Real estate tycoon Jeff Greene talks about the 'tough balancing act' of raising kids as a billionaire

• Real estate billionaire Jeff Greene spoke to BI about raising kids as a wealthy parent.
• He said his three sons are "on their own" if they want private jets, yachts, or mansions.
• Greene spoke about how hard he worked to make it, and how he now finds great joy in helping others.

Warren Buffett advises wealthy parents to "leave their children enough so they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing."

"That's a very tough balancing act," Jeff Greene, a billionaire real estate developer with three adolescent sons, told Business Insider. In a wide-ranging interview, he spoke about his parenting philosophy, path to success, and work-life balance.

Greene, 70, said that people who've "accumulated enormous wealth" don't want their children to struggle, but that doesn't mean they're entitled to a jet-set lifestyle.

"If my kid wants to have a private jet, or a yacht, or a big mansion, and live the way I live, they're going to have to figure it out on their own," he said.

The Florida-based property tycoon, whose net worth is $7.9 billion according to Forbes, said the children of uber-rich parents have big advantages, like elite education and coaching.

But it can also mean their achievements have asterisks, with questions of whether they got into a school or landed a job because of their wealth and connections, he said.

"I started with nothing, I did it all on my own," Greene said, adding that he takes great pride in being self-made. "I've taken that away from them," he said of his children.

Greene hopes that his kids have "meaningful lives." The investor, who made a fortune shorting the mid-2000s housing bubble with the help of hedge fund legend John Paulson, told BI he wants to teach his children that making money is a fraction as rewarding as helping others.

"You can only eat so much food, you can only sleep in one bed a night, you can only drive so many cars," he said. "There's no limit as to how big a difference you can make in people's lives."

Greene said he's eager for his sons to experience the "pleasure" and "thrill" that he and their mother, Mei-Sze Greene, garner from "seeing other people's lives get better."

In 2010, the pair signed The Giving Pledge, committing to donate most of their wealth to charitable causes. In 2016, they founded The Greene School in Palm Beach, a nonprofit private school with a need-blind admission policy that offers financial aid to students.

Starting from scratch

Greene grew up middle class in Massachusetts and moved to Florida as a teenager after his father lost his textile business.

"I was kind of on my own for going to a very expensive college," he said. Greene attended Johns Hopkins by cobbling together money from student loans, scholarships, and part-time jobs, including busing and waiting tables at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, teaching Hebrew at a religious school, and checking IDs outside a gym.

While Greene was able to save up the few thousand dollars he needed that way, he added that "it's tough for kids today" who can't expect to pay their way when tuition can be upward of $100,000.

Greene financed his Harvard Business School MBA by selling circus tickets, initially over the phone and then as a promoter who spent nearly three years on the road.

"I saved $100,000 in two and a half years by working my ass off," he said about the startup capital for his real estate empire, which has grown to thousands of residential and commercial properties in Florida, Los Angeles, and New York.

Work and play

Asked what keeps him up at night, Greene said he "sleeps pretty well."

"I wake every morning and try to think of three things that I'm grateful for," he said, rather than dwelling on the "aggravating challenges" that crop up during construction projects.

Greene also invoked "Karate Kid" character Mr. Miyagi's lesson that balance is key.

"I live a balanced life," Greene said, adding that he works 50 or 60 hours a week, plays tennis five days a week, goes on trips with friends, and takes his kids to school daily.

If he'd been more aggressive, taken on more leverage, worked harder, and hired more people, Greene said, "My net worth could have been at least five times what it is."

But that approach would have been "stressful" with "no purpose to it," he added.

"If you have balance in your life, you'll probably sleep better," he said.

Greene also dismissed the idea of calling it quits. "What would I retire to do?" he asked.

He could "join a country club and just play golf and bridge and pickleball," he said, but added he preferred the challenge of "trying to win at the stuff I do."