Stanley Pines from Gravity Falls takes all issues about his money very seriously. He's never stingy with it but is always ready to make some more. From scamming the visitors to his mystery shack to engaging in every tax evasion scheme imaginable, there's nothing Grunkle Stan won't do to make an extra penny. The reason for his obsession with money was never explained until the reappearance of his twin brother, Stanford.
In Season 2, Episode 12, "A Tale of Two Stans,” Stanley delved into the early years with his twin brother. As kids, they only had each other as friends but they were far from lonely. With Stanford's brains and Stanley's muscle, the two covered for each other and made an unstoppable team. They pledged to always look out for each other and one day leave their hometown of New Orleans, where no one accepted them, to live a life of freedom and adventure.
All was well until it was time for them to start thinking about college. As a veritable genius, Stanford was a shoo-in for West Coast Tech, the best college in the country. Stanley, who had ridden on his brother's academic coattails so far could not have used the same strategy in this instance and was heartbroken. As they discussed this opportunity, Stanford let it slip that his admission hinged on his science project, a perpetual motion machine, getting approved by the college board. Finding out this information led Stanley to make a terrible decision.
Fearing the loss of his brother, Stanley made the perpetual motion machine the object of his frustration. He knocked on the table it stood on and knocked a vent loose. Hastily realizing his mistake, Stanley placed it back in its position and all seemed well, but the damage had already been done. When Stanford revealed it to the West Coast college board, his machine had inexplicably stopped and they rejected him instantly. He was heartbroken, but not so much that he didn't recognize an empty packet of Stanley's favorite snack littered near his booth. Armed with this evidence, Stanford set out to confront his twin.
As they argued, their parents got wind of what had transpired, and their father didn't waste any time in deciding Stanley's punishment: throwing him out of their home for costing Stanford his opportunity. Stanley was only welcome back home on the condition that he made millions of his own. Stanley's pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears and even Stanford turned his back on him. Realizing he'd get no sympathy from them, Stanley stormed away, declaring that once he did make his millions, they'd rue the day they turned their backs on him.
Soon after leaving his family, Stan began his life anew as a traveling salesman and a con artist. Every single one of his products was vastly different from how he advertised them and he never abandoned his business model, no matter how often it got him into trouble. Grunkle Stan's obsession with money may stem from the feeling of insecurity he felt when he was thrown out of his home as a youth and the desire to live up to the taunt he threw at his parents. Stan may not care much about their opinion of him since he grew up, but the hunger for money forced upon him is still very much present.
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