 To another edition of Business in Hawaii, my name is John Strandberg. We are broadcasting live from the ThinkTech studios in downtown Honolulu. If you want to tune in live, we are at ThinkTechHawaii.com. You can also sign up to get on our mailing list there as well. The theme of Business in Hawaii is to bring you stories of local business by local people. Our guests share with us their journey to building successful business in our sometimes challenging environment. In the ThinkTech studios today is Shanda Park, a world financial group. And Shanda, please tell us a little bit about yourself. Hi John, thanks for having me here today. Yes, I'm a marketing director with World Financial Group. And I've been with this company for a little over two years now. So what does the marketing director at World Financial Group actually do? Well, we focus on educating people. So we have financial workshops in our financial center and we also bring it out into the community. Okay, so as a marketing director, you go out and find people to educate? Yes, we bring it out into the public libraries. We've also done public schools and big and small companies such as UHA and HECO to name a few. Okay, you actually do it in schools too? Yes. It's actually good because junior achievement I used to serve on their board. All about financial literacy for the kids. Yes. But you concentrate more on the adults and not the children, right? It's actually of all ages. However, the bulk of the people who are seeking the financial education are mainly adults. Okay. Yes. So you would be teaching them about counting money, how the interest works? What are some of the topics? Well, some of the things in our workshop specifically, we teach about increasing cash flow and debt management. We teach about building a strong financial foundation and proper protection. We teach about asset accumulation and building wealth. And then we also talk about retirement planning and estate preservation. Retirement planning. Yes. Retirement planning. That's a big one. Yes. I'm actually thinking about retirement myself. Yes. And I have way too many years to go. I'll be working for a very long time. Yes. Well, that's the power of starting early. So when I started in this company, I have three children and my daughters were 15 and 17. So when I was able to receive this education, I was able to set up my daughters already for their retirement to start the planning towards their retirement. So in this literacy education, do you talk about all of the savings vehicles available out there besides savings account? Yes. Insurance included? Yes. Okay. Yes. Insurance included. Yeah. So I'm actually studying more on insurance myself and like, oh, I could pay this. It'll save for this later. Yes. Even for someone that's been part of the business world for a long time, I've heard a lot of these terms. But I depend on my financial planning friends and my planner himself just to tell me what I need to do. Right. Our focus is more on instead of your financial planner telling you what to do that you receive the education and then you can tell them what you need and what you want. Yeah, but they're paid to do that. Yes. But who cares more about your finances? Yeah, I do. Them or you? Them and my kids. Okay. So World Financial Group. Tell me more about World Financial Group as a whole. World Financial Group is owned by Transamerica Financial Company and World System Builder is actually a group that exists within World Financial Group and we concentrate on financial education. And our goal is actually to educate one million families by 2020. How far along that goal? Far. But we keep working on it. Yes. So million families by 2020. Yes. Because when you think about it, can you think of even one person that you feel does not deserve financial education? Everyone deserves it. Everyone deserves it. Because you need to know where your money is going to be spent, how to spend it, how to save it. Yes. So recently, I think you shared with me the other day the statistic about who out there doesn't actually have a savings account. It was 69%. Is that correct? Yes. I believe so. So you're saying that 69% of Americans don't have a savings account? Uh, yes. About there. Wow. So that leads me to think that everyone's living paycheck to paycheck. Not exactly saving. Yeah, definitely. Well, 39% carry credit card debt from month to month. Yes. I think a lot of people do. They do. Especially here in Hawaii. More so. Yeah. The cost of living here is so high. I was on the mainland recently. A gallon of milk was $2.25. I go in a safe way here. It's already $7. Yes. And it's like, whoa. I know. Okay. So you shared some other statistics. Can you share other things with us? Yeah. About 33% or more than 77 million of Americans don't pay their bills on time. Yeah. I'm sure the numbers. I had to actually pause on that. Like that many people don't pay their bills on time. That many people. Yes. Wow. Yeah. It's a staggering number. It is. Yeah. It's a huge deal. And it's scary. So we really want to educate our children to, you know, not follow in those footsteps. It's a wonder why a lot of banks, institutions take a long time just to give an answer. If you want to get a car loan or a mortgage, I mean, go back to the early 2000s. If you're breathing and had a job, you can get a car. Oh, yeah. And a lot of people got mortgages that way. Right. It was so easy. And speaking of mortgages, you know, now about half, they think it's acceptable to default on their mortgages just, you know, for the fact that they're unable to pay for it. Again, it's a number of like half of the people out there feel it's okay to default on their mortgage. Yes. Yes. As in not pay it ever again or just decide to pay it slowly instead. That's, again, that's a scary thing. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the American dream is to own a home, have a job, raise a family, and they're not paying for their homes. Yes. We're definitely in a crisis. So Wolf Financial Group was going out there and teaching everyone what it means to pay your bills on time. Yes. How does that affect your credit? Yes. And how to get out of debt and, you know, half the amount of time that you normally would. Mm-hmm. The debt program that we teach people, which doesn't cost them anything and they can do this on their own. Yeah, I might need to sign up myself. Yes, you do. Well, I do have quite a few financial planning friends and those are watching today. Yes. They're going to call me later. What do you mean you don't know? They'll be bothering. So the Trans-America, I'm trying to think that's the building in San Francisco that's iconic with the... Yes. So if you watch a lot of action movies, it's the building that always gets blown up in the movies. That's why I was familiar. That's the one. Yes. Yes. It's in San Francisco. I think the last movie I saw with it was San Andreas with the Rock. Mm-hmm. I'm tired of waiting to get down. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. I think I remember that one. Yes. So Trans-America has been around for over 100 years and World Financial Group has been around for over 20 years. And World Financial Group has started as an arm of Trans-America for the education? No. So that was created through wanting to build a new industry. And, you know, because with the traditional financial industry, you know, we lost a lot of trust in financial advisors in, you know, in every aspect of finances in the financial industry because, you know, people lost a lot of money. And so our focus became to educate people, to empower them so that they could make more informed decisions on how to help themselves and how to help their families. Yes. So you educate the people so that when they go talk to a planner or an advisor. Right. That they know what they're saying. Yes. Because we want people to become their own money that way they can decide, you know, what is right for them, what is right for their families, what is right for their own financial situation. I know a lot of financial planners do a life study now where you feel information, where you feel like you're in retirement. What's your, what are you doing now? What do you own? Is that something you go through as well? Yes. We do a personal financial strategy. And the reason why we do this, well, just to, you know, give an example. So when you go to a dental office or a doctor's office and you have to fill out a health history, because without it they don't know where to start in order to find out what your needs are and how to help you. So it's the same thing with finances. You know, you can think of us as money doctors. So in order to know where you want to go or how to get you there, we need to know where you're at. How do you do the personal financial strategy? And you had some other stats. I remember reading something else. The debt on time, it was, I forgot what it was I was going to ask you. That had to do with people just paying their bills. So you were saying that 33% of Americans don't pay their bills on time. Another 69% of Americans don't have a savings account. Yes. So where's all this wealth that America has going? I'm not sure how to answer that because, you know, it's ironic that we live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. And yet many people still have money problems. So, yeah. I know before the show we were talking about taxes. The different tax laws out there. I mean, this year I'm actually paying for the first time forever. And some people are going to be nervous. Do you cover taxes as well? Yeah, we definitely do. And in fact, we have a book called Saving Your Future. And there's actually over one million copies in print. So if, you know, I'm just going to show you real quick. If you look at our table of content, there's a lot of things that we cover about taxes. So, taxing issues, capital gains taxes, tax now, tax later, tax advantages. And, you know, just simple concepts like this that people don't really understand. They heard about it. They may think they know about it. And however they really don't. So in this book, we teach basic financial concepts that anyone from any walk of life, whether you're a stay-at-home mom or you're a Harvard graduate, you'll be able to pick up this book and educate yourself and have more of an understanding. Well, speaking of Harvard, I did see something that you teach these classes at Harvard too. Yes. So our financial workshops are actually taught at Harvard and at Columbia University and Mercer. I think I shared that with you already. And most recently, it is being offered at the FBI headquarters. Even our own FBI? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. And even to the military? Yeah. And you said locally, there's other companies that reached out to teach. You go into local companies here to teach their employees. Yes. So Kiko is one of them and another one is UHA. Yeah. Well, very good. I actually know both companies pretty well. Oh, okay. And it's impressive that someone to reach out and do that. Yes. So with UHA, it's part of their employee benefit packet. So as an employee there, they give this blue book to each and every single employee because they know that a person who has their finances in order actually makes a better employee. So I think it's quarterly, I'm not too sure, but they have people from our company go in and teach their employees. Because sometimes you have new employees coming in. Yes. Okay. So we're going to have to take a break shortly. Okay. But when we come back, let's talk about your actual job there because you're the marketing director. Okay. How do you go out there and find the people to sign up and learn things? All right. So we're going to take a short break. We'll see you back here shortly. Aloha and welcome to At the Crossroads. I'm your host, Keisha King. I'm live at five every Wednesday where we have entertaining and educational conversations that are real and relevant both here in Hawaii and across the globe. I'll see you at the Crossroads. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Dave Stevens, host of the Cyber Underground. This is where we discuss everything that relates to computers that just kind of scare you out of your mind. So come join us every week here on thinktecawaii.com, 1 p.m. on Friday afternoons. And then you can go see all our episodes on YouTube. Just look up the Cyber Underground on YouTube. All our shows will show up. And please follow us. We're always giving you current, relevant information to protect you. Keep the news safe. Aloha. Hi. Welcome back to Business in Hawaii. Joining us today in the studio is Shonda Park, director of marketing for World Financial Group. So we talked earlier about what World Financial Group does. Yes. But how do you go about your daily job, finding as a marketing director? Just sharing information. That's, you know, mainly what we do, sharing information, sharing the education. And when we share it with people, it's kind of like word of mouth. When you find something good, you end up sharing it with your own friends and family. So it's just, you know, the word and the mission continues to spread. Yeah. So you're teaching this, I read something about public libraries. Yes. You're actually setting up a little classroom? Yes. We actually have one coming up, I believe this Sunday, at the ProCity Public Library. And prior to that, we've done Waipahu, we've done Salt Lake Library, and probably more than that, but those are the ones that I can think of on the top of my head. Okay. So your approach is, reach out and educate a million families. So you're trying to be where families are. Are you there to register families that attend a class somewhere, or do you want to set up a little mini classroom wherever you land? It doesn't matter. It just depends on people's schedules because here in Hawaii people are so busy. You know, most people work two to three jobs. Some people even work four jobs. So in our office, we have our financial workshops every Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. and every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. However, there's many people that are not able to, you know, due to their schedule to come into our financial centers. So that's why we, you know, work on setting up other locations and other times to be able to accommodate this island. I come from a technical world. Have you thought about creating a simple webinar? You can log in at any time instead of live in person? We actually have a webinar for all of our members that we call into every Tuesday and Thursday morning. So we are in contact from our offices all over the United States and Canada. So, you know, we call in and we share information on how to better serve our community. Okay, so what have you done in the recent past? We met through Junior Achievement. But where else would you have been? Just so that whoever's watching this could say, oh, I remember seeing that. In terms of... Did you set up an expo, a family fun fair? No, not me personally. Not to say that another team member in our office has not, me personally, no, though. I have not. Yes. Yeah, you saved yourself from sitting under a tent in a hot sun all day. What are my favorite things to do, by the way? Awesome. Not really. Well, the best place to do it here is in Hawaii. Right? Learn about finance and paradise. Yes. So let's go back to the million family thing. Because that number just seems... We're in a billion people in the United States, whether they're here legally or not. I don't want to even go there. But a million families is a lot. It's a lot. It's doable though. We just keep sharing and we have other people who join our campaign and share in our mission. Then, you know, it's very, very doable. So how many people are actually out there doing the education piece? Well, right now we have a Facebook community and we have, I want to say, about 60,000 members. So that's just the people who are on our Facebook community. However, I know that there are many more because if I'm on the Facebook community, I may not have my family and friends on. However, they understand what I do and they spread the word as well for the financial education. Yes. Okay. I know everyone's job is... You're working a job because it's work. But what do you do for fun within a company? Because every company's got a different culture. It is. So with our company, we actually do a super trip once a year. So it's not a convention. It's not learning. It's just pure fun. So last year, last May was actually my first super trip and we went to Vietnam and Taiwan and I was able to bring my kids because, you know, they promote not just working hard, you know, but to actually have a lot of fun and to enjoy life while you can and not just think about, I'm going to work hard all these years. I'm going to travel later. So our company is huge on traveling. So, you know, Vietnam and Taiwan was just absolutely amazing. That was my first trip. I was able to bring my children and we all had such an amazing time that they, especially my son who's 12, he constantly talks about it. And this year in September, we're actually going to Israel and Greece. And so, yes. Wow. Yeah. Exotic places. Yes, yes. So how do I get in on that? I'm kidding. You can come along. You actually don't have to be part of our company to join us. Yes. So they want us to be able to share, you know, this enjoyment and this fun and this lifestyle with our friends and family. So, even if you're not part of our company, you can still join us on our super trip. But on my own dime. Yes. Shucks. It's worth it. So your company's focused on education. Obviously it's about family because you're able to bring family on these trips. Yes. What else do you do locally in the community? In terms of... Give back by volunteering, you know, going into a school, volunteering for Food Bank. Do you do anything like that as a company here? Well, us as individuals, we are all big on, you know, volunteer work. As a community, though, we've actually... We marched in front of the state capitol to mandate that, you know, financial education be brought into the public schools. So there's a lot of things that we will do, you know, on our own time and volunteer our time. And otherwise, you know, Food Bank, yes, is definitely one of them. I can't think of a lot of others, but like I said, individually, I know that people in our company give back a lot. Shout out to Ron over at the Food Bank here. Oh, okay. Food jobs coming up. Yes. So recently, something that I did just over the weekend was we went out to Kaneohe and they were having us collect donations for the homeless Kiki. And after that, we went to the Korean care home and actually passed out flowers to the seniors there, the residents, and just spent some time, you know, talking story, giving them massages, so things like that. Giving massages. Giving massages, yes. I'm going to add that to my list. Okay. So going back, Transamerica, World Financial Group, all the companies out there that's financial planning, but now you're operating in this education role. Yes. And it's, you're okay with that? Are you a financial planner yourself? I help people with solutions. I am a licensed professional, so yes. Oh, John, I didn't know that about you. Yes. So that's something I learned new today. So you are a planner yourself or an advisor? Well, once we educate people and they know what they want, they actually can sit down with me to go over their personal financial strategy. And yes, I am able to help them with solutions. That's a great business model to get into. I know a lot of companies out there are starting to adopt the education piece, educate their consumers or any buyers, and then hopefully they stay in... Yes. And we provide all of our financial workshops in a non-solicitous manner. So it's up to the individual because our financial workshops are free, whether you come into our financial center or if we bring it out into the community. So they are not obligated to us. I'm looking at the cover of your book. I don't even see anything on there that says financial planning. Yes. No, it doesn't. So it's purely educational. It's purely education. That's awesome. Yes. So do other financial planners refer anybody to you to educate or help their own clients? Not to me personally. It hasn't been done before that. I'm not sure. I would definitely take advantage of that. Oh, yeah. Have your financial planner call me. It's just... I probably will. He'll like that. Yes. We can educate all his clients. You didn't have him come back, but... Yes, exactly. The whole education piece, I know within my own company, that's how we've been operating. Okay. Let's educate you as much as possible so that when time comes to make a decision, you are informed and you can make that decision. Yes. So that's the model that you're going with. I totally agree. Yes. I see a future for that because everyone's too busy buried in their tablets or their phones to actually think about other things. So they're going to need something. Yes. We really put it in their mind and we also stress the part of not just coming in to learn but actually applying this knowledge because if you just come in and you learn this information, you don't apply it into your own life it's basically useless information. Yeah, unfortunately, my mind's got a lot of useless information in it. Applied knowledge is key. That's the key word, applied. Yes. I just have a lot of knowledge that doesn't do anything. Okay. So if you had two minutes to tear me what you want our viewers to know, what would it be? In terms of... Anything could be about what you teach. If you want to flip through a couple of pages and point something out because capital gains is one of the words you used earlier. It's listed in your book. And you hear all the time in news in the past. Okay. Capital gains tax. Right. They want to increase that. They want to increase this tax. So I think I'll just go with something simple here. And this is a financial foundation. So we teach people how to build a strong financial foundation. So I like to relate this to dental. So I like to relate this to teeth. So some people will ask, oh, I want to do whitening or I want to get veneers and what do you think about that? And I say, well, how's your gums and your bone? And if they can't answer that, I say check that out first because why would you want to spend all this money on top if your gum and bones are not going to hold? So it's, you know, it doesn't make sense to make that investment. And so same like with homes, right? If you're thinking of building this mansion, you want to know, is it going to be built on a solid foundation? You don't want to build it on and then place it on quicksand, right? So it's the same here. So the first step is protection. You need to have proper protection. And then we teach people about debt management. So again, helping people get out of their debt in half the time or maybe even less. And then setting up an emergency fund, you know, because emergencies, as we all know is inevitable, right? And then investment from there. So when people, they don't have this basic understanding, a lot of people will jump into investment first. And we feel that's, you know, the ones that will actually lose a lot of money because they didn't build it from the ground up. They didn't do it right. Yes. If you jump into investment first, a lot of people are prepared to lose it. Because investment is not guaranteed. Right. Yes, it's not. Very good. That's just one of very many, many concepts that we have. Actually it's a great foundation. I love how you use teeth because I do know you used to be a dental hygienist. Yes. It works out well with that. Because I was just thinking about a house foundation and you built up. You used teeth. It was kind of cool. Thank you. Well, unfortunately we're out of time. Okay. I want to thank you, Shonda, for coming to us today. If you'd like to be a guest on our show, please feel free to e-mail your information at shows at ThinkTekHawaii.com. Business in Hawaii airs every Thursday at 2 p.m. We're looking forward to seeing you here next week.