Grant Cardone is not shy about his opinion on the middle class. The real estate mogul thinks aiming for middle-class life is a trap, not a goal.
“The middle class is mythology. It’s like 250 million people considering themselves to be in the middle class,” he said in a Fox News interview earlier this year. “They are really suffering with inflation… my encouragement to the middle class is get out of it.”
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Cardone believes the middle class has been sold a broken formula: save money, go to college, buy a house. In his view, none of these steps build real wealth anymore. “The American middle class has been left behind because they’ve been saving money and doing the right things and it’s not working,” he told Fox News.
Instead of stashing cash in a savings account, he encourages people to “actually put money to work” by investing and using tax advantages the way the wealthy do.
Cardone’s criticism comes from experience. His father died when he was 10, leaving his mother to stretch every dollar to support the family.
Here’s how he explained the middle class to his daughter: “My daughter says, ‘So Papa, what is the middle class?’ I said, ‘What do you think it is?’ She’s like, ‘I think it’s people that are poor that think they’re rich.’ I said, ‘You got it.’”
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Cardone recalled growing up in a neighborhood where families felt financially secure simply because their homes and cars were paid off and they were doing slightly better than their neighbors. “And you’re okay until you’re not okay,” he said.
According to Cardone, the middle class is shrinking every year due to taxes and inflation. “Every four years we get to elect somebody that promises to take care of the middle class,” he said. “When the truth is, the politicians need to tell us the truth: Hey, there is no middle class in America. It’s gone.”
Cardone has often suggested that college, homeownership, and traditional savings can keep people stuck. Instead of paying off a mortgage or student loans, he advocates for investing in yourself and your business.
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“If you’re an entrepreneur, you need incentives, rewards to take those risks,” he told Fox News. “Let me make that money and let me not be overtaxed because I’m profitable. I’m just going to reinvest the money and expand and hire more people.”