Here’s Who Americans Would Trust Most To Invest Their Money

News and media company Benzinga recently conducted a survey asking average Americans which entrepreneur they would most trust to invest their life savings in: Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, or others. The top three results were clear: 58% of Americans chose Buffett, 11% chose Musk, and 11% chose Cuban. So why? And, more importantly, which of the three would financial experts choose?

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Let’s start with an in-depth analysis of Buffett, Musk, and Cuban’s investments and strategies. Then we’ll ask the experts for their opinions.

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Warren Buffett

When it comes to investing, Buffett has a very conservative approach, choosing to steer clear of complexity and fads and instead opting for solid, well-known companies like Apple, Chevron and Bank of America. “His portfolio is often based on necessities … things that all Americans rely on heavily,” said Adam Ferrari, CEO of Phoenix Capital Group. He “has proven time and time again that he has stability, long-term growth and strong fundamentals.” Buffett advocates patience and balance, prioritizing long-term gains over short-term gains. It’s not always exciting or spectacular, but it gets the job done.

Robert Johnson, chairman and CEO of Economic Index Associates, explains that a key tenet of Buffett’s risk-mitigating strategy is the use of a margin of safety. “A margin of safety means investing in a company only when its market price is significantly below its intrinsic (or true) value.” Essentially, Buffett looks for a bargain by identifying companies that are inherently strong but haven’t yet fully taken off. “So if things don’t go as planned with a company, the investor has a significant margin of safety before taking a loss,” Johnson explains.

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Elon Musk

Musk, considered the opposite of Buffett, is known for his big leaps into uncharted waters. For this reason, his investments in innovative companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter), as well as his additional Bitcoin holdings, are considered volatile and high-risk. However, they could have the potential to generate massive rewards.

It’s harder to pinpoint Musk’s investment strategy, however, because rather than being specifically motivated by the company’s performance, he’s driven by his belief in the company’s mission (usually rebellion against the status quo) and his confidence in his ability to lead it. Rather than seeking diversification, “he bets big on the companies he controls,” according to a previous GOBankingRates article. Musk is quoted as saying, “There’s nothing wrong with putting all your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.”

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Marc Cuban

“Mark Cuban is a middle ground between the conservative and the adventurer,” said Stephen Greet, an investment guru and co-founder of BeamJobs. “He’s made his fortune through a combination of traditional business acumen and a knack for spotting emerging opportunities.” While Amazon and Netflix are in Cuban’s stock portfolio, most of his investments are outside of publicly traded markets. Examples include pharmaceuticals and (most notably) the Dallas Mavericks.

Cuban amassed most of his fortune during the dot-com boom, when he founded one of the first sports-focused Internet radio companies, Broadcast.com, which was sold to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in stock — a deal he hedged by selling calls that ultimately protected him from the stock market crash weeks later. Today, he is perhaps best known for his decade-plus stint on Shark Tank, where he invested in startups. Cuban can be seen as a player at the intersection of stability and innovation.

Who Should Americans Really Trust, According to Experts?

Overall, financial experts agree that Americans were right. “There’s no question in my mind that Americans should trust Berkshire Hathaway CEO and Chairman Warren Buffett,” Johnson said. “His compound annual return from 1965 to 2023 was 19.8%, nearly double that of the S&P 500 over that period. The overall gain for Berkshire shareholders over that period was 4,384,748%, compared to 31,223% for the S&P 500.”

Ferrari agreed that Buffett would arguably be the most trusted to protect long-term investments, and David Kass, a clinical professor of finance at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, called Buffett the best investor of the last 100 years. “While Elon Musk is a technological genius, some of his investments have not worked out well,” Kass said. “His recent acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion is now valued at about half that amount. Tesla has declined significantly over the past two years and is down 16% in 2024 versus the S&P 500, which is up 15% so far in 2024.” As for Cuban, Ferrari noted that he may lack the finesse of a proven track record “of navigating all sorts of market conditions the way Buffett has.”

Other experts like Greet, however, have argued that choosing who to trust with your money isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution and may depend more on each person’s “values, goals and risk tolerance.” Jake Falcon, CEO of Falcon Wealth Advisers, also cautioned against seeking general investment advice from anyone who isn’t acting as a fiduciary for your specific portfolio.

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This article was originally published on GOBankingRates.com: Warren Buffett, Elon Musk or Mark Cuban: Here’s Who Americans Would Trust Most With Their Money