If you give your hand Mark Cuban $100,000, he’s not going to run off to Wall Street or some hot tech startup. He grabbed the shopping cart.
In a 2010 Forbes interview, the billionaire was asked what he would do with a $100,000 lump sum. His response was not glowing. It wasn’t cryptic. And that didn’t include crypto. This includes toothpaste.
“First I pay off all my credit card debt and evaluate other debt I have. I put whatever I have left in the bank,” he said. But he didn’t stop there.
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Then comes the part that sounds less like a billionaire’s financial strategy and more like hauling Costco coupons: “I try to create as much transaction value as possible from that cash. I look at my annual budget for everything and anything, and I look at where I can save the most money on those items. Saving 30% to 50% – to buy in bulk, which can be used on a lot of things. Which – is the best guaranteed return on investment you can get anywhere.”
Let’s break it down. Cubans aren’t saying hoard hand sanitizer like 2020 again. If you already use toothpaste, toilet paper, canned soup, shampoo—if you’re going to buy them anyway—you might as well stock up when prices are low. That’s ROI: buy stuff now to avoid paying more later. His version of “investing” isn’t tied to risk—it’s about locked-in savings.
Let’s say you normally buy four packs of toilet paper for $6, but a bulk box of 30 rolls goes on sale for $20. That’s about 67 cents a roll versus $1.50 a roll. Over the course of the year, you’re not just eliminating inconvenience—you’re saving real cash. Multiply that by your grocery staples and, as Cuban says, you’re looking at a “guaranteed” ROI no stock or bond can promise.
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And what about the rest of that $100,000? Don’t expect a fancy ETF recommendation from Cuban.
He said in the interview, ‘Whatever I have left, I keep it in the bank and I don’t let it earn anything.
Yes – “Let it earn something.” Why? Because then it’s ready. The Cuban does not park money in the bank out of laziness – he waits for the moment when he can get it. In his world, flexibility beats short-term yield.
