Kiplinger Q&A: Hill Harper

TV and film actor (ABC's "The Good Doctor," CBS's "CSI: NY" and Columbia Pictures' "Concussion") and author Hill Harper sees a void in the lesson plans for today's students ("We don't teach money," he laments) and believes celebrity influencers like himself should fill the gaps. That's a big reason he started his nonprofit organization Manifest Your Destiny, which works with youth in underserved communities in the Los Angeles area. Recently, this personal mission led Harper to partner with Experian's Boost America program, which encourages consumers with little or no credit history to input positive payment information into their Experian credit report using current utility or phone bills. This information is then factored into their overall FICO score, which helps increase their credit scores in real time.

We recently spoke with Harper about the partnership, the importance of proper money management, his personal finance book and his passion for giving back to the community.

Here's an edited transcript of our interview.

Why did you decide to partner with Experian for their Boost America campaign?

Hill Harper: With my foundation, financial literacy and financial empowerment are two of the biggest issues we have been working on consistently. When I