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On the surface, it might not seem like a rap star who was born in Brooklyn in 1969 would have much in common with a professional investor from Omaha who was born in 1930. Yet Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z, and Warren Buffett share a surprising number of similarities — as they discovered in a joint interview with Steve Forbes, founder of Forbes Magazine.
They’re both billionaires, for instance, and both have a broad portfolio of business ventures ranging from candy stores to expensive champagne. Another commonality is that both men attribute part of their success to luck.
This isn’t just humility. It’s also a key part of the calculation that many successful investors like Carter and Buffett make before deploying money.
Here’s how to employ the strategies they both use to grow their enormous wealth.
Investors often lack clear information but still have to make decisions about where to allocate capital. To manage that uncertainty, they apply probabilistic thinking.
For example, data from Wealthfront suggests that your chances of losing money in the stock market can be reduced from 25.2% to practically 0% by extending your holding time from one year to 20 years. If you look at a stock’s performance on a yearly basis only, you can be blindsided by the up-and-down swings and fail to see the big picture.
According to Wealthfront, it’s better for an investor to hold a stock or fund for as long as possible.
One of the easiest ways to invest is to open a self-directed trade account with SoFi. This DIY approach allows you to invest with no commission fees, plus, for a limited time, you can get up to $3,000 in stock when you fund a new account.
SoFi is designed to help you learn investing as you go, with real-time investing news, curated content and the data you need to make smart decisions about the stocks that matter most to you.
Using a deep understanding of probability as a mental framework could help investors make critical decisions even outside the stock market. However, there are ways to shift the odds in your favor, including seeking expert advice on alternative investment types.
Professional advisors — like those you can find through Advisor.com — can help you create a money management plan for all of your financial goals.
Advisor.com connects you with professionally vetted fiduciaries, financial advisors, and financial planners. All you have to do is answer a few questions and their algorithm will match you with the best options for you. You can then schedule a free consultation so you can decide if they’re the right fit to helpy you achieve your goals.
While thinking probabilistically, you may realize that many factors are beyond your control. You can’t control the volatility of the stock market, but you can control how and where you invest.
For instance, Carter frequently mentions his champagne brand, Armand de Brignac, by the nickname “Ace of Spades” in his songs. This ensured that when his tracks were hits, sales of the bubbly would follow. He eventually struck a deal with luxury beverage giant LVMH to secure distribution and unlock value in this venture.
Meanwhile, Buffett has often mentioned how extensive his due diligence process is and how he reads “500 pages a day” to make better stock-picking decisions.
Both men recognize that luck and probability can only get you so far, but that talent and effort can push the odds in your favor.
You can take a shortcut on this amount of effort with Moby.
The team of former hedge fund analysts and experts spend hundreds of hours each week sifting through financial news and data to provide top-tier stock and crypto reports to keep you up-to-date on what’s moving the markets.
Moby’s superior research can help you reduce the guesswork when selecting stocks and exchange-traded funded (ETFs). In four years, across almost 400 stock picks, Moby’s recommendations have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 12%, on average.
For regular investors, the lesson is clear: Do your research and account for all the variables while investing.
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
