Call it serendipity. Who knew that Ty Allan Jackson's son setting up a successful lemonade stand would set in motion an amazing sequence of events? A fruitless trip to a book store in search of a kid's book about money led to Ty writing that book. When outreach to 147 publishers came up empty, Ty persisted and went the self-publishing route. Later, Abdullah would reach out to Ty and the collaboration would lead to a curriculum built around the Danny Dollar Millionaire Extraordinaire book. Listen to this podcast to hear this story and more. Enjoy!

Details:

• 0:00~0:16 Introduction
• 0:16~5:58 Current Events with MissBeHelpful: Capital gains tax, GME prices going up again
• 5:58~6:32 A word from NGPF
• 6:32~7:48 Introducing this week’s guests: Ty Allan Jackson and Dr. Abdullah Al-Bahrani
• 7:48~10:00 Ty and Abdullah’s backgrounds
• 10:00~12:20 On the lack of conversations surrounding money in low-income communities
• 12:20~16:40 Danny Dollar Millionaire and how Ty and Abdullah connected
• 16:40~20:01 Inspiration to write a personal finance book for kids
• 20:01~21:39 The process of writing the book
• 21:39~26:24 Danny Dollar Millionaire and the start of Danny Dollar Academy
• 26:24~30:16 Danny Millionaire’s journey
• 30:16~34:07 What students can get out of Danny Dollar Academy
• 34:07~38:09 The ups and downs of being an entrepreneur
• 38:09~41:13 Financial literacy’s role in closing the racial wealth gap
• 41:13~42:16 How to sign up for Danny Dollar Academy
• 42:16~46:17 Black History Month: Tying the past to the present
• 46:17~47:16 Conclusion

Resources:

• FinCap Friday: A Taxing Surprise
• Danny Dollar Millionaire Extraordinaire
• Danny Dollar Academy
• Dr. Abdullah Al Bahrani’s YouTube Channel
• How to Expand on Black History Month

Quotes:

• “Financial literacy education is one part but making it relevant to the population that you are teaching is even more important. I’m a big believer in diversity: the diversity of thought, the diversity of representation, and the diversity of financial literacy education.” -Dr. Abdullah Al-Bahrani

• “Our society needs to evolve and it needs to grow. It needs to grow in a way where not just Black kids but White kids as well can see people they want to emulate the same way those kids in rural Kentucky want to emulate a little Black fictional character who sells lemonade.” -Ty Allan Jackson

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

Ren Makino

Ren started interning at NGPF in 2014, and worked part-time through high school and college. With his knowledge growing alongside NGPF, he joined the team to work full-time after graduating from college in 2020. He is also the producer of the NGPF podcast. During his free time, he likes to try out coffees from different roasters across the world.