Neale Godfrey

Neale S. Godfrey is an acknowledged expert on family and children’s finances. She has been in the financial field for over 30 years. Early in her career, Ms. Godfrey became one of the first female executives at The Chase Manhattan Bank in 1972. Later, she became the president of The First Women’s Bank and founder of The First Children’s Bank. In 1989, Ms. Godfrey formed her own company, Children’s Financial Network, Inc., whose mission is to educate children—and their parents—about money. In August 2006, Ms. Godfrey revised and updated her #1 New York Times Best Seller, Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Children. She is the author of 16 books that deal with money, life skills, and value issues. She developed money curriculum for children, The One and Only Common Sense/Cents Series, and a CD-ROM, Money Town, both created for children grades K-9. Ms. Godfrey empowers women to take charge of their financial lives and has authored two books on that topic: Mom, Inc: Taking Your Work Skills Home and Making Change: A Women’s Guide to Designing her Financial Future. Ms. Godfrey was a syndicated columnist with Associated Press, writing a weekly column on “Kids and Money”, which was distributed to 1,500 newspapers. She has served as a national spokesperson for such companies as: Aetna, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Fidelity, Quaker Oats, Nuveen, and AOL-Time Warner. She is a professional speaker for both domestic and international audiences. Ms. Godfrey often appears as a financial expert for television on programs like The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, Today Show, CNBC, CNN, CNN-fn, etc. She also starred in the PBS special, Your Money, Your Children, Your Life. Ms. Godfrey has been honored with awards such as “Woman of the Year”, “Banker of the Year”, “Child Advocate of the Year”, and received the first “Femme Award” from the United Nations Agency for International Women’s Rights (UNIFEM). Despite these achievements, what her kids really think is cool is that she was a “question” in both Jeopardy and the New York Times crossword puzzle! She has also served on a White House Task Force and a Governor’s Task Force as well as on the boards of directors of: The New York Board of Trade, UNICEF, University of Charleston, and YPO. Currently, she is on the board of directors of UNIFEM, Morris County NJ Chamber of Commerce, and the Advisory Board of Girls, Inc. Ms. Godfrey also stars in a one-woman show, Neale Godfrey is Tap Dancing through the Board Room that plays off-Broadway, nationally and internationally. Neale Godfrey is a single mother of two children, living in Chester, NJ.