When family members come asking for money, Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has a strict no loans policy—but that doesn’t mean he isn’t generous with his family members.
Instead of lending out money to his family, O’Leary said in a recent video that he gives money to family members without expecting anything in return. The only catch: that relative can never ask him for money again.
O’Leary’s no loan rule helps him avoid some of the awkwardness that comes along with family money disputes, which can be especially magnified for a multi-millionaire like “Mr. Wonderful.”
“I don’t want to go into partnership with somebody in my extended family,” he said in the clip. “That really ruins Thanksgiving dinner.”
In the video, O’Leary mentions that if a family member who had never asked him for money comes to him asking for a $150,000 loan to open a restaurant, he would instead gift that relative $50,000 with no strings attached.
But he’s serious about the one condition that keeps the subject of money and family matters separate, he added.
“You never ask me for money again, ever, ever. You never come to me again for money and we never talk about this again, ever,” O’Leary said.
The Shark Tank investor knows a thing or two about money management. In his mid-30s, O’Leary sold his first company, a software business called Softkey, for $4.2 billion. Since then he has become a prolific investor, including through Shark Tank, where some of his best investments include pet genetics company Basepaws and home gym equipment maker PRx.
When it comes to his personal life, the investor and TV star said in the video that money is a blessing and a curse. Money can offer you freedom, but it also brings around people who want it for free, like family members.
“Money destroys families sometimes, when there’s too much of it,” he said in an Instagram post last year.