Anderson Cooper's Smart Money Strategy to Keep Son Wyatt 'Motivated' to Earn His Own Fortune

Anderson Cooper’s son Wyatt is only 16 months, but dad already has a financial plan for his son: get a job. The CNN journalist is adamant that his child will be hard-working and not relying upon an inheritance to the care of the bills.

Cooper shared on the Morning Meeting podcast that he doesn’t believe in “passing on huge amounts of money” because he honors the philosophy his parents, Wyatt Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt, instilled in him: “‘College will be paid for, and then you gotta get on it.'” The TV anchor knows that his parents’ financial plan has made him “not that interested in money” even though he has a lot of it and that’s why he’s not going to leave “some sort of pot of gold” for Wyatt.

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According to Celebrity Net Worth, Cooper is worth a whopping $200 million and he’s going to educate Wyatt about financial literacy at a young age, just like his mom did. “I don’t believe in inheriting money… I think it’s a curse,” he said. “From the time I was growing up, if I felt like there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don’t know if I would have been so motivated.” It’s a lesson that obviously paid off for the Anderson Cooper 360 host, who reportedly makes $12 million per year from his CNN job alone.

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Losing his mom in 2019 and having Wyatt via surrogate in 2020, has made Cooper reflective about the beneficial teachings passed down from his parents. It’s made him more aligned with the family he’s lost, including older brother Carter who died by suicide in 1988. “I’ve started to realize how much Wyatt looks like Carter, who looked my mom,” Cooper told People. “It’s just this extraordinary feeling of connection to people who are no longer here and connection to the past. I really didn’t expect that.” It looks like those financial lessons from long ago still stick with Cooper — and he wants Wyatt to find his passion and stay “motivated.”

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