Millionaire status doesn’t impress Grant Cardone, especially if he’s his first. In an interview on “VladTV” earlier this month, the real estate investor told DJ Vlad that the worst financial advice often comes from people who barely reach the seven-figure mark.
“I’d rather take advice from a homeless person about money than from a guy with his first million dollars,” Cardone said. “Most people just want to keep the million. They interrupt the cycle that really gave them the million.”
He argued that both saving and spending can ruin momentum. “Saving is impossible. Spending is stupid,” he said. “The only way to go from a million to 10 million, from 10 to 100, from 100 to a billion is to take all that money and invest it.”
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Cardone broke down the numbers for anyone who thinks $1 million equals long-term security. “You’re 45 years old and you’re a millionaire. If you don’t have any more income… you have $20,000 a year,” he said. “You’re not rich. You have to live on $1,800 a month. So you could call yourself a millionaire, but what does that mean? It doesn’t mean anything.”
He added that most of that “million-dollar” net worth is often invested in things that can’t be easily withdrawn. “It’s a net worth, most of which is probably invested in some house that can’t be sold today, or cars, or whatever,” he said.
Cardone also made one thing clear: your house shouldn’t count. “That shouldn’t be on your net worth statement. Your house shouldn’t be on your net worth,” he told Vlad.
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When Vlad finally shared the value of his stock portfolio (off-camera and played to the audience), Cardone didn’t let it go. “You’re smart. You’re smart. You should have another zero in there,” he said. “And the fact that you’re not offended means I know you’re thinking about it.”
Vlad responded with details: a 43% drop in 2022, followed by a 74% gain in 2023. Then 38% gains in both 2024 and 2025. He said he had never really touched the portfolio, that he had borrowed against part of it, and that he had invested only in companies he was familiar with, such as Tesla, Google, and Amazon.