Real estate and financial expert, Kim Kiyosaki, made a bold move in the mission to help Americans develop the financial literacy needed to create financial freedom in their own lives.
Kiyosaki, co-founder of the Rich Dad Company and known for authoring and co-authoring several financial books, including Rich Dad, Poor Dad, was one of the first supporters of the Junto Program—a national financial literacy library started by Eric Scrivens, a teacher in St. Cloud Florida.
As someone known for her decades-long commitment to financial education, she jumped at the opportunity to donate materials to help educate millions of Americans on how the economy really works.
“When we started the Rich Dad Company, we had a mission to teach people how money works and how to achieve financial freedom. That hadn’t changed in three decades, so when I was approached about this program at an event, I immediately made a call to my assistant to set aside a significant number of books to be donated for these libraries,” she explained.
Scrivens said that immediately upon telling Kiyosaki about his plan, she offered a collection of financial books to be included in his flagship library, and he was blown away by her generosity when she offered to donate an additional, much larger supply of books upon learning that he was taking this program nationwide.
“I knew for a long time that America’s financial literacy crisis existed, but until I started talking to people about my plan to solve it, I didn’t think anyone would care. I was genuinely surprised that when I talked about my plan, the most common first question people would ask me was, ‘How can I help?’ This is happening at all levels, from authors asking to donate their books to people asking how to host a library in their area, how to promote the program, make introductions to helpful connections, and even donate money to support the cause. It’s beyond amazing,” he said.
*Note: Scrivens also said the program isn’t currently in a position to take cash donations as there isn’t a formal entity set up to enable that, but that may change in the future.
Several other financial experts have joined this initiative as well, including Dr. David Phelps, who was a member of the 13-member working group, along with Kiyosaki, responsible for developing the financial literacy curriculum that was recently implemented in all high schools throughout the state. Phelps also pledged to donate his books, including his latest, Building Your Financial Ark: How to Survive and Thrive During the Next Economic Storm, for the Junto Program as it expands across the country. He has been sounding the alarm for years, both within his community, Freedom Founders, and as a financial expert in the media, when it comes to financial literacy and the economy.
“Financial literacy has been a passion of mine for a long time. It’s what my entire business model is based on. So when I was approached about supporting this project, I was excited to dive in because I see so many people hurting today, in part, because of the economy, but to a larger degree, because they don’t understand how the economy really works. That’s dangerous and I want to help change it for as many Americans as I can reach,” Phelps explained.
His perspective of the economy is far from isolated. Organizations, events, and programming have sprung up all over the country to fill a desperate need for this kind of education. The Alternative Asset Investor Summit hosted such an event for investors looking for opportunities outside traditional securities this past October, the Hernando County School Board in Florida hosted an event focused on teaching financial literacy at Weeki Wachee High School, with over 1,700 local residents in attendance, and the TV network, Daily Flash, launched a series for financial programming called Financially Speaking.
This is a grassroots movement that is quickly gaining momentum at all levels.
Scrivens said he started the program in a small corner of his classroom as a way to help his students learn the skills to change their financial status, but as word spread, the library grew and more people began offering their support.
“When this all started to evolve from just a few books in the corner of my classroom into the national program it’s becoming today, people began offering to help by providing books and locations for new libraries. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but the support from people like Kim Kiyosaki, Dr. David Phelps, and other authors who generously donated their books to support the Junto Program’s mission to help 100 million Americans become financially literate,” he explained.
Kiyosaki applauded Scrivens’s Herculean efforts to give his students the best shot at a financially successful life.
“Educators play such a valuable role in our society, and they already work so hard, so it’s especially impressive to see someone putting in so much work above and beyond that. And the fact that he took this on despite there being no direct benefit to him says a lot about what kind of person he is. Eric is a true public servant,” she explained.
She followed up saying, “I’ve certainly put in a lot of hard work throughout my career, and I’ve been incredibly blessed. I believe when we achieve a certain level of success, we have a duty to give back where we can, so to me, it’s an honor to support organizations like this.”