Older Entrepreneurs Rewrite Retirement Rules
President Bush turned 60 Thursday. If he’s wondering what to do in the years after he leaves office, he might take some ideas from the finalists for the Purpose Prize, a new award that recognizes older Americans who start innovative projects aimed at helping others.Robert Chambers is one of the 15 prize finalists. He’s a 61-year-old former car salesman in Lebanon, N.H., who decided he wanted to help low-income car buyers after watching scores of them get scammed by car dealers.
“When I worked in the car dealership I got sick and tired of watching low-income individuals get taken advantage of,” Chambers said.
Chambers now runs a nonprofit organization that arranges low-interest-rate auto loans and provides financial-education workshops for low-income people.
Often, their lack of good credit forces them to buy from car lots selling older used cars at steep profits. And, Chambers said, low-income people routinely pay steep interest rates on their auto loans. “Every week we see people that are paying 25%.”
Since 2001, Chambers’ nonprofit venture — Bonnie CLAC (for “car loans and counseling”) — has put new cars into the hands of 750 low-income people, all of whom also went through personal-finance classes.
Terry on July 16th, 2006 8:39 pm
Great to see someone help out those people who have trouble handling their personal finances. It’s hard to imagine people paying 25% on a loan.
I recently built a website for a car dealership that caters to bad credit applicants. Because I handle the database for the application forms, I see how badly some people mess up their finances.
Why don’t they teach responsible money management in highschool?
-Terry
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