Skip to content How One Mama Bear's Outrage Became a Life-Long Crusade with Sharon Lechter Dec 6 · 37 min ...more
How One Mama Bear's Outrage Became a Life-Long Crusade with Sharon Lechter
December 6, 2025 · 37 min
Ep. 0010 - Discover how Sharon Lechter’s journey in faith and financial literacy offers wisdom to help you overcome challenges and achieve financial and spiritual fulfillment.
Series The Christian Capitalist Show with Russell Gray December 6, 2025 · 37 min · The Christian Capitalist Show with Russell Gray
Ep. 0010 - Discover how Sharon Lechter’s journey in faith and financial literacy offers wisdom to help you overcome challenges and achieve financial and spiritual fulfillment. ...more Show the full description Show less Ep. 0010 - Discover how Sharon Lechter’s journey in faith and financial literacy offers wisdom to help you overcome challenges and achieve financial and spiritual fulfillment.
Series The Christian Capitalist Show with Russell Gray Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
36.2K followers
The Christian Capitalist Show inspires and equips individuals to express their God-given purpose through enterprise and stewardship powered by faith, fellowship, and balance.
36.2K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
From Rich Dad to Greater Purpose: Sharon Lechter's Journey 0:00 When it comes to purpose driven mainstream capitalism, sometimes the greatest innovations are born out of a personal problem or frustration. In this episode of the Christian Capitalist Show, you're gonna meet a mama bear0:11 who became outraged by credit card companies preying on newly minted adults and turned it into a personal and effective crusade for financial literacy. You might not know her name, but she's the much lesser0:23 known coauthor of Rich Dad Poor Dad, the greatest selling personal finance book in history. Stay tuned to meet Sharon Lechter.0:38 Welcome to the Christian Capitalist Show. I'm your host, Russell Gray, and I'm in studio today in Scottsdale, Arizona with a very special guest. You've probably heard about several of the projects she's been0:49 involved in, and now you're gonna get a chance to meet her, from a little bit different angle than maybe some of the ways you've seen her in, in public in the past. So joining me today in studio is1:01 Sharon Lechter.1:02 Hello, Russell. I'm delighted to be with you.1:04 I am so excited. We've known each other going back for 201:09 20 plus.1:10 23, 24 years, something like that. Way back when you and coauthor of Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad Poor Dad. You and Robert put that together, and you were working with him at the time. And you came out to the1:22 studio in San Francisco, California be even before I was the cohost of the Real Estate Guys Radio Show. And you sat, you you and I stood outside with, Robert Helms, the host of the show's father.1:34 We we chatted for an hour while, Robert Kiyosaki went in and and did the interview. And that turned out to be a real game changer for us, but a lot has happened since then. And so for1:45 anybody that may not know who you are, besides your being coauthor of Rich Dad Poor Dad and a whole bunch of other books, just give everybody the nickel tour on your tenure1:57 there and then all of the things that have happened since then and what you're working on today.2:01 Oh, absolutely. Well, I met Robert at the first beta test of his board game Cashflow because he'd gone to interview my husband as a patent attorney, and Michael was able to help him get a patent on the2:13 board game cash flow. But it was drawn out on a piece of paper with crayons, and I had just sold a company, the first talking children's book company, and we had games. So I2:25 like the message. It was the same message I was teaching in schools, trying to get the school systems to start educating our kids about money. So I volunteered. I said, Robert, let me help you get this commercialized.2:36 And during that process, he told me he wanted to charge 200 dollars for the board game. So that was pretty pricey. We're talking 19 96. I said, maybe you should write a brochure that explains the philosophy2:49 so people will invest that money. And that was when he asked me to be his partner. We were equal partners for 10 years, and that brochure we wrote together was Rich Dad Poor Dad. We never expected it to take on3:01 a life of its own, and we expected 1 and done. And they had so much people asking for more that we said, okay. We'll do a trilogy. Rich Dad Poor Dad, cash flow quadrant, Rich Dad's Guide to Investing. Done.3:13 Oh, no. So over our 10 year partnership, I was the CEO of the company because I knew how to scale it. I knew how to build it around the world because of the experience I had with the talking children's book company. We3:25 ended up writing 15 books together. I launched the Rich Dad advisor series, another dozen books, and then we had multiple games. So we ended up in 110 countries and 51 languages3:36 and built the largest personal finance brand in the world and impacted lots of people. And it was before Amazon. Hard to believe. It was before the Internet. So we were truly an3:48 example of viral marketing at its finest. Somebody read it and told their friends about it. But when I made the decision in 2007 to leave Rich Dad, it was because we're no longer aligned in what our personal4:00 missions were. And, I I made that decision not knowing what was in front of me. I thought Rich Dad, Poor Dad Rich Dad was my legacy, but somebody upstairs said, no. No. No. There's4:12 more for you to do. So a few months later, I got a call from president Bush, and I was hugely honored to be on the first president's advisory council for financial literacy, and I served both president Bush and president4:24 Obama. It is a nonpartisan issue. And, in March of o 8, we know what was happening in the world economic world. I got a call from the Napoleon Hill Foundation because they had4:35 just learned that I left Rich Dad. And so they said, we need your help. We want to revitalize the teaching of Napoleon Hill. And so that started an incredible relationship. I've known them4:47 for years because we would both go to book fairs together, but it was such a gift to have built the world's largest personal finance spread and then asked to step in into the world's largest personal development4:59 brand. So I've written 4 books in cooperation with the Napoleon Health Foundation, and it's just been an incredible journey. And so I tell people all the time, sometimes you have to close 1 door for other doors of5:11 opportunity to open. When I left Rich Dad, I had no idea what my future held, and I would never have gotten a call from the president or from the Napoleon Health Foundation had I still been at Rich Dad. So I challenged5:23 my audiences. Is there a door in your life you need to close so other doors will open? Because that's exactly what happened to me. And so since then, I've also written a book Exit Rich with Inc. Magazine,5:35 which is about how to build value in your company, how to take a successful company, scalable and saleable. Whether you sell it or not, at least you're adding the value and growing the value of the business5:47 asset. And then my most recent book is How Money Works for Women, and it was released a year and a half ago with Wealthwave. And then, of course, I have a new book coming out with a young5:59 man named Nathan Barkosy, and I'm pretty excited about it. It's called Old Wealth, New Wealth, True Wealth.6:05 Yeah. I've actually got a couple of those books here. So the, Napoleon Hill book, Outwitting the Devil, interesting story behind this book. His widow didn't want it released, And, it6:17 it was just hidden for a long, long time. And then ultimately, they they came into possession of it and decided it needed to be rereleased. So if you haven't checked out this book, please do. I'm gonna get Sharon to sign6:28 it for me here. And then this is the book she's referring to with Nathan, which is how Sharon and I recorrect reconnected. We've known each other for years, but, in the split with you and and Robert Kiyosaki, who I'm6:39 good friends with, you know, sometimes it's kinda like a marriage breakup and who who whose side are you on. And so I I don't want it to have to be about that. And so I saw you speak at a partner of mine, Jason Hartman,6:51 did an event, his empowered investor event, and you spoke. And it was the first time I'd actually seen you in the spotlight beat the focal point delivering a message, and it was amazing. It was so good. Thank you. I I7:03 wrote you a little note, and I said, hey. I'm sorry that we've lost touch. And, that note never materialized. But thanks to Nathan. We're here today. We got a chance to talk, as we were getting ready to come into the7:14 studio, and you asked me what have I been up to all this time, and how did I end up leaving Robert Helms and the real estate guys. And I was telling you that story, and then you were telling me a little7:26 bit about your side of the story because I heard Robert Kiyosaki's side of the story and found out that we have a lot in common. And so 1 of the things I wanna talk about, you mentioned kind of in passing, was that at7:38 the very, very beginning when, Kiyosaki came to, Michael for help and you saw what he was doing, you were already in financial education,7:50 and you were already already focused on young people. And, of course, that's a big passion of mine. My audience knows that. But in this program, I like to talk about the role of8:01 purpose in in guiding your life decisions. And so, I I can tell that you're a a person who is in tune with having purpose and being true to the purpose when you can8:13 stay on purpose for decades. I mean, how does that work? How do you how do you find that sense of purpose, and how do you stay true to that despite being tethered to somebody with a stronger personality as Robert8:25 Kiyosaki?8:25 I was raised by parents who talked about money at the dinner table. We talked about cash flow. We talked about assets. We my my dad had rental properties that I had to scrub out the bathrooms between tenants. So I say,8:37 I've been a real estate investor since I was 10. Right? And then he owned orange groves, and he'd say, sure. The orange just give me cash flow every year, but the the land is gonna be about more valuable in in the8:48 future. And it's now where where SeaWorld is in Orlando, so he proved out to be true. And so all of those things were just a natural part of my upbringing, and it wasn't until I got out into the real8:59 world that I realized very few people understood money. Very few people understood assets. They chased income or overtime or second job instead of building assets that could generate9:11 income for them. And so I I made it my mission. I became 1 of the very first women in public accounting, and so I learned how businesses succeeded. But probably more importantly, I learned how businesses failed. And9:23 so in doing that, it wasn't until I I started the talking children's books, sold that. I started a woman's magazine. And then my oldest son, we moved her to Arizona after9:35 selling the book company in 9 19 91. And he went off to college, ASU in 92, left in September, come home in December in credit card debt. We didn't even know he had a9:47 credit card. He got to ASU, and there was a table, free pizza, free money. Another table, free t shirt, free money. So that was December in 19 92, Russell, that I made a9:59 commitment. I dedicated the rest of my career to financial education and financial literacy, and I'm as passionate about it today as I was back then. And that is my purpose. My purpose is to10:10 bring the elements and education about how money works, how assets work to everyone so they can take control of their lives. And so that's really where it started. I started working with school district. I tell people10:22 my hair used to be red. If you've ever worked with school systems, that's why it's white now. But, so accelerating a few years, is when I got the call from my husband and he,10:34 Robert, had come to see him about fattening the game, and that's how we met it. So it started in 92, and in 96, I met him. So I've I've been was on the journey already.10:44 Interesting. Well, for me, it was 19 95. And I read, now my friend, g Edward Griffin, wrote a book called The Creature from Jekyll Island. And we were homeschooling our10:56 children at that time, and I was assigned the task of explaining civics, economics, and US history. Back then, there was no Internet, so you would go to conferences11:08 and peruse the books, tables and look for curriculum. And as I began studying the curriculum, I realized there were so many things left out of my public education that I didn't understand. And then 1 day, the light bulb11:20 went off because at the same time, I'm reading my Bible, and I see that the borrower is servant to the lender. Then I recognize the entire system is debt, and then the structure of the financial11:32 system is really designed to get people to go into debt, and they prey upon the young, exactly what you're talking about. And so I was motivated in the same way, and I think that's kind of howIgniting Passion for Financial Literacy and Success Principles 11:44 our paths ultimately cross. You know? Kiyosaki came into your life. You were already there. You guys came into my life. I was already there. So when that happens, I feel like the holy spirit is moving11:56 in in the lives of people and calling them to become part of a cause. And so in your position, you've pretty high profile. People know who you are. Have you seen that12:08 happening? Have you seen a lot of other people kind of coming along? Are there coalitions? Are there people I know you you get things done by working with with other people and through other people. But how is that12:18 factored in? How is how is getting aligned with other people, you know, those business to business alliances, those, cooperations that we create to advance things? Have you had some of that?12:28 1 of the principles I teach, Russell, is the power of association in everything I do and everything I talk about. When we built Rich Dad, the height of our success had 5000 people working for me, but only 17 on my12:40 payroll because we needed the best infomercial company. So we went to Time Life. They use their systems, their people, their money. We had Warner Books as our publisher once we created12:51 success on our own. And then every step of the way, I had 50 different publishers around the world helping share our message and getting it out there. So that principle of the power of association13:04 is alive and well, and it's how you can today, speed to market is everything. And so that you find a company that's already successful in what you wanna do and you align with them and you create a partnership, make sure13:14 you paper it well, but it allows you to grow exponentially. It may be somebody that has an area of expertise that you need. You bring them13:23 in as a power of association that allows you to13:23 expand your offerings. And so it's a association that allows you to expand your offerings. And so it's a core principle that I teach to all my mentoring clients. It's a core principle that I have in all my books. My13:34 first book with the Napoleon Hill Foundation, 3 Feet from Gold, I introduced the your personal success equation, and it's your passion and your talent. So my passion actually came from anger. I was mad we weren't13:45 teaching kids about money. Your talent, I had years in publishing and years as a CPA, and most of us stopped there because we think we have to do everything on our own.13:55 Right.13:55 That's what school teaches us. But true success is you take your passion, your talent times a, power of association, aligning with the right people, having people on your team who are strong where you are14:07 weak. Alright? Making sure you have the right alignment with the peep both in purpose and envision. And then times a, taking action. How many times do we know what we're supposed to do? We just don't do it.14:19 Right? And then you wrap all of it with a plus f, and that's faith. Faith in yourself, faith in what you're doing, faith that is needed and necessary, faith that it will succeed, and faith14:31 for me in a higher power. And too many of us that f is fear. And that's what keeps us from achieving the success we deserve. That fear holds it paralyzes14:43 us. Fear can either paralyze you or motivate you. And I tell tell people, take the fear and turn into energy and focus and keep going. And that's really the whole power of associating. If you14:55 go to your personal success equation dot com, I have an entire workbook for people to work through their own personal success equation.15:03 It's so interesting that you bring this up because as we're recording here today, I get up every morning very early. I got up at 3 AM, and I have a chair that I sit in. And I do the Christian15:15 capitalist show, which is this interview style, and we have these great conversations with brilliant people, and you're right up at the top of the list. This is fantastic. And then I have this other thing called my15:26 morning muse where it's just me on the microphone, just musing about whatever comes to mind. And I just finished a trip through the Bible. I've read the whole Bible, every every word, and really taken time to15:38 dig into it. Took me, I don't know, a year and a half, 2 years, something like that. Now I just flip open the Bible and I pick something that looks interesting to me, and I let the Holy Spirit lead me. And this morning,15:48 this very morning, not knowing that you were gonna say the words that just came out of your mouth, I flipped to second Timothy and I read chapter 1. Second Timothy chapter 1, he talks about, I believe it's verse 7. It15:59 says he's given us, a power he's not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. And I kinda broke that down. Right? Power's taking action. It16:10 takes power. And love is motivation. Why are you doing it? Love God, love your neighbor. And then a sound mind is really thoughts become actions and actions become results, and managing16:22 our thought life is very important. The idea that he's not giving us a spirit of fear. And, you know, I think about in sales. I teach sales. And a lot of what people have to overcome16:34 is fear of rejection. Right? People don't start a business because they're afraid they might fail. And I think that what you're saying is so important. I wanna make sure people can attach that to a scripture and16:46 actually begin to really understand how powerful that is. Because if Paul or Timothy or Peter or any of the early spokespeople of the Christian faith would have succumbed to16:58 fear, what kind of a world would we have? Totally agree. If if you and Robert Kiyosaki would have succumbed to fear instead of stepping out in faith like, I have met so many17:10 people whose lives have been transformed by Rich Dad and the work that you guys did there, And that wouldn't exist if you wouldn't have answered that call. And I gotta say,17:22 your background is accounting. Most of the time, you don't think of accounting people as being super creative, super dynamic, super entrepreneurial, but somehow you got there.17:34 So how did someone kinda raised in an investing entrepreneurial world, gravitate into accounting, and then come out as being this dynamic risk taking entrepreneur business person17:45 coach when that's really not what you'd consider your prototypical accountant?17:50 Great question. I haven't been asked that 1 a long time. You know, most of my life, I had the 2 forces fighting, the entrepreneur and the conservative accountant. And it was about almost 20 years ago,18:02 a dear friend of mine, Kathy Colby, who rest her soul just passed a few months ago, created the Colby test. Oh, yeah. And and I took it, and it was like a gift from God for me because it showed18:14 my conative. Alright? My conative skill is that of an innovator entrepreneur. My cognitive skill, which is what I've trained myself is the accountant. And it gave me18:26 such clarity and such peace that I could at least define why I have this this this battle going on all the time. Because it is true, my my I am a risk taker. My natural I'm innovation. I18:37 always wanna solve a problem. I say most successful companies solve a problem or serve a need. And when I get mad about something, I start another company. Right? And that would not be the typical accountant's way to do18:49 something, but it's the, like, okay. If I can do something about it, let's go. Let's do it. And so, it's really important to me to temper that innovation and that squirrel syndrome with that19:01 of an accountant and my team. Right? So I'll come get off the phone. I'll get all excited about something. And then, Angela Topman, who works has worked with me 24 years. I go, okay, Sharon. How does that change our19:12 priorities we set yesterday? Right? So again, that's that power of association, having the right people on your team. But your question is so valid because many years I was frustrated because that that19:24 war was going on in my brain all the time. And once I got the explanation, it made total sense to me because my natural ability is that of an innovator entrepreneur. But I've trained myself19:36 to be the accountant.19:38 Interesting. Well, you know, I think a lot of people, at least for me, and I've I'm I'm similar on the disc test. I'm I'm a d 100, so I'm a hard driver, but I also require a lot of19:50 information. So I'm analytical, and I require a lot of thinking and planning. But once I decide to go, I go. I do think it's important to get to know yourself. In your mentoring, when you're working with your20:01 clients, how do you help them unpack? Because at the end of the day, we're emotional creatures. You you may think that how you think, but it's really how you feel. Your thoughts drive your feelings, and20:13 your feelings drive your actions. At least that's the way I look at it. So you really have to have good emotional self awareness and understanding and then the ability to train yourself to make your emotions serve you20:24 instead of vice versa. How do you handle that with your mentoring clients?20:27 Well, that is the number 1 reason you need to have a mentor because they don't have the same emotional investment you do, but they are invested in you in your success. My mentorship program is not a a program.20:39 It is I step into my mentee's world. I learn about their family. I learn around their business. I learn about their fears, their concerns, their hopes, their visions, and help them get there because, I have20:51 another saying, high emotion, low intelligence. Yes. Right? So an entrepreneur who's getting excited about something, their emotions appear, and they need that sounding board to help them bring the decision and the21:03 emotion down and the decision up. And it's really important to have that kind of power of association in your life. And so my I have clients that are have already exited. They don't know what the21:15 next chapter of their life is. I have businesses that are at 5000000, and they need to get to 10000000. I have businesses that were at 70000000 and got to 150000000. All of them have different issues, but I21:27 can help them strategize because of the vast experience I've had of the number of companies that I've been inside and helped and grow and my own 3 global brands that I've worked with. So it's an important thing21:39 to have the right person to consult with and to help you deal with that emotional element. But, also, I would say, I see more for my clients than they see for themselves. You know, my whole concept is21:51 play a bigger game. Right? And so too many people think small. They wanna get from 1000000 to 2000000. So let's get from 1000000 to 10000000.22:00 Right.22:00 You know, let's have a bigger vision. Let's have a bigger journey. And there were for you can impact more people because we come back to what you started, purpose. I start with them with their purpose.22:12 What's their vision? You know, what is it they want to accomplish? What's their greatest potential, their greatest dream? And then let's work on how we achieve that.22:20 So powerful. I had something in my mind I wanted to ask, but I'm I'll I'll come back to that in a minute. Let's talk a little bit about fellowship. It's 1 area candidly I've struggled with in my life22:32 because I have felt that a lot of the fellowships I've been involved in didn't really understand what it was like to live this lifestyle. I think they conflated the desire to22:44 do more with greed. It's like, how much is enough? That's a question somebody asks if they're thinking about what they're getting. But if you reverse it and say, how much am I giving? How much22:56 is enough? And if your business is about serving and solving problems. So as you think about your own life and your own journey as a person of faith, but also an entrepreneur,23:08 what was the role of fellowship, not just association, but specifically on the spiritual side in helping you stay on purpose, in helping you think big, but deal with pride,Show more In this video 0:00 From Rich Dad to Greater Purpose: Sharon Lechter's Journey11:40 Igniting Passion for Financial Literacy and Success Principles23:20 Overcoming Fear, Embracing Faith, and Avoiding Drift
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.