Grant Cardone Says This Childhood Moment Shaped His View of Money
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Karen Doyle
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Rebekah Evans
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Grant Cardone is a private equity fund manager, real estate investor, CEO of Cardone Capital and Cardone Training Technologies, Inc. and best-selling author of “The 10X Rule” and other books. He’s an expert on how to make money and he points to one moment in his childhood that shaped his view of money.
Here’s what you need to know about the childhood moment that shaped Grant Cardone’s view of money.
Money Meant Control, Even at Age Eight
In an interview with “First Things Thirst,” Cardone explained that he knew at a young age where his life would take him. “Eight years old, I was like, I am going to get rich,” Cardone said. “Everybody that had control of their environment had money. The people that didn’t have money, didn’t have control.
“My dad was a stock broker. He’s the one that drove the car. He’s the one that paid the bills. He’s the one that decided where we lived. He’s the one that had access to we got bicycles or not,” he added. “Whoever’s got the money, has control. I was like, I want to be that guy. It wasn’t the money I wanted. It was the control I wanted. I wanted to be able to make the decisions.”
A Quarter Changed Everything
Cardone went on to explain an incident that made it all clear to him.
“My dad gave me a quarter. And he only lived till I was ten. So, I would lose him, like a year and a half later. But, like eight, eight and half years old. He wants us out of the house, cause he’s having drinks with his friend,” Cardone said.
“He gives me and my brother a quarter. It was a big deal. I’m like, I’m a baller, a shot caller. So we go to the store and we can walk to the store, like three blocks and I’m flipping my quarter, I got all my swag on. I flipped the quarter and the quarter goes into this big manhole and I lost the damn quarter. I’m literally on my hands and knees trying to find this quarter. I’m going crazy. Cuz now my brother’s got a quarter to buy candy and I don’t.
“I went back home and I was crying,” Cardone said. “Told my father what happened. He was like, ‘Don’t play with money again!’ And that hit me so hard. And then my grandfather grabbed me. My grandfather was a gambler. He had drug problems his whole life. He lived in America 80 years without papers so everything he did was on the sly. My grandfather either had ten grand on him or he had nothing. It was either one or the other. He said, ‘Son, your dad said never play with money. I want to teach you another lesson. Another possible lesson that you could consider. Never go anyplace with one quarter.'”
Scarcity and Abundance
Even at eight years old, Cardone understood these two messages.
“So, now I had these two messages,” he said. “One was, don’t play with money. That was scarcity. And this other one was abundance. And these two messages would haunt me throughout the rest of my life. I take money very seriously. Because I think how you treat money is how your money’s going to treat you. And how I treat your money is how that money treats me. I really pay attention to money. I respect it. I think it’s really important to respect it. And not get consumed by it either. I don’t spend a lot of money on anything.”
The lesson the Grant Cardone learned at eight years old is one that many people don’t learn until they are adults — or ever. Learning not to play with money and having respect for it, will help ensure that you won’t need to go anywhere with just one quarter. Understanding and abiding by the lesson of scarcity — that money is worthy of respect — will lead you to abundance. But even then, when you’ve earned and saved enough to buy what you want, making the right choices with that money and using it only for that which is important to you, will keep you in that place of abundance.
It’s unlikely that it’s a coincidence that a child who learned this kind of real-life money lesson at the age of eight is now a money guru who teaches other how to get rich.
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