At Cosmopolitan's Fun Fearless Money conference Saturday, in partnership with SoFi, big names from politics, fitness, education, and of course, the fashion industry showed up and dropped some of their hardest-earned wisdom of how to grow your career. Chief among them was supermodel/mogul Tyra Banks, who surprised the crowd by sharing some of the ways she saves money herself. For example, Banks opts for non-fussy hotel experiences, like the Residence Inn, rather than a splurgey night at more costly digs.
But perhaps what drew the most gasps was an admission about her shopping habits. "Think about certain streets, Fifth Avenue, or even Meatpacking [district], full of designer stores. Or in L.A. it’s Rodeo and all of that. There’s something inside of me — and I don’t know why — that makes me feel like I can’t afford it. To this day I feel like I can’t afford it. And what that does is protect me from overspending."
When pressed why she thought that was the case, Banks continued, "Maybe I don’t find value in super-duper-duper expensive, expensive clothes. So maybe that’s where it comes from … But I’ll buy a house that’s a lot more than that! Maybe it’s that a house is a return on investment. And clothes, as soon as you put them on, depreciate in value like a car." Can't argue with that logic.
But success is about more than money, and according to Banks, it all comes down to drive. Some people are born with it, and some people's circumstances demand it. In Tyra's case, it was her family that fueled her motivation. She had a strong case of sibling rivalry that pushed her to achieve, but her mother's marriage was another factor: "My mom was married to my dad and she was miserable, but she couldn’t leave because she didn’t have financial independence, and so that’s my thing, my drive every single day."
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