Make Money Better | Lacey Filipich

We’re back with the 2023 edition of our Q&A series ‘Make Money Better’ where we spend five minutes with each of our judges, capturing their insights into the world of money awareness and inclusion.

What can we tell you about Lacey Filipich, a judge for The Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards (MAIAs) 2023?

Well, thousands of people around the world have used her Money School courses to liberate themselves from debt, start saving and raise financially capable kids.

Her book “Money School” also won “Best Book” in the MAIAs 2022.

1. What makes you interested in better understanding how money works? If you had an “A-ha” moment, please tell us about that.
   
   When I was 10, on the way to running a stall for my first ever business, my mother asked me what I was going to do with the money I expected to make. I said I’d buy something. Mum mentioned banks paying interest, and briefly explained what compounding could do. It was a lightbulb moment for me, setting me on the path to making the most of my money.
   
   
2. Where do you learn most of the important things you feel you know about money and finance? Online, specific books, from family members?
   
   All of the above! It all started with my mother and co-founder, Fran White. We’d talk about all things money regularly through my childhood and teen years, and kept going until she passed away in 2020. I also love books and email newsletters (like The MINT!) as they help me stay up to date with what’s happening in the world of personal finance. I follow a few people whose research or insights I find thought provoking on social media too.
   
   
3. What makes you want to help other people better understand money?
   
   When I had a quarter-life crisis and began redesigning my life to allow for regular mini-retirements, my friends asked how I could afford to take time off work regularly and for so long each time. When I asked them what they’d been doing with their money, they said they had car loans and credit card debt. I’d been saving and investing. It was the first time I realised a lot of people don’t learn about money well enough at home or at school. It sparked my desire to work out how to teach people about money well.
   
   
4. Is there one group or community you feel deserves particular support to understand money better? Why them?
   
   Women. In Western Australia (where I live) the gender pay gap is 22%, the gender retirement gap is 40% and in the five years after giving birth, women lose 55% of their incomes even if they go back to work and their partner stays home. And don’t get me started on the rates of financial abuse. The systemic financial disadvantages for women are massive and I’d like them to have as much extra support as possible.
   
   
5. Is there one book, influencer, academic or other source of financial education material that you would recommend more than others?
   
   I wish everyone would read Rutger Bregman’s ‘Utopia for Realists’ – especially the section on universal basic income. That turned my understanding of how financial stress affects people on its head and has informed my work ever since.
   
   
6. Is there one money-related tip you would share more than any others? What is it?
   
   There are very few absolute rules with money, so don’t accept a supposed rule without checking it’s appropriate for you and your circumstances. Think choose-your-own-adventure rather than recipe.
   
   
7. Has there been a single event you can look back at and say that, definitely understanding money and finance led to a much better outcome in your life?
   
   When my mother was diagnosed with relapsed lymphoma, I was able to drop everything to spend four months caring for her. Being financially independent meant I didn’t have to choose between working and caring, a life-changing luxury.
   
   
8. Last, but definitely not least, do you have a guilty pleasure, something that you spend a little more money on than you think you should, but from which you also derive a lot of joy?
   
   I don’t have any ‘should’ limits for my spending, because I save first and spend what’s left as I like. I spend enormous amounts of money on tickets to comedy and theatre shows without a care, and I always buy two tickets so I can share the fun with a friend.
   
   

Lacey Filipich helps people become financially independent and reclaim their lives. Thousands around the world have used her Money School courses to liberate themselves from debt, start saving and raise financially capable kids. Money School is also the title of her international award-winning book, out now with Penguin Life. Lacey graduated as valedictorian from the University of Queensland with an Honours degree in Chemical Engineering (if you want to find out how a chemical engineer ends up teaching people about money, check out her TEDx talk.) She is the winner of a 2019 Business News ’40 under 40′ Award.

For more information about Money School, you can visit their website, or connect with Lacey on LinkedIn. You can also email us at michael@maiawards.org.