About · Founder

Meet Karena Duane — Financial Coach for Women in Ireland.

CFP™, QFA, MBA. 25+ years in Irish financial services — and one clear conviction about why women deserve something different.

My Story

I've been the woman lying awake at 3am.

Not worrying about money in a professional way. Worrying in a how-am-I-going-to-do-this way.

I've worked in Irish financial services for more than 25 years. I have the qualifications (CFP™, QFA, MBA from Trinity). I've spent years advising other people. And still — when my own life happened, when maternity leave arrived, when unexpected sick leave did, when the maths of family and finance started to feel heavier than the numbers should have allowed — I felt it exactly the way every woman I coach today feels it.

That's the thing nobody in this industry wants to say out loud. We've been taught to deliver advice as if we aren't human. As if we haven't sat at our own kitchen tables worrying about the exact things our clients are worrying about.

So let me say it out loud.

I took maternity leave, and learned more about the gaps in my own financial life in six months than in the six years before. I had a period of unexpected sick leave I hadn't planned for, and it rewired how I think about financial security forever. I've been the woman quietly holding it all together for her family — the money, yes, but also the planning, the worry, the late-night recalculations.

And I've done all of that with access to the best qualifications and networks Ireland's financial industry has to offer. If it was still that hard for me, I know exactly how hard it is for a woman who was never told any of this.

That's why Money, Just For Her exists.

Portrait of Karena Duane — Founder

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My Working Life

Built from the inside out.

I started in retail banking and moved into wealth advice, ending up as a senior Provincial Manager at Bank of Ireland — responsible for advising some of the bank's most valued female clients across Ireland.

Along the way, I've served on the Technical Expert Panel of the Pensions Authority, co-ordinated the Pensions module for the QFA qualification at the Institute of Bankers, and delivered corporate financial wellness programmes with Spectrum Life and Laya Healthcare. I've spoken at national conferences including Women in Agriculture, and I've contributed to national radio on Newstalk.

But here's the bit that matters most to me now: every senior role I've held has told me the same thing. The financial industry was built for a life that looks nothing like the one most women actually live. And until we build something that reflects that — properly — the numbers won't change.

So I built it.

Credentials

Qualifications & experience.

Qualifications

  • Certified Financial Planner (CFP™)
  • Qualified Financial Adviser (QFA)
  • MBA — Trinity College Dublin
  • 25+ years in Irish financial services

Professional Roles

  • Senior Provincial Manager — Bank of Ireland
  • Wealth Adviser — Bank of Ireland
  • Founder — Money, Just For Her
  • Technical Expert Panel — Pensions Authority

Teaching & Speaking

  • Pensions Coordinator — Institute of Bankers (QFA)
  • Corporate delivery with Spectrum Life & Laya Healthcare
  • Keynote speaker — Women in Agriculture
  • Regular corporate workshop facilitator
Karena Duane on Newstalk with Claire Byrne

On Newstalk with Claire Byrne.

Media & Speaking

Using my voice.

Alongside coaching, I use every platform I'm given — national radio, corporate stages, conferences, and social media — to bring women's financial conversations into the mainstream in Ireland.

If it's a conversation about women and money, I want to be part of it.

Available for:

  • Media commentary — radio, print, podcast
  • Keynote speaking — conferences, events, summits
  • Corporate workshops & panel appearances
  • Expert panel contributions on pensions & women's finance
Get in Touch →
How I Work

What makes this different.

I don't sell financial products. I don't take commission. I don't have a panel of providers I'm quietly incentivised to recommend. Coaching is not the same as regulated advice — and that freedom is exactly what lets me focus on you.

Every session is built around your questions, not a product pitch. We talk in plain English — not jargon. We work at your pace — not an industry timeline. And we cover the whole of your financial life, including the parts you've been avoiding.

"The goal isn't to turn you into a finance expert. It's to give you enough clarity and confidence that money stops being the thing that keeps you up at night."
Begin

Let's have that conversation.

A 20-minute discovery call is where everything starts. No pressure, no pitch — just a proper conversation.

Book a Discovery Call