© Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty ImagesGloria Vanderbilt, left, and Anderson Cooper, right, are pictured on Nov. 4, 2010 in New York City.
"My mom's made clear to me that there's no trust fund. There's none of that," he told Howard Stern. "[And] I don't believe in inheriting money."
Cooper, 46, said that inherited money is an "initiative sucker" and a "curse." Because of that, he's grateful that his mother always gave him an incentive to work.
"Who's inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life?" he asked. "From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would've been so motivated."
Calling his mother "the coolest person I know," Cooper also praised her for instilling within him a great work ethic. And, he said, should he become a father one day, he'd likely follow in her footsteps.
"I would want them to start working early on and start to have a sense of responsibility," he said. "If maybe I felt like they had a good sense of responsibility, maybe I would try to leave some money. I don't know."
This upbringing helps explain his role in the global game and his choice to align himself with patrons with seemingly limitless financial resources, which are always comforting when one grows up in the same environment along with a fear instilled that it can be taken away at any time, for any reason.