Twitter handle:

@SophieeKing

The main beats that I cover are:

Cost of living, energy bills, shopping, pensions, bank accounts, rewards schemes, food menus, benefits, phone bills, shopping, deals and property.

So don’t waste time telling me about:

Investments, ESG, (anything too trade-y really).

The biggest influence on my journalism career to date is:

This is a tough one because there’s so many! My first editor was Julian Marr and he was a wonderful guide as I was starting out. Helen Knapman has also been a wonderful person to learn from.

The proudest moment of my time working in financial journalism has been:

When I outed the DWP for sending out envelopes to millions of people with incorrect and misleading info telling people to switch energy provider. They then stopped sending out those letters.

The piece of advice I'd give to someone starting out in financial journalism is:

Build your contacts and write write write!

My favourite media outlets for financial news are:

The Sun Money (obvs!), MSE and Professional Adviser.

The best/worst times for PRs/press offices to contact me are:

Between 8 and 11 when the morning rush is underway!

My relationship with PRs could be improved if:

I work with a lot of fantastic PRs and most of them are wonderful. I don’t particularly like it when I’m sent an email and then phoned about that email five minutes later — give me a bit more time please!

My favourite financial expert is:

Ooo I have many — there’s a lot of experts I speak to that are extremely helpful, even when I’m just asking for help understanding something rather than for a comment.

The financial interview I’d most like to arrange is:

I’d love to have a chat with Rishi to understand his thinking as we battle the cost of living crisis.

The piece of financial services research I’d most like to read is: 

I’d love to read more on the FCA’s work into the British Steel Pensions Saga.

My view on the humble press release and how it could be improved is that:

Bullet points summarizing why it’s one for us (though I appreciate that may take much longer to do).

My dream job in financial journalism would be: 

Maybe having my own podcast.

Are there any recent campaigns/features you and your team have worked on that you would like to highlight?

We’re always trying to help people save money through the Sun Squeeze. We’re really trying to push helping people get the benefits they’re eligible to have — many people think they don’t qualify.

The one piece of kit I cannot do without as a financial journalist is:

A cup of tea.

Given £1,000 I’d invest in:

Probably property! I’d really like to own my own place and not have to rent anymore.

You won’t know this, but I’m really good at:

Map reading.

You won’t know this, but I’m hopeless at:

DIY.

And finally… what’s your go-to karaoke song?

Honestly, it depends on how I’m feeling that day (or night), but I love ABBA and Cher songs. I also know the Super Bass rap!