Our Founder
Susana is the founder and owner of Freedom Finance and works as a financial coach. She always found herself thinking about money from a very young age and personal finance has always been very important to her. Coming from a big family, she understood the value of money very quickly. Learning from her own early life experiences, financial struggles, and mistakes as a single young mom she taught herself how to overcome and build the life she wanted for herself and her son.
Susana believes that teaching kids to handle money responsibly at a young age will build positive habits and relationships with money. Allowing kids to spend is an opportunity to teach the value of saving and delayed gratification. She knows how uncomfortable it can be talking about money and became inspired to write a children’s book to help parents introduce the topic. She hopes that this book will encourage parents to make personal finance an everyday subject in their homes.
Educating both adults and young children to create healthy money habits is her passion. She lives in Rhode Island and enjoys being outdoors and everything that New England has to offer. She loves to travel and spend time with her family and friends.
My Mission
As a financial coach, I have found that a lot of people had to learn about everyday finances as an adult, and that they struggled and made some costly mistakes before understanding it. One of the things I hear often is, “Why isn’t finance taught in school?”
This got me to thinking. We send our children off to school where they are taught math, reading, writing, history, health, and physical education. Money is a tool we use every single day, yet no one talks about it. We don’t send our children out into the world without teaching them to get dressed or brush their teeth, why would we send them out into the world with no understanding of money?
In today’s world, many Americans are saddled with student loans, consumer debt, and mortgages they can’t afford. Advertisements and media can influence our spending and saving decisions.
If children do not have positive role models or people to teach them about money, they may fall into common financial traps many people experience as adults. Teaching children about money can build financial literacy and give them a stronger ability to manage their finances later in life.
Financial Literacy
When it comes to teaching kids about money, starting simple and early is key. One of the best ways to teach your kids about handling money is to give them a chance to make some of their own!
Emily Finds a Dollar is about a little girl who discovers the importance of saving her money rather than spending it as soon as possible. She learns the value of money through hard work and gains an understanding that saving for something later can be exciting and rewarding. She starts earning an allowance for the first time, working hard helping her parents with tasks all around the house. She realizes that sometimes waiting can be as rewarding as instant gratification.
As a parent, you want the best for your children. This doesn’t necessarily mean you want them to have the best clothes, the latest toys, or coolest gadgets. Most likely, it means you want them to be safe and secure. And you want to lay a foundation that they can build upon to do well in life. If you want to play a key role in shaping your children’s feelings, thinking and values about money, you need to give them the gift of financial literacy from an early age.
This book is focused on teaching younger children ages 4-7 financial literacy.
