Career Highlights

• Current role: Managing ultra-high net worth family legacies for a global financial institution, with seven years in the industry in progressively senior roles in institutional banking and wealth management
• Author of Fabulous Finance, a book that helps educate children about the importance of investing
• Previous member of the Board of Directors for CFA Society Toronto

What inspired you to write Fabulous Finance?

Because of my background working in investments, I was asked by my daughter’s teacher to come and speak to her class about financial literacy. After researching, I realized there was a lot of content about savings, credit, and loans, but content for children around the investment basics was limited. My daughter and I worked together to choose eight concepts that she could understand, building an interactive presentation to help her classmates better understand the importance of this material. Seeing the girls in her class engaging with the material was particularly important because women must own and understand their financial independence. I was asked to bring this material to other schools. Instead, I opted to write an illustrated book for children based on those eight concepts, which include compounding, the time value of money, diversification, and the importance of patience, with kid-friendly analogies.

What about children and financial literacy did you find so important to address?

As investment professionals, the basics of compounding and starting early are ingrained in us. But knowing this information and putting it into practice are two different things. Children have an incredibly long investment horizon, starting with their RESP, and getting started early can empower their lives. The difference could amount to millions of dollars. The earlier children learn these concepts, the earlier they can put them into action. 

What was the most surprising to you as you wrote the book?

I didn’t realize how easily someone could self-publish! Hiring a good illustrator helped the story come together, and Amazon made it easy for the book to be printed on demand. 

Any plans for a follow-up?

My daughter and I continually have conversations around these topics, and I have a few ideas for additional concepts, such as inflation and liquid vs. illiquid assets, that could be added, especially as it relates to mortgages and purchasing a house. Her questions are my inspiration.

What advice do you have for parents navigating the finance conversation with their children?

Let the questions flow, and use everyday examples in your responses. Analogies really help, because topics like dollar cost averaging don’t land without making it relatable on their level. And keep having the conversation—this isn’t a topic you can introduce once and expect them to know in the future. But if you keep at it, their questions will show just how much they’ve absorbed.

What advice would you offer to someone contemplating writing their first book?

To quote Nike, “Just do it!” There’s such a need for investment basics content, especially directed toward kids.

Your daughter is credited as co-author. How does she feel about being a published author?

She’s so proud! She’s credited because the book came out of the PowerPoint presentation that we worked on together, based on her questions, and because she’s represented on every page as the main character. We really did work together to make this book happen.

Grace’s Fun Facts

 What is your favourite inspirational quote?

“Everything is figure-out-able” – Marie Forleo

What was the last interesting book you read?

Worth: Purpose Beyond Ambition by Erik Kikuchi

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working or writing books?

I enjoy gardening and collecting art.

Rose’s Fun Facts

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A CEO of a house building company that provides full service from design to building to selling the houses.

Who is your role model/someone you aspire to be like?

Taylor Swift 

What’s your favourite subject at school?

Recess, ha ha, and art.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Book Review: Fabulous Finance by Grace Cleary-Yu and Rose Cleary-Yu

The book Fabulous Finance was written by a mother-daughter team and is geared toward helping children understand the financial concepts that many of us take for granted. It’s written as a short series of discussion topics from the point of view of Rose, Grace’s nine-year-old daughter. Using easy-to-understand language and examples that make the topics relatable, Grace and Rose successfully navigate what could otherwise be complicated mathematical topics, like the power of compounding and the time value of money. It even highlights the importance of exercising patience regarding our investments. An analogy about eggs and baskets nicely introduces the concept of diversification, while another about building snowballs highlights the power of how small contributions add up over time. While these topics can be complex even for adults, Cleary-Yu’s approachable language and bite-sized contents make this a book that families can return to time and time again as they introduce the essential topics of investing, getting started early, and the power of having time on your side.