These Celebs Share The Best Money Advice They’ve Ever Received

The rap superstar has reportedly amassed of fortune of $100M, and it’s because she knew her worth. “At a very early stage in my rap career, I wasn’t making six figures for shows…if I heard there was another rapper making that, I thought, ‘you know what? I get out there and demand or command a crowd…but I also decided, you know what? I want to be compensated well,’” she told Time in an interview. “One thing I learned along the way in business is the necessity for you to be unapologetic about asking for how much money you deserve.”

With an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, the self-made mogul knows a thing or two about having a money mindset. Over the years she’s preached the power of manifestation, and shared how it’s led to her welcoming wealth into her life. “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude,” she said. This includes picking yourself up when you get knocked down — and always, always believing in your future success.

The super successful singer, actress and entrepreneur once shared she’s spent $30,000 in less than 30 minutes while shopping at Bergdorf Goodman. In an interview with InStyle, she’s shared that while she was in the mega girl group Destiny’s Child, she didn’t know much about money management. “I lost my mind—when it came to extra hair, fashion, I had to have everything,” she says. “I remember just going completely nuts on trips to Paris and Italy, blowing like 30 grand in 30 minutes at Bergdorf Goodman. It was ridiculous. Eventually, I started to realize that my AmEx bill was really, really high and I needed to chill out.” Rowland added: “I remember so many people telling me that I needed to save my money and invest — but I didn’t listen,” Rowland tells InStyle, laughing. “When I got one of my first paychecks, I went to the grocery store and bought almost everything that my mom used to tell me was too expensive. I bought all of that shit, had a party at my house, and everybody ate up everything. I’ll never forget it, because it was fun and it was something I was able to fund myself.” She

The Queen has long been a successful entertainer (since she was a teen) but what many of us don’t know is she’s been an entrepreneur since her 20s. She launched the Flavor Unit in 1995 and has since significantly expanded her empire to real estate, and production deals among many other ventures. She says her money mindset came from her beloved mother. “My mom has always been my champion. She was very smart and grounded. She said, ‘Save your money. Pay your taxes. Don’t put everything in one basket,’ but she let me explore and be creative.”

The actress, director and head of her own production, Kerry Washington know a thing or two about getting what she knows she’s worth. In a Twitter post about Pay Equity Day in 2015, she tweeted an image of herself with the caption “Equal pay for Equal Work” and Levo’s #Ask4more campaign, an initiative that encourages women to request higher salaries and end the gender wage gap. She also spoke about the importance of women being financially literate. “I know how disempowering it can feel to not feel financially literate. Sometimes, as women, we just don’t want to be involved in the details and don’t want to ask the questions. And because it’s not something that we’re necessarily taught, we’re not sure if it’s something we should know…but when you can at least give a woman the tools to walk away, then you can start to do that bigger work.”

The transparent actress and businesswoman has always been honest about her life, including the financial aspect of it. In a 2020 interview, she got real about her finances and the importance of diversifying income. “For all of the Oprah’s and the people who have just a lot a lot a lot a lot of money, most of us are one or two checks away from not having money to pay for all of our things, you know what I mean? So this stoppage of work and money is impacting marginalized celebrities the most,” she said. “The actress continued: “I think a lot of people need to understand the difference between fame and having money. And I think this quarantine is really revealing a lot in terms of – there’s a lot of people who are famous that don’t have wealth.”

In a Cosmopo interview, the actress shared that she realized her integrity was a key driver for amassing wealth, and making the right money decisions. She once even turned down a multimillion-dollar payday because the substance of the offer made her “feel like s**t.” “I’ve turned down, s**t, I’ve turned down $10 million just to do a post because it didn’t represent my brand,” she told the magazine. “I turned down $10 million because my soul is worth more than that to me. My spirit, my integrity, how I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror every day.”