Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or income through links in the content below.
Back in 2023, Mark Cuban found himself sitting on a warehouse floor with viral sensation Bobbi Althoff as a guest on The Really Good Podcast (1).
During the 58-minute interview, Althoff used her awkward but engaging tactics to get Cuban to open up about a range of topics, from the Mavericks to Shark Tank — and even asked for $5 million to buy a house.
“You could give me a billion dollars right now and it probably wouldn’t even affect you,” Althoff told him while negotiating with Cuban. “Fine $5 million, we’ll go small. I can buy a house in Southern California.”
Despite finding common ground over their birthdays and lactose intolerance, Cuban didn’t give up. He warned Althoff that even with a multi-million dollar grant, living in California would remain beyond her means.
“I would have given you $5 million for nothing,” the Shark Tank star replied.
Cuban explained to her why owning such an expensive house was not going to work out, even if he bought it for her.
When the podcast initially aired back in 2023, the median sale price of a California home was $742,000, according to Redfin (2). Prices are now about 7% higher, with the median sales price approaching $800,000 — making California the most expensive place to buy a home in America (3).
Cuban emphasized the importance of considering the whole financial picture when thinking about home ownership. While you may believe you can afford the initial down payment, there can be significant ongoing costs associated with holding a property.
“You have to pay all those taxes,” Cuban said, nodding to California’s high property tax rates.
According to California Association of Realtors data as of November 2025, a minimum annual income of $223,600 is required to cover the costs associated with home ownership in the state.
Thankfully, there are ways you can make money in the current real estate market that don’t involve buying a home, paying property taxes or taking on the job of managing rental properties and tenants.
Platforms like Arrived let you invest in property shares for as little as $100.
Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived’s easy-to-use platform offers SEC-qualified investments, including rental homes and vacation rentals. Arrived lets you buy shares in rental properties, earn dividends and skip property management responsibilities.
Their flexible investment options allow both accredited and non-accredited investors to benefit from this inflation-hedging asset class with ease. You start by looking for verified properties, then simply select a property and choose the number of shares to buy.
If you are looking to make a larger investment, you can also take advantage of privately held real estate opportunities.
Now, accredited investors can leverage that same approach through platforms like Lightstone DIRECT, which give you access to institutional-quality multifamily and industrial real estate – with a minimum investment of $100,000.
Founded in 1986 by David Lichtenstein, Lightstone Group is one of the largest privately held real estate investment firms in the United States, with more than $12 billion in assets under management.
Over nearly four decades, their team has delivered strong, risk-adjusted performance across multiple market cycles — including a historical net IRR of 27.6% and a historical net equity multiple of 2.54x on realized investments since 2004.
With Lightstone DIRECT, you get access to that proprietary deal flow.
Here’s the kicker: Lightstone invests at least 20% of its own capital in each deal — roughly four times the industry average. With skin in the game, the firm ensures that its interests are directly aligned with those of its investors.
Read More: Nearing retirement with no savings? Don’t panic, you are not alone. Here are 6 easy (and fast) ways to catch up
In classic Althoff fashion, she not only asked Cuban for $5 million, but she also stepped up to invest in her podcast.
“I don’t know that I’d invest in a podcast,” Cuban chuckled.
Although Cuban was reluctant to enter Althoff’s investment offer, he is certainly not against diversifying his investments. According to his website, Cuban has invested in all sorts of goods and services — from NBA franchises to healthy bakeries (5).
Asset diversification can be a great way to protect your wealth. Often, when investors diversify, they are looking for alternative assets that differ from the stock market.
That’s especially the case now, as fears over a potential AI bubble make some investors wary about keeping most of their money in the stock market.
on the AI pioneers podcast in November 2025, Cuban weighed in, saying: “I don’t think it’s a traditional stock market bubble.” Although he warned that there may be smaller bubbles in the industry, saying that “to be a market leader, they may be overspending (6).”
If you’re mostly invested in the S&P 500, your portfolio is highly vulnerable to those companies vying for the AI throne. Just five major AI companies – Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Meta and Microsoft – account for a whopping 30% of the S&P 500, according to CNBC (7).
If any of those companies take a tumble, investors will see their portfolios suffer.
At the Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit in November 2025, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said, “It is likely that there will be a 10 to 20% decline in equity markets sometime in the next 12 to 24 months.”
With that kind of warning sign, diversification isn’t just smart — it’s essential.
One example that stands out: postwar and contemporary art, which outperformed the S&P 500 by 15% from 1995 to 2025 while showing almost zero correlation with traditional stocks.
Until recently, this world was off-limits. Now, with Masterworks, you can buy fractional shares in multi-million dollar works by icons like Banksy, Picasso and Basquiat. While art may be illiquid and typically requires long-term holding, it offers unique portfolio diversification.
Masterworks has sold 25 artworks so far, with annualized net returns of 14.6%, 17.6% and 17.8%.*
Moneywise readers can get priority access to diversify with art: Skip the waiting list here.
Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risk. See important Regulation A disclosures at Masterworks.com/cd
We rely only on verified sources and credible reporting from third parties. For details, see our ethics and editorial guidelines.
The Really Good Podcast (1); Redfin (2, 3); California Association of Realtors (4); Mark Cuban Companies (5); AI Pioneers (6); CNBC (7)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.