By the time Kelley was 15 years old she was well on the road to being financially independent. The rule in the Long household was that if you wanted a car, you had to buy it yourself and pay for the insurance.  Through baby-sitting and her first "real" job at a fast food restaurant, she scrimped and saved bills in a glass Christmas tree jar. On her sixteenth birthday she proudly purchased a beat-up Ford Tempo (affectionately named ‘Shirley Tempo’). This experience laid the foundation for her ability to understand the basics of money.

Kelley's first savings account

Her career experience built on this foundation and eventually led her to leave her "safe" corporate job to launch her own financial coaching firm in order to help other people discover the power of choices through financial security. 

Her credentials include:

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•  - Certified Public Accountant - Licensed in Illinois and Ohio, former Tax Consultant with Deloitte
•  - National Spokesperson for the Financial Literacy Commission of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA)
•  - Financial Expert Contributor to Women's Ally, an online career resource for women
•  - Member and media ambassador for the Illinois CPA Society
•  - Former Trust Officer and Certified Trust and Financial Advisor - assisted high net worth clients with estate planning at Fifth Third and PNC Banks
  
•  - Magna cum laude graduate of the Lee Honors College at Western Michigan University, where she attended on a full academic scholarship