Kandi Burruss On How to Get Very Rich, Bitch!

“You have to live for the time
you don’t even see coming yet.”

The single mom and star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta started out in the Atlanta-based group Xscape when she was in high school.

But unlike other young artists who later went broke, Kandi now runs four successful businesses. She’s a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and music producer but also owns a clothing store (TAGS Boutique) in Smyrna, a sex toy line (Bedroom Kandi) and a game app (Kandi Koated Spades).

I recently caught up with Kandi to find out how she became one of the only (actually) very rich Housewives of Atlanta…

“When I was in high school, my mom always told me, ‘Good credit better than money.’ A lot of my friends didn’t learn that lesson. It doesn’t matter if you’re making a lot of money if you don’t have good credit.”

“I have always been a firm believer in living below your means. The first car I eve rhad was a BMW 325i that I bought, but I had been out on tour selling millions of albums before I every bought that car. I was still driving the old car that my momma had given me in high school, even though I had an album and hit songs on the radio. I waited until I had $100,000 in the bank before I went out and bought my little $30,000 car. I didn’t want to go out and buy the biggest Benz just to impress other people.”

You don’t want to put on for other people
so much that you become broke in the process.”

“I didn’t want to go spend spend spend to put on an image for everyone else. I don’t think it’s important for to go, ‘I got millions of dollars. I want everybody to see it by spending way more than I’ve got. If I’ve got a million dollars but I’m two million dollars in debt, I’m still not a millionaire.”

“You have to live for the time you don’t even see coming yet. A lot of people are living for today. Just because you’re making a lot of money today, doesn’t mean you’re gonna be making a lot of money 20 years from now or 10 years from now. Unless you set yourself up in a way to where you will be able to make money off the money that you have.”

LL Cool J once told me, ‘always have
a house and a car that you own.”

“LL Cool J once told me, ‘always have a house and a car that you own.’ So every time you get a check, throw a little money to the principle so you can pay off your house. So that’s what I did, and those were words for me to live buy. Every time I got a check, instead of balling out to impress people, I paid more toward my house. I paid toward things that accumulate in value.”

“Take care of your credit and pay your bills on time. You don’t ever want to be one of those people who is putting on for other people so much, that you go broke in the process.”

Who is your favorite Real Housewife of Atlanta?