What Happens When Money Can't Save You Anymore | Dean Graziosi

Nov 15, 2025

Dean Graziosi, a best-selling author and renowned entrepreneur, shares his deeply personal journey from childhood trauma to financial success. He reveals how achieving wealth exposed unresolved pain from his abusive upbringing, forcing him to confront his past. Dean discusses the illusion that money can heal inner wounds and highlights the importance of forgiveness and self-awareness. He emphasizes that true leverage comes from purpose, urging listeners to seek deeper motivations beyond just financial gains.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Childhood Trauma Fueled Relentless Drive

Dean Graziosi describes childhood abuse, dyslexia, and a bleeding ulcer at 12 from constant fear of his father.
He vowed to become successful to gain freedom and never feel powerless again.

INSIGHT

Money Reveals, It Doesn't Heal

Money removed excuses but did not heal the unresolved emotional wounds he carried.
Financial freedom exposed the inner child he had been running from and forced confrontation.

ANECDOTE

Wealth Led To Personal Reckoning

After gaining wealth, Dean still faced relationship fallout including a divorce and the need to forgive his father.
He used that breathing room to work on healing and becoming a better man for future relationships.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Leave an Amazon Rating or Review for my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy!

Check out the full episode: https://greatness.lnk.to/1766

"When money got outta the way and I had no excuse of what I was running away from anymore." - Dean Graziosi

Dean Graziosi was 12 years old when his body started eating itself from the inside out. A bleeding ulcer. That's what happens when a kid lives in constant fear of what his father might do next. His dad, the youngest of 12 who never healed from his own abuse, fought everyone. His sister stopped speaking to him 20 years ago. Ex-wives won't return calls. When his parents died, they weren't talking. Dean watched this man burn every bridge, move the family constantly through failed relationships and money problems, and he made himself a promise: get successful enough to never need anyone, never be stuck, never be that powerless kid again. So he ran. He built businesses, made millions, kept moving. And it worked, until it didn't.

The moment Dean had enough money to breathe, really breathe without worry, something terrifying happened. He looked in the mirror and saw that same scared kid staring back. All the crap he never dealt with was still there, waiting. Money didn't heal the wounds. It just removed his excuse for ignoring them. He went through a divorce. He chose to forgive the father who broke him. He had to rescue that little boy still hiding inside a grown man's success. What he shares here isn't about making money. It's about what you do when you finally have enough freedom to stop running and start facing yourself. It's about finding the kind of leverage that doesn't come from fear but from knowing who you need to become. Most people quit after a few failures because they're chasing money for the wrong reasons. Dean kept going because he had to prove he wasn't his father. That leverage saved him, even when it led him straight into the pain he spent decades avoiding.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.