Kevin O'Leary Delivers THE COLD HARD TRUTH on Fox and Friends
Forgiving hopeful entrepreneurs the cold hard truth that he, these Shark Tank. I love the show. Joining us right now, Kevin O'Leary, author of "Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women, and Money." Kevin, welcome.
When you joined Shark Tank, did you think you were joining a hit like this? No, no idea. We're so proud of the show because what's happened in the last few years is a lot of kids are watching it. These are people that want to become entrepreneurs. Yeah, and that's a huge surprise for us, who thought business would be so interesting to families. And that's what's happened—it's a huge hit with families, and we love that. We love it.
I mean, I feel like my heart rate goes up during the show. I just want some of the people to get a deal.
You mentioned kids; what about financial literacy? When do you start talking a kid about money? Well, that's what I'm really focusing on now. That is one of my causes because I don't think we should be concerned anymore about keeping a taboo. I think we should start talking to kids at the ages 5 to 6, explaining where money fits in the family, why you have to understand where it comes from, what debt is. These are all the things that we don't do. We teach them education and everything—geography, sex education, physics, math—not money. That's crazy.
It is crazy. The number one reason people break up who are married? Money. Yeah, what's the biggest mistake married people make? They don't do due diligence on each other before they marry. They let the emotional aspect of courtship reign, when really they should be checking each other out to make sure that they both are compatible.
Okay, but let's say they didn't do that but now they're married. Do you know that over half the marriages dissolve, and it's 90 percent due to financial stress? Wow! So this is something the courtship process has to involve: money, period. If you don't have an understanding of your partner's financial past, you don't marry them. Wow!
So this way you made your money; it's software. Your first companies over $25,000. So you've got a great story that took risks. You want to get some phrases out that appear in your book: "Money sits with you at the table at dinner every night." What do you mean?
I used that because with my own kids, when they were 6 and 7 years old, I started leaving an empty seat. They're saying, "That's money; that's money sitting there." And they would say, "Whose money?" And we talked about it. I know that sounds crazy, but it worked. They understood that that was a member of our family and needed to be respected because in your life, money can be your most powerful ally or your worst enemy.
That is true in a nation—absolutely the great lesson. Well, in his book he's got 50 common money mistakes and how to fix them. Check it out: "Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women, and Money." Kevin O'Leary, thank you very much.
Look at this, signed by the all up there. It's not my copy because I didn't pay for it, because Buddy said, "I'll leave it with you." Okay, thank you.