Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran Says She’s Terrible with Money. Here’s How She Keeps From Going Broke
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Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran knows how to make money. Saving money? That's another story.
“The idea that I have any money in the bank for myself today is sheer accident,” Corcoran said in a recent interview with Money. “I’m very good at making money, but I’m no good at saving money.”
Before becoming one of Shark Tank's investors, Corcoran, 69, built a New York City real estate agency, which she sold for $66 million in 2001. Now with an estimated net worth of $80 million, the entrepreneur admits she would have spent it all if left to her own devices.
"My mother always said: 'Money is meant to be spent,'” Corcoran recalls. "They never had a penny to spare in any way raising all ten of us, but my mother’s attitude was to never worry about money."
Corcoran says she was -- and still is -- the kind of person who wants to spend money the second she sees it coming. So what's the investor's secret to keeping a hold on her fortune? Lean on someone you trust.
"I found a business partner who was excellent at [finance] and I made her my 10% partner," says Corcoran. "Thank God for Esther [Kaplan], or I would have spent every dime that came in."
In fact, learning to delegate around blind spots is an essential skill for entrepreneurial success, Corcoran says -- even more important than learning to manage money yourself.
"It took me a few years to realize that I didn’t have to be good at everything and to delegate what I wasn’t good at," Corcoran says. "That’s a real learned ability."