Mastering money is simpler and easier than it’s made to look.
Lacey Filipich has helped thousands of people around the world get on the path to financial independence, and she’s ready to help your audience do it too.
Lacey Filipich is an international award-winning financial educator, entrepreneur, author, TEDx speaker, LinkedIn Top Voice in Finance, and a chemical engineer!
Lacey learned about money from her mother, Fran, an accountant and a single mother raising two kids on $30k a year. Fran’s lessons inspired Lacey to save half of every dollar she's received, and she’s kept up the habit since she was 10 years old. Lacey’s first foray into investing was a property purchased when she was 19 years old. It was the beginning of a love affair with investing, which led to her achieving financial independence (FI) at 31.
Contrary to the FIRE (financial independence, retiring early) movement, Lacey prefers to think of FI as making you time-rich. It means you get to choose how you spend your time. Her message to audiences is that even if you get to FI, you’ll probably still work, just like she does. Work simply becomes a choice, and all the more liberating and empowering for it.
Lacey co-founded Money School with Fran in 2010 to start teaching others about money when she realised not everyone gets the financial education they need at home or school. With over 300 media appearances, her international award-winning book Money School and a TEDx talk with over 1.3 million views, Lacey is a well-respected and recognised voice in personal finance in Australia. She is widely sought for her ability to teach money with her trademark enthusiasm and humour, leaving her audiences feeling capable and motivated to implement what they’ve learned. With her engineering and risk management lens, she brings insights and practical advice not often seen in personal finance – and blessedly devoid of jargon!
Lacey graduated as valedictorian from the University of Queensland with an Honours degree in Chemical Engineering. She moved to Australia’s ‘wild west’ to begin her career in mining, rising quickly through the ranks on-site before switching to operational improvement consulting. Lacey maintains close ties to the resources industry, including through teaching systems thinking and design thinking to executives.
Lacey’s most recent focus is the intersection of climate change and wealth, which she believes is the greatest threat to our financial futures.
Talking Points
Get Future Rich: Protecting Your Wealth in a Disrupted Decade
The traditional money rules we’ve relied on for decades, save diligently, invest wisely, avoid bad debt, are no longer enough to secure financial wellbeing in a rapidly changing world. Lacey reveals the emerging, overlooked risks set to reshape personal wealth over the next 10–15 years, including the coming impact of housing uninsurability and global economic contraction. Through clear, practical insights, she empowers audiences to rethink their financial strategies and take simple, proactive steps that safeguard their future. This session is ideal for organisations wanting to boost financial capability, resilience and confidence among employees, members or clients.Get Future Rich: Protecting Your Wealth in a Disrupted Decade
Key Takeaways:
- Understand the connection between climate‑driven disruption and personal wealth
- Recognise the hidden risks that threaten property, superannuation and investment portfolios
- Learn why traditional “safe” assets may not offer the protection they once did
- Gain clear, actionable steps individuals can take today to reduce exposure and build future financial security
- Leave with a hopeful, empowered outlook knowing a richer future is still within reach
Make the most of your money
You might not have got the financial education you wanted in school, but rest assured, it’s never too late to master money and create a future of financial security and freedom.Make the most of your money
Based on Lacey’s international award-winning book and TEDx talk with over 1.3 million views, this talk leaves the audience with:
· A framework to think about how money moves through their lives.
· The core principles of financial independence and wealth generation through three simple rules: Save, buy assets, and avoid bad debt.
· Tried and true tactics for automating your financial systems so you don’t have to rely on habits or discipline to get ahead financially.
This talk can also be adapted for female-centric events. Lacey helps women stop blaming themselves if they’re not where they want to be financially through acknowledging systemic pressures while accepting what’s in their power to change.
Closing the gender gap
Asking women to reuse their teabags won’t close the gender pay gap. We need systemic change to deliver a fairer and more equitable society in which everyone can thrive, regardless of their gender.Closing the gender gap
If you’re looking for a meaningful talk for your International Women's Day event, this is it. This keynote is ideal for policy makers and decision makers in business and government, especially men. Attendees walk away with:
· A clear understanding of how the gender available savings penalty (GASP) affects women, and why this is bad for everyone, including men who find themselves typecast as primary breadwinners.
· Pragmatic solutions to bring about essential change for individuals and decision makers alike.
Video
Lacey Filipich| Raising Financially Fit Kids | Interview, Channel 9's Today Extra
Money School Founder Lacey Filipich spoke to David Campbell and Belinda Russell today about buying assets when prices are down, and teaching kids enterprise skills so they can become financially savvy.How to Raise Financially Savvy, Future-Proof Kids | Lacey Filipich
Lacey Filipich delivered a speech on how to raise financially savvy, future-proof kids to the audience of the 'Women Rocking Wealth' seminar in The Westin's Grand Ballroom on 6 October 2018. The talk was a resounding success and received highly positive feedback from the attendees.Why you should think about financial independence and mini-retirements | Lacey Filipich | TEDxUWA
Time poor' is the catch-cry of our era, and yet end-of-life retirement means we have an average of two decades of feeling time rich to look forward to when we're old. In this talk, Lacey shares how combining financial independence and mini-retirements is one way to bring that time rich feeling into our youth. Lacey Filipich started her entrepreneurial journey with a hair wrap stall at 10 years old. Today, she is the co-founder and director of two successful businesses; Money School and Maker Kids Club. Between hair wraps and start-ups, Lacey graduated as valedictorian from the The University of Queensland with an Honours degree in Chemical Engineering. She moved to Australia's 'wild west' to begin her career in mining, rising quickly through the ranks. A health scare and her sister's suicide opened Lacey's eyes to the world beyond work, leading her to redesign her life and take five mini-retirements in the next five years. This was achievable because of Lacey's financial position: she started investing at 19 and now earns a passive income. Lacey considers herself time rich: able to choose if, when, where, how, on what and with whom she works. Her story is one of many in the Financially Independent Retiring Early (FIRE) movement supporting the idea that end-of-life retirement is optional.IWD 2024 Speakers: Lacey Filipich, Financial Educator & Founder, Money School
You spoke at my school when I was in Grade 12 in 2016. I went home and told my mum My life changed today'. Two years on, I want to thank you for your words. Now I am in my second year of a C ... keep reading Past student, Brisbane Girls Grammar School
Thank you to Lacey and Fran at Money School for delivering the Department's series of Women and Superannuation workshops. The presentations were great packed full of information delivered in a way that was easy to understand. The women who attended the workshops loved the engaging and motivating style of the presentations and the personal stories. The practical examples highlighted how important it is to take control of your super and the activities made it clear how easy it can be to make a difference. Lacey and Fran made it very easy for me to run this series of workshops to help women make the most of their super.
Lacey's presentation to our Year 12 students was practical, personal and beneficial. Her examples resonated with the 12s immediately and, from the steady flow of questions at the end, it was clear they were engaged by the topic. I loved the advice Lacey shared - save ambitiously and use those savings to buy assets. I wish I had received advice like that when I was in Year 12!
It's a joy to host a guest speaker that is 100% spot on the brief, with all the right inspiring messages for the audience, with humour to boot.
We invited Lacey to speak to young engineers, both students and graduates, about personal finance and the outcome was extremely positive. Lacey is funny and keeps the audience engaged throughout the talk. The audience was very interested and highly interactive during the time allocated for questions, and even afterwards! They were asking Lacey questions as she was literally walking out the door. It just showed how much students and graduates are needing financial guidance, but probably don't know where to look for it. After Lacey's talk, I came home motivated and reorganised my finances with my partner during the whole weekend and automated things as much as possible. I highly recommend Lacey and Money School as they were extremely motivating and organised!
Lacey is a wonderful, warm presenter who has run four workshops to date with Future Women members, helping them take control of their financial future. We have always been so impressed with Lacey’s ability to answer questions from any member, providing thorough, thoughtful advice, and suggesting follow-up and extra resources where appropriate. She is always exceptionally prepared, and provides resources for our members that help them help themselves -- through a series of prompts that cater to everyone’s unique needs and money values.
We worked with Lacey to open our Women in Construction Week program. Lacey was an absolute delight to work with in the lead up; communications were quick and coordination was a breeze with her. The actual session was a brilliant mix of Lacey kindly sharing her powerful personal story and providing practical and relevant information to sometimes difficult to navigate financial topics. Lacey was able to break these complex concepts down in a way that was relatable and applicable to the lives and futures of our people. Lacey was also so generous with her time in responding to the audience questions. We’d love to have Lacey back again and would recommend her valuable content to other organisations who care about the financial wellbeing of their workforce.
The apprentices had a great day, and found your session really useful – they recounted so much of what you’d taught them (in impressive detail) later on over drinks at golf! Some of them accidentally left their notebooks behind, and as I flicked through the pages, it was wonderful to see the comprehensive notes they’d taken as you spoke.
Lacey's presentation was eye-opening, captivating and thought-provoking all in one. Lacey delivers her message with great conviction and interest whilst also being able to facilitate and perform master of ceremonies duties exceptionally. She was a pleasure to have on board at our event. I would highly recommend having Lacey in any capacity at your event.
Lacey’s talk at the FI Freedom Retreat in Bali was engaging and informative. Attendees appreciated her humour and warmth, and received great value from discussing and developing actionable steps to create a more aligned life. thank you for bringing a fun, welcoming presence to the event and for creating the opportunity for deep reflection and transformation.
