Meet Mara Harvey - The Author of A Smart Way To Start
Author – Conference speaker – Finance literacy expert
“Because money is not just a transmission of value:
it’s a transmission of values.”
I live in the beautiful city of Zurich, Switzerland, with my two children Timothy and Tyler.
I am passionately driven by two strong beliefs: that we cannot wait another 100+ years to see economic gender equality come to life, and that daily financial decisions are the most untapped source of positive social change.
These convictions are at the heart of my stories.
Alongside my “side job” as an author, I am a senior manager at UBS Switzerland AG and have been with the bank for over 18 years. I speak four languages (English, Italian, French and German) fluently and I have held various positions in Switzerland and in Germany in wealth management.
My background is in economics and I hold a doctorate with highest honours in Political Economy from Fribourg University, and a degree in economic policy and econometrics.
I am an active advocate for female economic empowerment and equality, as well as multilingualism and integration, and I am a frequent speaker at international conferences.
Read more from me on the blog
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Press endorsements and reviews
Dr. Seuss knew that simple rhymes are the best way to deliver lessons to children. Now Dr. Mara Harvey has created a modern twist with A Smart Way To Start: It’s like the Dr. Seuss for financial confidence. Confidence starts at the age of five. Girls need to be comfortable talking about money and power from an early age, because financial empowerment is women’s empowerment. This book is a step in the right direction, and a must-read for the next generation of leaders.
Various studies conducted in Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany show that boys get on average 10 to 30% more pocket money than girls. That’s where pay gaps start! This shocked me because, as parents, we are confident that we treat our children identically. However collectively, we are perpetuating inequality. I realized that the whole purpose of my work, whether as a researcher at the university or at the bank, was addressing the problems almost twenty years too late. We need to tackle the root cause, i.e. biased semantics around money, as of an early age.
Tout se joue à l’âge de l’argent de poche, PME Magazine, No. 06, Juin 2019
My friend Dr. Mara Catherine Harvey wrote a children’s book, A Smart Way To Start, to try to flip the script. It’s a series of poems about financial confidence. “In Switzerland, one of the world’s most sophisticated financial markets, it’s been barely 30 years since married women are allowed to open bank accounts without their husband’s consent. Equality is still very young. And financial confidence, women’s access to capital, and women’s involvement in managing money are the last frontiers to economic gender equality,” says Harvey.
What do you wish for your child in the workplace?, Forbes, 10.04.2019
and continue their financial education with our entire Smart Way book series.
Marty's Smart Way - Bundle
Includes Book set, the secret chapter and the Stickers Sheet
Get all 5 books in the Smart Way series and give your child the ultimate learning experience on how to earn, save, spend and make the right choices!
Smart Way Series - Book 1
The first book in the series “A Smart Way To Start” now comes with a free sticker sheet to make the learning experience more enjoyable for your child!
The second book in the series, A Smart Way To Save, picks up Marty ‘s story from book one and explores how to save her earned pennies.