If you ask a billionaire investor and entrepreneur like Mark Cuban for advice on how to get rich, you might expect a complicated answer.
However, according to “Mark Cuban’s Guide to Getting Rich” — the best way to build wealth is much less exciting than Hollywood suggests. Avoid credit cards, buy in bulk, and invest in a low-cost, passively managed mutual fund that tracks the S&P 500, he advises in the Vanity Fair-produced video.
But, “if you’re a true adventurer,” the Dallas Mavericks owner adds, “and you really want to throw the Hail Mary, you might take 10 percent [of your savings] and put it in bitcoin or ethereum.”
This advice might raise some eyebrows. Cuban has long been a bitcoin skeptic and has called the cryptocurrency boom a bubble on several occasions. In the past, he has referred to bitcoin as “more religion than asset” and compared it to a digital baseball card.
That view has not changed. Cuban is not convinced that bitcoin — which soared to an all-time high above $6,000 on Friday — will prove to be a revolutionary asset. However, Cuban himself has recently invested in a Bitcoin ETN, as well as at least one initial coin offering, and he says that those who are willing to stomach the risk should consider putting a small portion of their investments in these types of assets, too.
“You’ve got to pretend that you’ve already lost your money,” he advises. “It’s like collecting art, it’s like collecting baseball cards, it’s like collecting shoes. Something’s worth what someone will pay for it.”
“It’s a flyer, but I’d limit it to 10 percent,” he adds, perhaps cautioning investors against liquidating their possessions or taking out loans to invest in cryptocurrency. Interestingly, however, his 10% investment target is significantly higher than that of hedge fund manager Mark Yusko, a stock market bear who believes the bitcoin price could reach $1 million within two decades. Yusko advises investors to invest 1% of their assets in bitcoin today and to allow that percentage to grow along with the value of bitcoin.