March 3, 2023 • 17 mins
In this episode (S2, E9) of the Wisdom for Business and Life podcast, reacting to Grant Cardone and Peter Thiel, who claim that single-digit millionaires are not "truly wealthy," host Levi Brackman talks about genuine wealth. What does it mean to be wealthy? How much money do you need to be considered well-off? Should we consider those who are never happy with what they have to be rich? Levi argues that the people who worship money and seek wealth for their own sake may lack meaning and purpose in life, which requires goals that serve a purpose beyond the self. Levi argues that while making money is to be encouraged as a means to an end, the ultimate goal should be to pursue achievements that serve a purpose beyond the self; money that follows any higher achievement is a bonus. But ultimately, a true sense of wealth comes from within, not from a number derived from net worth.
Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is Lavy Brackman with theWisdom for Business and Life
Podcast.
Thank you so much for joining meonce again.
Today I am going solo and I'dlike to talk about something
which.
Really bothered me when I readit today.
As many of you know, I'm the CEOof a company called Invo.
We are the marketplace realestate equity, where we help
(00:22):
sponsors raise money from theinvesting public, and we help
the investing public get intoreal estate deals and invest in
them that they otherwise may notbe able to on their.
Or without a marketplace such asinvo.
So because of that, I am prettymuch involved in the real estate
(00:43):
space and I know a lot of realestate sponsors and people
who've done very well in realestate.
Now, grant Cardone is one ofthose people, and he's very much
out there and spends a hugeamount of money of marketing,
marketing himself, and marketinghis real estate deals to the
general public and all of thatis great.
But he said something this week,which really caught my attention
and I thought I would speakabout because it's really, the
(01:05):
antithesis of everything, whichI know to be wise and important
in life.
And sometimes you have peopleout there who say things, which
I think are just destructive andnegative, and one needs to stand
up and say so.
So one of the things which hewas reported to have said is
that people who are single digitmillionaires, this is a new
concept for me.
Single digit millionaires arepeople who have between one and
(01:29):
$9 million.
He said that's the new middleclass.
Once upon a time you had themiddle class, and then the
millionaire class people hadmillions of dollars, and he's
saying that now.
If you don't have at least 10million, then you're not in the
wealthy class.
You're now just in the middleclass class.
And he said, those people arenot wealthy, rather they are
(01:50):
worried.
It means that those are peoplewho are worried that they won't
have enough money to live, and,they will lose all of their
money and therefore they're notwealthy, rather they are worried
And therefore, portrayinghimself as being this mega
wealthy guy and, follow me,become mega wealthy like I am.
Wealth in itself is a, a finething.
It's good to have a lot ofmoney, especially if you're
(02:13):
gonna do a lot of good thingswith that money.
And it's even, I think, positiveto aspire to make a lot of
money.
Why not?
There's no reason why one shouldaspire to be poor.
The problem I think here iswhere there is a certain
condescension Towards people whohave less money.
So, people who have only betweenone and$9 million.
(02:36):
If you're not like me, saysGrant Cardone, then you're not
really wealthy, you are justworried, worried that you're
gonna lose your money.
Well, if you want to be like me,grant Cardone would say, you
need at least$10 million ormore.
So it's really condescending,and being condescending is never
good.
But if he was right, that wouldbe one thing he's simply wrong
about this.
(02:57):
And here are a number ofreasons.
First of all, wealth really isnot about a number.
It's about a state of mind.
If you have.
then you could be wealthy.
As a matter of fact, I'vediscussed in this podcast
multiple times, it says, inethics of the fathers it asks
who is wealthy?
(03:17):
And the answer is, he was happywith his lot as someone who
says, I have enough, it doesn'tmean you're satisfied with it.
It doesn't mean that you mightnot want more, but you are
happy.
What you have is enough for.
So wealth has to do with whetheryou feel you have enough or not.
It's not really a number.
As a matter of fact, I wouldargue that based on that,
(03:39):
someone like Grant Cardone, whoobviously doesn't feel that he
has enough, is not wealthyhimself.
Someone who feels they haveenough, they're happy with their
lot, they're the ones who arewealthy.
Wealthy is a state of mind.
Do I have enough or not?
If you feel you have enough,then you feel good in.
Now you're wealthy.
But if you never feel you haveenough, you're always wanting
more.
(04:00):
You're always seeking moremoney.
More money.
It never fills that hole insideyou, then, you're not really
wealthy.
So I would argue, and I wouldretort back to Grant Cardone and
I would say you're not reallywealthy.
You think you're wealthy, butyou're not.
You are the one who's worried.
A lot of people who have a lotless mind than you are not
worried at all.
(04:21):
So that's the first thing Iwould say to him.
The second thing I would say isthat even if you want to get
into the details of it, wealthis really the delta or the
difference between how much youuse and how much you bring in.
So if you have a very fancy andextravagant lifestyle, Which
(04:41):
costs a huge amount of money.
Even if you're making a hugeamount of money, it doesn't
matter.
You're spending it every singlemonth, so you still feel
squeezed.
As a matter of fact, I know andknew very, very wealthy people
who always felt squeezed Theseguys were making huge amounts of
money, but the moment they mademore money, they spent more
(05:02):
money.
I remember one very wealthyfriend of mine telling me one
thing I can guarantee you if youdon't watch out is that no
matter how much money you make,you'll spend every single penny
of it.
So you need to be very careful.
So it's a mindset.
If your mindset is that youspend.
Less than you bring in and youconsistently do that, then you
(05:23):
can feel wealthy because there'sa gap there.
That's where the comfort is.
The comfort is in that gap.
But if you're the kind of personwho always spends as much as you
bring in, no matter how much youbring in, no matter how much
money you have, you still fillthe squeezes on.
So if you need 10 million amonth to live off, then you
might need a hundred or$200million in the bank making money
(05:45):
for you.
Otherwise, you're gonna startbiting into that actual capital
that is making money for you andyou're gonna feel, ma.
But if you have only a milliondollars, so you are a single
digit millionaire and you'remaking 10% of.
and now you're bring in ahundred thousand dollars a year,
but your cost of living and yourlife suddenly cost you$90,000.
(06:10):
You've got the extra$10,000 ayear.
You might feel wealthy, youmight feel even wealthy.
I think Grant Cardone feels.
So that's another reallyimportant thing to take into
consideration, that wealth isreally the delta between how
much you make and how much youspend.
It's not really a number, it'sthe delta between how much you.
And how much to make.
(06:32):
The other thing I would say isthat there's nothing wrong with
being in the middle class, as amatter of fact.
It's wonderful to be in themiddle class for a lot of
people.
They've got respectable jobs.
They make an honest living andthey might be doing something
deeply meaningful with theirlife.
There's plenty of teachers,nurses, academics, scientists
and artists, et cetera, and onand on.
(06:53):
Lawyers, doctors who.
Are deeply in the middle class.
They might not be even singledigit millionaires, but they're
doing something deeplymeaningful.
They're contributing to theworld and they're making a
living out of it.
That's great.
They're not worried.
They feel good about their life,Mr.
Cardone, probably they're lessworried than you are and they
(07:17):
probably have a much moresatisfying life than.
And finally, it's reallyimportant to add here something
else, and that is that there isan obsession in the United
States with wealth and the superwealthy.
there's a certain worshiping ofmoney that goes on, which I, I
(07:38):
don't think is America's mostadmirable quality.
There are plenty of admirablequalities that the United States
has.
This is a meritocracy in manyways, and this is a country
where, people are kind to eachother and good to each other,
and it's a country which hastremendous values of kindness
(07:59):
and goodness.
And also is willing to sacrificeitself for the benefit of others
and those which are lessfortunate than itself.
But the admiration for the megawealthy is not one of its most
admirable qualities.
So what should one focus on, ifnot wealth?
(08:19):
Well, what aboutaccomplishments?
Now, sometimes people who havehuge accomplishments, huge money
comes with that as well.
So people who start a companyand that company becomes
unbelievably successful.
Think about someone like BillGates who started Microsoft and
created this.
Tremendously huge company, whichnetted him a huge amount of
(08:43):
money.
He was the wealthiest man in theworld for a very long time
because of that.
And then after that he took allhis money and put it in the
charity and will give it allaway in his lifetime.
But, This was a man who had hugeaccomplishments and huge
accomplishments led to hugeamount of money.
But not all huge accomplishmentslead to a huge amount of money.
You could have a tremendous,output of academic work, and
(09:07):
that won't make you a lot ofmoney.
You can be the best nurse.
In a hospital or even in acountry that won't make you a
huge amount of money, you can bethe best teacher and the best
teacher won't necessarily makeyou a lot of money there they
might make you more money thanyour peers, but you're never
gonna become a billionaire frombeing a best, the best teacher
or a billionaire from being thebest nurse.
(09:28):
Also in art, very, very.
To, even if you're a very goodartist to become mega wealthy,
it doesn't mean you won't make adecent living, but we're talking
about tens of millions.
No, you probably won't makethat.
But if you focus onaccomplishments, what can you
accomplish?
What can you contribute andbecome the best at whatever you
are passionate about becomingthe best outbound or giving
(09:51):
back, contributing in a waywhich is uniquely.
That is something that oneshould focus on and try to
reach.
So we should admireaccomplishment much more than we
should admire money.
Now all this being said, it isimportant to note that wealth
(10:12):
and, the pursuit of making moneyis not a ne negative, but when
pursuing money is put up on apedestal and worship, almost
above all else, then that issomething which one shouldn't
encourage or focus upon.
(10:32):
Instead, one should see money asan outcome of accomplishments,
when money would be thatoutcome.
This leads me to the question ofwhy do people focus on money and
the mega wealthy?
Why?
That people admire wealth andthe mega wealthy so much, and
(10:54):
why do people sacrifice so muchto pursue money and all the
trappings that seem to cometogether with this money.
When I think about that deeply,it occurs to me that there are
so many things monk can spendone time pursuing in life,
things which are deeply me.
There's scholarship, knowledge,mysticism, helping other people.
(11:21):
The environment, nationalism,politics.
There are so many things thatone could pursue in life, which
could be deeply fulfilling andincredibly interesting.
Why the pursuit of money and.
Money itself is, a tool.
(11:42):
It really isn't anything of itsown.
It's a representation ofsomething.
It can enable you to do things,to create things, and it can
also bestow great power and itcan also buy things which will
make other people think that youare special or success.
(12:05):
in the end of the day, though,it does isn't, it isn't anything
in itself.
It doesn't have any intrinsicvalue and therefore the pursuit
of it for itself tells mesomething about the individual.
My monies talks about this andthe guide for the perplexed
where he thinks that the focus.
(12:26):
Effort of a human in making moremoney or in the pursuit of
business is almost a total wasteof the special attributes that a
human has.
Humans were bestowed withintelligence.
We were bestowed withconsciousness and ability to
(12:47):
have self-agency and selfdeterminism, and that's
different all other creaturesthat we know of at least.
So humans have these specialattributes and qualities that
other creatures and other beingsdo not have.
(13:07):
And as such, we can use thoseattributes in multiple ways.
Well, if they're just used forsomething which doesn't have any
intrinsic value in and of itselfjust for money, and then that
money is used forself-aggrandizement, for greater
physical pleasure than accordingmy monies.
Not only are we not.
(13:32):
Better than animals.
We're actually worse thananimals because animals don't
have the ability to transcendtheir animalistic instinct and
nature.
Whereas humans, we uniquely doand can do that.
And if we don't, and all we dois spend our time in the pursuit
of money and greater physicalpleasures, and we use our
(13:54):
intellect, which can be used tounderstand the nature of all.
Instead, we are using it for thepursuit of money and the pursuit
of self grander and the pursuitof self-gratification that he
thinks makes us not just knowbetter than animals, but
actually worse than animals.
(14:15):
And therefore that whole conceptof then worshiping is people who
that's their pursuit.
All they're trying to do is makemore money, and then they tell
other people, well, you need tomake more money and more money.
Again, there's nothing wrongwith money.
I think it's fine to have a lotof money, but money for money's
sake or money just to be able togain greater pleasures.
(14:38):
One has to ask why.
Why aren't you seeking somethingwhich is more meaningful than
that?
Why aren't you seeking somethingwhich is greater and has a
higher purpose than that?
Why aren't you seeking somethingwhich is uniquely human?
You have those attributes, thatability to pursue greater
things, things great than.
Why are you just spending allthat effort just on making
(15:01):
money?
So as a matter of fact, when youtake all that together, you look
at a guy like Grant Cardone,who's, yes, he's accomplished
tremendous things, but all inthe pursuit of making money and
for telling everyone how muchmoney he's made and how good he
isn't making money.
And then has these major eventsto tell other people how to make
more money like he's made andhow to become as wealthy is he
is.
(15:21):
And then, that kind ofcondescend attitude to people
who don't make as much money ashim.
Well, I think the oppositeshould happen.
People should look at a personlike him and feel sorry for him.
Seriously, just feel sorry forsomeone like him because he's
missed it in a big way.
He doesn't understand what itmeans to be uniquely human, and
(15:43):
he's living a.
In an animalistic way, and thentrying to convince everyone else
to live the same hedonisticlifestyle that he lives.
Not only is it not respectable,but it's to be pitied.
So I would say to someone likeGrant Cardone, first of all, I'm
not sure that you are trulywealthy.
Second of all, don't talk insuch a condescending way towards
(16:07):
people who are doing things inlife which are meaningful and
pursuing a lifestyle and a pathin life which is uniquely human.
And you, sir Mr.
Cardone, you should really beworried, and I'm sure you are
really worried because anyonewho your entire makeup and your
(16:31):
entire self-worth is based inyour net worth.
You must be truly worried thatat some point someone will take
that away from you.
The best I can say is don'tlisten to this man.
There's a lot more to life thanmaking money.
There's nothing wrong withhaving a lot of money.
I think it's wonderful to have alot of money, especially if
(16:52):
you're gonna do good things withit, especially if it's a
reflection of something which isa true accomplishment, which
achieved that money, but moneyfor its own sake to get a net
worth, which is a certaindollar.
Really not worth it.
This has been La Brackman withthe Wisdom of Business and Life
podcast.
(17:12):
I hope this has been helpful foryou this week and next week we
have a special guest.
Uh, but till then, have awonderful, wonderful day.
This is Lavy Brackman with theWisdom for Business and Life
Podcast.
Thank you so much for joining meonce again.
Today I am going solo and I'dlike to talk about something
which.
Really bothered me when I readit today.
As many of you know, I'm the CEOof a company called Invo.
We are the marketplace realestate equity, where we help
(00:22):
sponsors raise money from theinvesting public, and we help
the investing public get intoreal estate deals and invest in
them that they otherwise may notbe able to on their.
Or without a marketplace such asinvo.
So because of that, I am prettymuch involved in the real estate
(00:43):
space and I know a lot of realestate sponsors and people
who've done very well in realestate.
Now, grant Cardone is one ofthose people, and he's very much
out there and spends a hugeamount of money of marketing,
marketing himself, and marketinghis real estate deals to the
general public and all of thatis great.
But he said something this week,which really caught my attention
and I thought I would speakabout because it's really, the
(01:05):
antithesis of everything, whichI know to be wise and important
in life.
And sometimes you have peopleout there who say things, which
I think are just destructive andnegative, and one needs to stand
up and say so.
So one of the things which hewas reported to have said is
that people who are single digitmillionaires, this is a new
concept for me.
Single digit millionaires arepeople who have between one and
(01:29):
$9 million.
He said that's the new middleclass.
Once upon a time you had themiddle class, and then the
millionaire class people hadmillions of dollars, and he's
saying that now.
If you don't have at least 10million, then you're not in the
wealthy class.
You're now just in the middleclass class.
And he said, those people arenot wealthy, rather they are
(01:50):
worried.
It means that those are peoplewho are worried that they won't
have enough money to live, and,they will lose all of their
money and therefore they're notwealthy, rather they are worried
And therefore, portrayinghimself as being this mega
wealthy guy and, follow me,become mega wealthy like I am.
Wealth in itself is a, a finething.
It's good to have a lot ofmoney, especially if you're
(02:13):
gonna do a lot of good thingswith that money.
And it's even, I think, positiveto aspire to make a lot of
money.
Why not?
There's no reason why one shouldaspire to be poor.
The problem I think here iswhere there is a certain
condescension Towards people whohave less money.
So, people who have only betweenone and$9 million.
(02:36):
If you're not like me, saysGrant Cardone, then you're not
really wealthy, you are justworried, worried that you're
gonna lose your money.
Well, if you want to be like me,grant Cardone would say, you
need at least$10 million ormore.
So it's really condescending,and being condescending is never
good.
But if he was right, that wouldbe one thing he's simply wrong
about this.
(02:57):
And here are a number ofreasons.
First of all, wealth really isnot about a number.
It's about a state of mind.
If you have.
then you could be wealthy.
As a matter of fact, I'vediscussed in this podcast
multiple times, it says, inethics of the fathers it asks
who is wealthy?
(03:17):
And the answer is, he was happywith his lot as someone who
says, I have enough, it doesn'tmean you're satisfied with it.
It doesn't mean that you mightnot want more, but you are
happy.
What you have is enough for.
So wealth has to do with whetheryou feel you have enough or not.
It's not really a number.
As a matter of fact, I wouldargue that based on that,
(03:39):
someone like Grant Cardone, whoobviously doesn't feel that he
has enough, is not wealthyhimself.
Someone who feels they haveenough, they're happy with their
lot, they're the ones who arewealthy.
Wealthy is a state of mind.
Do I have enough or not?
If you feel you have enough,then you feel good in.
Now you're wealthy.
But if you never feel you haveenough, you're always wanting
more.
(04:00):
You're always seeking moremoney.
More money.
It never fills that hole insideyou, then, you're not really
wealthy.
So I would argue, and I wouldretort back to Grant Cardone and
I would say you're not reallywealthy.
You think you're wealthy, butyou're not.
You are the one who's worried.
A lot of people who have a lotless mind than you are not
worried at all.
(04:21):
So that's the first thing Iwould say to him.
The second thing I would say isthat even if you want to get
into the details of it, wealthis really the delta or the
difference between how much youuse and how much you bring in.
So if you have a very fancy andextravagant lifestyle, Which
(04:41):
costs a huge amount of money.
Even if you're making a hugeamount of money, it doesn't
matter.
You're spending it every singlemonth, so you still feel
squeezed.
As a matter of fact, I know andknew very, very wealthy people
who always felt squeezed Theseguys were making huge amounts of
money, but the moment they mademore money, they spent more
(05:02):
money.
I remember one very wealthyfriend of mine telling me one
thing I can guarantee you if youdon't watch out is that no
matter how much money you make,you'll spend every single penny
of it.
So you need to be very careful.
So it's a mindset.
If your mindset is that youspend.
Less than you bring in and youconsistently do that, then you
(05:23):
can feel wealthy because there'sa gap there.
That's where the comfort is.
The comfort is in that gap.
But if you're the kind of personwho always spends as much as you
bring in, no matter how much youbring in, no matter how much
money you have, you still fillthe squeezes on.
So if you need 10 million amonth to live off, then you
might need a hundred or$200million in the bank making money
(05:45):
for you.
Otherwise, you're gonna startbiting into that actual capital
that is making money for you andyou're gonna feel, ma.
But if you have only a milliondollars, so you are a single
digit millionaire and you'remaking 10% of.
and now you're bring in ahundred thousand dollars a year,
but your cost of living and yourlife suddenly cost you$90,000.
(06:10):
You've got the extra$10,000 ayear.
You might feel wealthy, youmight feel even wealthy.
I think Grant Cardone feels.
So that's another reallyimportant thing to take into
consideration, that wealth isreally the delta between how
much you make and how much youspend.
It's not really a number, it'sthe delta between how much you.
And how much to make.
(06:32):
The other thing I would say isthat there's nothing wrong with
being in the middle class, as amatter of fact.
It's wonderful to be in themiddle class for a lot of
people.
They've got respectable jobs.
They make an honest living andthey might be doing something
deeply meaningful with theirlife.
There's plenty of teachers,nurses, academics, scientists
and artists, et cetera, and onand on.
(06:53):
Lawyers, doctors who.
Are deeply in the middle class.
They might not be even singledigit millionaires, but they're
doing something deeplymeaningful.
They're contributing to theworld and they're making a
living out of it.
That's great.
They're not worried.
They feel good about their life,Mr.
Cardone, probably they're lessworried than you are and they
(07:17):
probably have a much moresatisfying life than.
And finally, it's reallyimportant to add here something
else, and that is that there isan obsession in the United
States with wealth and the superwealthy.
there's a certain worshiping ofmoney that goes on, which I, I
(07:38):
don't think is America's mostadmirable quality.
There are plenty of admirablequalities that the United States
has.
This is a meritocracy in manyways, and this is a country
where, people are kind to eachother and good to each other,
and it's a country which hastremendous values of kindness
(07:59):
and goodness.
And also is willing to sacrificeitself for the benefit of others
and those which are lessfortunate than itself.
But the admiration for the megawealthy is not one of its most
admirable qualities.
So what should one focus on, ifnot wealth?
(08:19):
Well, what aboutaccomplishments?
Now, sometimes people who havehuge accomplishments, huge money
comes with that as well.
So people who start a companyand that company becomes
unbelievably successful.
Think about someone like BillGates who started Microsoft and
created this.
Tremendously huge company, whichnetted him a huge amount of
(08:43):
money.
He was the wealthiest man in theworld for a very long time
because of that.
And then after that he took allhis money and put it in the
charity and will give it allaway in his lifetime.
But, This was a man who had hugeaccomplishments and huge
accomplishments led to hugeamount of money.
But not all huge accomplishmentslead to a huge amount of money.
You could have a tremendous,output of academic work, and
(09:07):
that won't make you a lot ofmoney.
You can be the best nurse.
In a hospital or even in acountry that won't make you a
huge amount of money, you can bethe best teacher and the best
teacher won't necessarily makeyou a lot of money there they
might make you more money thanyour peers, but you're never
gonna become a billionaire frombeing a best, the best teacher
or a billionaire from being thebest nurse.
(09:28):
Also in art, very, very.
To, even if you're a very goodartist to become mega wealthy,
it doesn't mean you won't make adecent living, but we're talking
about tens of millions.
No, you probably won't makethat.
But if you focus onaccomplishments, what can you
accomplish?
What can you contribute andbecome the best at whatever you
are passionate about becomingthe best outbound or giving
(09:51):
back, contributing in a waywhich is uniquely.
That is something that oneshould focus on and try to
reach.
So we should admireaccomplishment much more than we
should admire money.
Now all this being said, it isimportant to note that wealth
(10:12):
and, the pursuit of making moneyis not a ne negative, but when
pursuing money is put up on apedestal and worship, almost
above all else, then that issomething which one shouldn't
encourage or focus upon.
(10:32):
Instead, one should see money asan outcome of accomplishments,
when money would be thatoutcome.
This leads me to the question ofwhy do people focus on money and
the mega wealthy?
Why?
That people admire wealth andthe mega wealthy so much, and
(10:54):
why do people sacrifice so muchto pursue money and all the
trappings that seem to cometogether with this money.
When I think about that deeply,it occurs to me that there are
so many things monk can spendone time pursuing in life,
things which are deeply me.
There's scholarship, knowledge,mysticism, helping other people.
(11:21):
The environment, nationalism,politics.
There are so many things thatone could pursue in life, which
could be deeply fulfilling andincredibly interesting.
Why the pursuit of money and.
Money itself is, a tool.
(11:42):
It really isn't anything of itsown.
It's a representation ofsomething.
It can enable you to do things,to create things, and it can
also bestow great power and itcan also buy things which will
make other people think that youare special or success.
(12:05):
in the end of the day, though,it does isn't, it isn't anything
in itself.
It doesn't have any intrinsicvalue and therefore the pursuit
of it for itself tells mesomething about the individual.
My monies talks about this andthe guide for the perplexed
where he thinks that the focus.
(12:26):
Effort of a human in making moremoney or in the pursuit of
business is almost a total wasteof the special attributes that a
human has.
Humans were bestowed withintelligence.
We were bestowed withconsciousness and ability to
(12:47):
have self-agency and selfdeterminism, and that's
different all other creaturesthat we know of at least.
So humans have these specialattributes and qualities that
other creatures and other beingsdo not have.
(13:07):
And as such, we can use thoseattributes in multiple ways.
Well, if they're just used forsomething which doesn't have any
intrinsic value in and of itselfjust for money, and then that
money is used forself-aggrandizement, for greater
physical pleasure than accordingmy monies.
Not only are we not.
(13:32):
Better than animals.
We're actually worse thananimals because animals don't
have the ability to transcendtheir animalistic instinct and
nature.
Whereas humans, we uniquely doand can do that.
And if we don't, and all we dois spend our time in the pursuit
of money and greater physicalpleasures, and we use our
(13:54):
intellect, which can be used tounderstand the nature of all.
Instead, we are using it for thepursuit of money and the pursuit
of self grander and the pursuitof self-gratification that he
thinks makes us not just knowbetter than animals, but
actually worse than animals.
(14:15):
And therefore that whole conceptof then worshiping is people who
that's their pursuit.
All they're trying to do is makemore money, and then they tell
other people, well, you need tomake more money and more money.
Again, there's nothing wrongwith money.
I think it's fine to have a lotof money, but money for money's
sake or money just to be able togain greater pleasures.
(14:38):
One has to ask why.
Why aren't you seeking somethingwhich is more meaningful than
that?
Why aren't you seeking somethingwhich is greater and has a
higher purpose than that?
Why aren't you seeking somethingwhich is uniquely human?
You have those attributes, thatability to pursue greater
things, things great than.
Why are you just spending allthat effort just on making
(15:01):
money?
So as a matter of fact, when youtake all that together, you look
at a guy like Grant Cardone,who's, yes, he's accomplished
tremendous things, but all inthe pursuit of making money and
for telling everyone how muchmoney he's made and how good he
isn't making money.
And then has these major eventsto tell other people how to make
more money like he's made andhow to become as wealthy is he
is.
(15:21):
And then, that kind ofcondescend attitude to people
who don't make as much money ashim.
Well, I think the oppositeshould happen.
People should look at a personlike him and feel sorry for him.
Seriously, just feel sorry forsomeone like him because he's
missed it in a big way.
He doesn't understand what itmeans to be uniquely human, and
(15:43):
he's living a.
In an animalistic way, and thentrying to convince everyone else
to live the same hedonisticlifestyle that he lives.
Not only is it not respectable,but it's to be pitied.
So I would say to someone likeGrant Cardone, first of all, I'm
not sure that you are trulywealthy.
Second of all, don't talk insuch a condescending way towards
(16:07):
people who are doing things inlife which are meaningful and
pursuing a lifestyle and a pathin life which is uniquely human.
And you, sir Mr.
Cardone, you should really beworried, and I'm sure you are
really worried because anyonewho your entire makeup and your
(16:31):
entire self-worth is based inyour net worth.
You must be truly worried thatat some point someone will take
that away from you.
The best I can say is don'tlisten to this man.
There's a lot more to life thanmaking money.
There's nothing wrong withhaving a lot of money.
I think it's wonderful to have alot of money, especially if
(16:52):
you're gonna do good things withit, especially if it's a
reflection of something which isa true accomplishment, which
achieved that money, but moneyfor its own sake to get a net
worth, which is a certaindollar.
Really not worth it.
This has been La Brackman withthe Wisdom of Business and Life
podcast.
(17:12):
I hope this has been helpful foryou this week and next week we
have a special guest.
Uh, but till then, have awonderful, wonderful day.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.