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Mark Cuban's Blunt Warning for People Over 60 About These Costly Money Mistakes

Cuban's own advice on debt, cash, and fees matters more after 60.

By Chris Lewis, CEPF , Edited by Laura Hohenstein

Updated Oct. 20, 2026

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Mark Cuban built his fortune on big risks, but his personal money advice is often cautious. After selling his first company, he asked a friend at Goldman Sachs to manage the money conservatively. He described the request to Walter Isaacson on PBS in 2019:

"I want to invest like a 60-year-old man. [...] I want this to last me forever. If I have to live like a student forever."

Most of the comments below weren't retirement advice. Still, several mistakes Cuban has warned against are harder to recover from after 60, especially once a full-time paycheck stops. Before you go through them, it's worth taking a minute to see how well you've prepared for retirement .

Here are Mark Cuban's blunt warnings about money that have a real impact on people over 60.

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Carrying a credit card balance

Cuban has been blunt about credit card debt. In a 2017 interview with Money, he said he once had cards ripped up for charging more than he could pay off:

"Just recognize that the 18% or 20% or 30% you're paying in credit card debt is going to cost you a lot more than you could ever earn anywhere else."

He added that paying off your cards within 30 days, or not using them at all, "is the smartest investment you can make or not make."

After 60, money that goes to interest isn't available for everyday bills, emergencies, or savings. Fewer working years also leave less time to earn back that money.

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Letting your lifestyle get too expensive

Cuban told Money that "the key is living within your means." In his 20s, that meant five roommates, a lot of macaroni and cheese, and no car that cost more than $200 until he was about 25.

He repeated the idea in a 2019 WIRED Tech Support video, answering a question about recession advice for millennials:

"Live as much like you can as a student. Because the ultimate rule is, the lower your bills, the lower your stress."

For someone over 60, a permanent increase in housing, car, or travel costs ties a larger share of a fixed retirement income to monthly bills.

Keeping too little money readily available

Cuban doesn't put every available dollar into the market. In his Vanity Fair guide to building wealth, one of his rules was to save six months of income:

"If you don't like your job at some point or you get fired or you have to move or something goes wrong, you know, you're gonna need at least six months income."

The right amount for someone over 60 depends on expenses, income sources, and retirement plans. Cuban's point is about access to funds. Money you might need soon shouldn't depend on selling an investment at the right time; you should have enough cash in the bank to cover your needs.

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Paying too much for investments

Cuban has repeatedly stressed keeping investment costs low. He told Money he recommends "putting some into a low-cost mutual fund," and told Vanity Fair he'd pick the cheapest S&P 500 fund available:

"Then, what I would do is probably put it into the cheapest SPX, Standard & Poor's Mutual Fund that I could find."

That's his personal philosophy, but it's not a portfolio prescription for everyone. However, keep in mind that every dollar paid in fund and management expenses is a dollar of return that leaves your account, and that matters more when those savings need to produce income soon.

Buying investments you don't understand

Cuban warns against investing because markets are rising or someone sounds confident. In a 2018 Fox interview with Neil Cavuto, he said:

"Where people get hurt is that they don't really do their homework and they don't understand what is involved, particularly when a market has gone straight up for so long."

He made the same point in a 2010 Blog Maverick post:

"If you don't fully understand the risks of an investment you are contemplating, it's ok to do nothing."

After 60, a large loss is harder to recover from because there are fewer years before the money is needed.

Betting too much on a speculative investment

Cuban isn't afraid of speculation, but he sets a limit. Discussing cryptocurrency with Vanity Fair, he said anyone taking that kind of bet should treat the money as gone:

"If you do that, you've gotta pretend you've already lost your money [...] I'd limit it to 10 percent."

That 10% figure describes his approach to a highly speculative bet, not a retirement allocation. The broader lesson is to avoid putting money at risk you aren't prepared to lose, especially when those savings may need to cover decades of expenses.

Make Money: 8 things to do if you're barely scraping by financially

Following someone else's investing playbook blindly

Cuban doesn't claim his approach works for everyone. In the same Cavuto interview, he explained that he kept a lot of cash on the sidelines so he could buy as prices fell, then added:

"Everybody has got to know what their own personal situation is [...] it really matters more about what your personal financial situation is than what anybody says about the market."

For people over 60, that means weighing risk against your own timeline, income, spending, and withdrawal needs rather than copying the portfolio of someone with billions in reserves.

Bottom line

Cuban's advice isn't a retirement plan, and some of his own investments would be far too aggressive for most retirees. However, his interviews return to the same rules: Avoid expensive debt, keep expenses down, hold accessible cash, minimize investing costs, and understand what you buy. Each of those habits helps you keep more cash in your pocket.

If you're still working, your age may also give you a bigger savings window. Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, 401(k) savers who are 60, 61, 62, or 63 have a higher catch-up limit than other workers 50 and older: $11,250 for 2026, instead of $8,000. Combined with the regular $24,500 limit, that's up to $35,750 a year in a single plan, if your employer's plan offers the higher catch-up. At 64, the standard catch-up limit applies again, so those four years carry the largest contribution allowance before paychecks stop.

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