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Back in 2023, Mark Cuban found himself sitting on a warehouse floor next to influencer Bobbi Althoff as a guest star. Very good podcast (1).
During the 58-minute interview, Althoff used her awkward yet engaging tactics to get Cuban to open up about everything from the Mavericks to Shark Tank and even asking him for $5 million to buy a house.
“You could give me a billion dollars right now and it probably wouldn’t affect you,” Altov quipped while negotiating with Cuban. “A $5 million fine and we’ll be smaller. I can buy a house in Southern California.”
Although they found common ground in a shared birthday and lactose intolerance, Cuban didn’t give in. He warned Altov that even with millions of dollars in handouts, life in California was still beyond her means.
“I’ll give you $5 million for free,” the “Shark Tank” star replied.
Cuban explained to her why owning such an expensive house wouldn’t work, even if he bought it for her.
According to Redfin, when this podcast first aired in 2023, the median sales price of a California home was $742,000 (2). Currently, home prices have increased by approximately 7%, with the median sales price approaching US$800,000, making California the most expensive place to buy a home in the United States (3).
Cuban emphasized the importance of considering your overall financial situation when considering homeownership. While you may think you can afford the initial down payment, there can be significant ongoing costs associated with maintaining the property.
“You have to pay all these taxes,” Cuban said, nodding to California’s high property taxes.
According to November 2025 data from the California Association of Realtors, an annual income of at least $223,600 is needed to afford the costs associated with homeownership in the state.
Thankfully, there are ways you can make money in the current real estate market without having to buy a home, pay property taxes, or take on the work of managing a rental property and tenants.
Platforms like Arrived allow you to invest in real estate stocks 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 a rental property, earn dividends, and skip the responsibilities of property management.
Its flexible investment options make it easy for both accredited and non-accredited investors to benefit from this inflation-hedged asset class. You start by browsing vetted properties and then simply select the property and select the number of shares you want to purchase.
If you’re looking to make a larger investment, you can also take advantage of privately held real estate opportunities.
Now, accredited investors can take the same approach through platforms like Lightstone DIRECT, giving 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 private real estate investment firms in the United States, with more than $12 billion in assets under management.
For nearly four decades, their team has delivered strong, risk-adjusted performance across multiple market cycles – including a 27.6% historical net IRR and a 2.54x historical net equity multiple on realized investments since 2004.
Lightstone DIRECT gives you access to this proprietary transaction flow.
Here’s the kicker: Lightstone invests at least 20% of its own capital in every deal—about four times the industry average. Where there is a stake, the company ensures that its interests are directly aligned with those of its investors.
Read more: Nearing retirement but no savings? Don’t panic, you’re not alone. Here are 6 easy ways you can catch up (and fast)
In classic Altoff fashion, she not only asked Cuban for $5 million but also pitched him her podcast.
“I didn’t know I would invest in a podcast,” Cuban quipped.
While Cuban was hesitant to accept Altov’s investment offer, he certainly wasn’t opposed to diversification. According to his website, Cuban has invested in a variety of goods and services—from NBA franchises to healthy bakeries (5).
Asset diversification is a great way to protect your wealth. Typically, when investors diversify, they look for alternative assets to the stock market.
That’s especially true now, as concerns about a potential artificial intelligence bubble make some investors uneasy about keeping most of their money in the stock market.
superior Pioneer of Artificial Intelligence In a November 2025 podcast, Cuban commented: “I don’t think this is a traditional stock market bubble.” Although he warned that smaller bubbles may exist within the industry, saying “they may overspend in order to be the market leader (6).”
If you invest primarily in the S&P 500, your portfolio is vulnerable to the companies vying for the AI throne. According to CNBC, just five major AI companies—Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft—hold up to 30% of the S&P 500 Index (7).
If any of these companies decline, investors will see the impact on their portfolios.
At the Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit in November 2025, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said: “The stock market may fall by 10% to 20% in the next 12 to 24 months.”
With warning signs like these, diversification is not only smart, but necessary.
One striking example: Postwar and Contemporary Art, which outperformed the S&P 500 by 15% from 1995 to 2025, while having almost zero correlation with traditional stocks.
Until recently, this world was off limits. Now, with Masterworks, you can buy a stake in multi-million dollar works by icons like Banksy, Picasso and Basquiat. While art can be illiquid and often requires long-term holding, it provides unique portfolio diversification.
To date, Masterworks has sold 25 pieces of art, with annualized net returns of 14.6%, 17.6% and 17.8%. *
Moneywise readers get priority access to Arts Diversity: Skip the waitlist here.
Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risks. Please see important Regulation A disclosures at Masterworks.com/cd
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Very Good Podcast (1); Red Fin (2, 3); California Association of Realtors (4); Mark Cuban Company (5); AI Pioneer (6); CNBC (7)
This article provides information only and should not be considered advice. It is provided without any warranty of any kind.