Belfort was born in 1962 in the Bronx borough of New York City to a Jewish family. He was raisedin Bayside, Queens. Between completing high school and starting college, Belfort and his close (related to the time when a person is a child) friend Elliot Loewenstern earned $20, 000 selling Italian ice from styro foam coolers to people at a local beach. Belfort went on to graduate from American University with a degree in (study of living things/qualities of living things). Belfort planned on using the money earned with Loewenstern to pay for teeth-related school, and heenrolled at the University of Maryland School of (medical care for the teeth); however, he left after the dean of the school said to him on his first day at the college: “The golden age of medical care for the teeth is over. If you’re here simply because you’re looking to make a lot of money, you’re in the wrong place”.
