Background / Qualifications
Paul Richard, since 1984, served as vice president-director of education for the nonprofit, Institute of Consumer Financial Education (ICFE) a/k/a  the National Center for Financial Education (NCFE).
He received the Registered Financial Consultant (RFC) designation in October 2001.  He was designated as a "Certified Consumer Interviewer on the Fair Credit Reporting Act, in August 2002 by the Consumer Data Industries Association.

He was creator of the DOLLARPLAN Personal Finance Courses, which is now known as the ICFE's "Money Instruction Book."  The course is made available through community colleges, adult education programs, credit unions, etc. As part of the personal finance course, he has trained a nationwide corps of over 450 financial and insurance planners as personal finance course instructors. He also established the ICFE's Speakers Bureau.

In 1988 he created warning stickers for credit cards: "WARNING: Overuse Can Be Dangerous To Your Wealth!"  There are now over 1 million stickers distributed internationally.   In 1989,  he developed the "Do-It-Yourself Credit Repair Kit", now known as the ICFE's  "Do-It-Yourself Credit File Correction Guide" with over 50,000 in use.  In 1990 he co-created the ICFE's "Credit Card Condom," also with over a million in circulation, they have been featured on ABC's Good Morning America, CBS and NBC Nightly news, the Wall Street Journal and many other medias.  In 1996 he served as the technical consultant to the producers of ABC's Schoolhouse Rock, "Money Rock" video, featuring seven song about money.  He edited the nationally recognized and often quoted newsletter: "The MOTIVATOR." He established the ICFE's presence on the internet in 1996 at www.icfe.info.

In March 2001 he reintroduced "Credit Card Warning Labels" in three new versions: "WARNING: Overuse is Dangerous"   "Should I Charge It?" and "Can I Afford It?"  In  May  2001 the ICFE introduced new label:  "If You Can Eat It, Drink It, or Wear It, It is NOT an  EMERGENCY!"  Beginning in 2001, he was appointed a personal management education (PME) presenter for the U.S. Navy and Marines giving his "Spend Yourself Rich" talk before enlisted military members at Camp Pendleton and Miramar MCAS, California sponsored by the Navy-Marine Association.

He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Jump$tart Coalition for Financial Literacy for Youth, and he serves on a task force at San Diego State University called "California
Student Debt Resource and Awareness Project".  He is a member of the San Diego Advisory Board for Springboard, nonprofit consumer credit management.  He serves on the organizing committee of San Diego Saves, an off shoot of America Saves.