Call it Clash of the Twitter Titans.
Rich guys Mark Cuban and Peter Mallouk went at it on the shout-fest social media platform Thursday, arguing over the value of indexing. What started as a debate about cryptocurrencies—Cuban for, Mallouk against—broadened to a discussion about a diversified portfolio.
“When was the last time you looked at your bank account and felt like you had more money to spend, and things got cheaper?” Cuban, who famously referred to a buy-and-hold strategy as a crock of [excrement] and claimed diversification is for idiots, tweeted to another person. “Doge might not go up, but I’m saying there is a chance.”
“So many people are going to lose so much money listening to this. Straight out of Dumb and Dumber,” Mallouk, President and CEO of Creative Planning and fellow sports franchise owner (Kansas City Royals), responded, adding a gif of Jim Carrey.
READ THIS MONTH’S COVER STORY WITH ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI: Does Bitcoin Belong in 401ks?
From there the back and forth escalated, with Mallouk noting the probability of a diversified portfolio beating someone picking a handful of stocks “is very high. Only a fool would bet on a few stocks. Over the next 10 years, I’ll take the S&P 500 return against any group of stocks you want to pick and feel very good about it.”
Big money
And then it got very interesting, with challenges issued on indexing vs. Bitcoin and indexing vs. individual tech stocks.
“How about this?” Cuban tweeted. “We set up a … smart contract. You put in $1m in a stablecoin. I put up $1m in a stablecoin. We write the contract to pay you if the increase in the S&P 500 is higher at the end date than the increase in YOUR choice of BTC or ETH. You can pick the custodian.”
The accounts would be set to automatically pay the winner in 10 years’ time.
“If you want to do a 2nd bet for $1m, I’m good,” Cuban added. “I’ll stick with NFLX and AMZN, 50/50 You take the [S&P] 500. Biggest increase wins. Again. Has to be a smart contract. $1m deposited Autopays on 10 yr anniversary. You can pick the host and write the smart contract or I can. Deal ?”
“Deal on both,” was Mallouk’s curt reply.
Check back for an update on the winner on April 29, 2031.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
