Lev Mandel: Three Crumpled Dollars

Lev Mandel recalls some lessons he learned about money.

I’ve been trying to trace my relationship with money back to its origin story. One memory that sticks out happened when I was in fourth grade.

An aunt had just given me a new wallet. Inside it: three crumpled dollar bills. That same week, our school had a special guest: Richard “Grizzly” Brown. Brown wasn’t just some guy passing through. He was a Berkeley legend—the world’s sixth strongest man in 1985.

So naturally, I decided to impress him. I timed it so I’d walk right past him while he stood alone. I pulled out my wallet and started counting my money. He watched me for a second, then leaned in and said: “Buddy, put your money away. You don’t want anybody seeing that.” That was it. No lecture. Just a quiet correction. Total backfire. But it stuck.

Even then, I knew he was right. It felt less like being called out, and more like being let in on something. Years later, I went back to him when I was in college. I told him I wanted to learn how to box. It wasn’t as random as it sounds — he’d been my wrestling coach in junior high. He said yes. But he never actually let me box.

Instead, we lifted weights all summer. About a week in, he looked at me and said: “If you’re serious, you should be a bodybuilder.” Then he added: “You don’t box unless you need the money.”

I understood it right away—I just didn’t want to believe it. I wanted him to think I was tough. But he saw me for what I was — a kid who was never going to need to box for money. Those two moments gave me my first real lessons about money. The first: money isn’t for showing. The second: how you earn it matters.

Some ways of making money cost more than they pay. Funny how three crumpled dollars — and a man who could stop motorcycles — ended up shaping how I think about money. With a Perspective, I’m Lev Mandel.

Lev Mandel is the author of a workbook to help people build awareness, get curious and feel better about money.