixed-rate mortgage with the Halifax. "What sort of mortgage should I go for next year when my two- year deal comes to an end?" she asks.

We put her case to Anna Bowes, a savings and investments manager with Chase de Vere Investments in Bath, Marlene Shalton, a director of Chambers Morgan James in Cardiff, and Charles Ansdell, technical manager of Inter- Alliance Group in London.