When Muscle and Health’s Editor-in-Chief, Danni Levy scored a one-to-one with trillionaire-in-the-making Grant Cardone, she wasn’t expecting to hear that following your passion and saving your dough isn’t the way forward to amass generational wealth. Cast aside your doubt, though, because this dude has his own personal private jet… and it might just be the most profound fiscal intel we’ve heard.
With a net worth of $1.5 billion and real estate assets of $5.2 billion, when it comes to handing out financial advice, Grant Cardone can literally put his money where his mouth is. So, if he’s saying crypto, pursuing your passion, and saving is out, we’re all ears.
“Anyone has the potential to ‘get rich’, but the biggest problem for most people is they’ve been miseducated,” he begins. “We are an overeducated, overinformed society. Data is everywhere- there is too much conflicting data that confuses.
“I spend a lot of my time stripping away information from people that are not helping them. People shouldn’t be poor; people should be in good health. The majority of the population don’t have money or good health because people have been misinformed and educated in a manner that causes them to be in poor financial and physical health,” he muses.
“Big pharma wants to keep you sick; they benefit from that. Politicians want you to hate the opposition. The salon wants you to get a haircut. If you ask them if you need a haircut or a color, they will say, ‘Yes, you do. And I’m your person to do it.’
I Made A Lot Of Money
“I make a lot of money; we do hundreds of millions of dollars a year on the internet. We’ve done a billion dollars worth of sales in educational products over the internet. I’ve made more money than some Ivy League schools have by educating people about finance, sales, marketing, social media, and real estate investing. But, at the same time, 80% of my time is spent where there’s no money transacted. There are thousands of hours of content on the internet that I’ve produced, and while I’ve not done that to make money, it does monetize at some point because some people see a piece I’ll do on real estate, and they’re like, ‘I want to learn more from this guy.’”
To safeguard against the turbulent economy, Grant adopts a progressive stance on saving and debt, which effectively allows him to mitigate the effects of inflation and the instability of risky investments.
Credit Score & Debt
“When I was 25 years old, I didn’t even know what debt was,” he says. “I didn’t know how to get a loan. I had a bad credit score, and nobody trusted me. I had no confidence. I’d lost seven jobs. Money was very expensive back then, but I couldn’t get it anyway, so it didn’t matter. Today, comparatively, money is very cheap. I have around $2 billion worth of debt today. It’s all good debt, and I’m happy to have it. I like my debt, and it’s my friend. I don’t have any bad debt. Once you get money and you don’t need it, everybody wants to give you some. When you need it, nobody wants to talk to you.
“Saving is one of the greatest lies on planet earth. The idea that you should save money is completely ridiculous, which the banks perpetuated. The banks promoted saving money because when you save money in a bank account, it is your asset. It is no longer your asset. You go to work and trade time for money. You get the money, take it to Barclays, and they give you a free checking account. Nice of them. They pay you nothing to keep your money there, and then they call people like me and say, ‘Mr. Cardone, would you like to borrow some money?’ They then lend me your money, and I create wealth with it. What you should be doing is investing in something that produces more money. I don’t want money, and I want assets. I trade cash for assets that produce money without me putting in the time. Saving money is a scam.”
Key to Grant’s wealth accumulation is real estate, a consistent investment that negates the more tempestuous risks of intangible investment options. He loves real estate almost as much as his kids.
I Love Consistency
“I love real estate because it never disappoints me,” he says. “It is a great wealth builder that will take care of my family, my charities, and the things that I love a hundred years after I die. It can last longer than my physical body can. When I die, many of my businesses will probably start to dwindle without me sailing the ship, but real estate will continue to go on, regardless of whether I’m there or not. I love the leverage, I love the wealth building, I love the consistency, and I love the tax advantages. I love real estate almost as much as I love my kids.”
With levels of abundance most can only dream of, Grant’s the guy to answer if money can make you happy.
“The people who say money won’t make you happy are those who’ve never had money. Forget passion; you make enough money, and I guarantee you’ll celebrate for weeks.
“Equity is dead money,” he says. “Unless you’re rich and think you’re going to make a bunch of money on it, or you have so much passive income from other investments you can afford it, don’t buy a house. If you’re wealthy, you can do whatever you want, and the rules no longer apply. But if you’re trying to create wealth, buying a house is not wise. Despite popular misconception, homes have been very poor investments for the past hundred years. Just 1% is the return on homes a year.
“When I say the equity’s dead, the money’s stuck in the house. If you put 50% down on the house, the money lies dormant, earning nothing. And then you have to feed it. It’s not a golden goose. If you buy a golden goose, the golden goose should give you eggs.
“I like helping people. I like educating people, I like waking them up and giving people something to think about.”
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