Takeaways from Spencer Dinwiddie’s Appearance on The Yield
On last week’s episode of The Yield, Washington Wizards star Spencer Dinwiddie sat with Yieldstreet CEO Milind Mehere. In a wide-ranging conversation, the two covered how Dinwiddie managed his money early in his career, the key features he looks for in an investment, and his work off the court, including the creation of his own blockchain-based company, Calaxy.
In college, Dinwiddie turned down an opportunity with Harvard to play for the University of Colorado in the Pac-12, before he was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the 2014 NBA draft. He joined the Brooklyn Nets in 2016 and steadily improved every season. This offseason, Dinwiddie signed a 3-year, $54M contract with the Washington Wizards.
Milind and Dinwiddie take a deep dive into what it means to pursue financial freedom, the importance of financial literacy and how his investment philosophy has changed over his playing career. Spencer shares more on the importance of learning to manage large sums of money overnight, and when he started to plan for life after basketball. The duo also discuss Spencer’s varying business ventures including being an early investor in companies, as well as his path to creating Calaxy. Finally, Spencer discusses his philanthropic work with the Dinwiddie family foundation, which is empowering disadvantaged youth through fitness, financial literacy and educational programming.
Here were some of the key takeaways of their conversation:
- Dinwiddie revealed he uses his NBA money to eliminate bad debt and to try and create generational style wealth
Spencer revealed that he considers his NBA money as his “safe money” which he puts towards setting up generational style wealth for his family which then gives other money the leeway to be invested as necessary. Spencer revealed that as a rookie entering the league, his first reaction with money was to be safe, but then as he continued to educate himself as a HENRY, he recognized he needed to take chances to invest and gain with the power of compound interest.
- Belief in the product is the most important factor for Dinwiddie when evaluating investments
In speaking about the investment portfolio Dinwiddie has developed over his career, he revealed that the common philosophy that led to each investment was ensuring that he had an underlying belief in the product. When he looks to make an investment, whether it’s attached to his name, charitable foundation, or he’s a silent investor, he makes sure that he has an underlying interest and belief in the product.
- Dinwiddie admitted that while on the AAU circuit, he sold some of the exclusive shoes he got on eBay.
Spencer talked about his early entrepreneurial prowess, and the early need to recognize the importance of extracting value from his talents. This started while he was in youth basketball leagues when he would get exclusive sneaker releases. Recognizing an opportunity, he would quickly flip the shoes online, though he declined to say how much he made…
- He thinks credit cards can be an important – but dangerous – tool
When it comes to credit cards, Dinwiddie revealed that he thinks of them as an important and effective tool — if used properly. However, there is potential for danger, and if not used properly (i.e. accruing a lot of debt) it has the potential to seriously burn.
At Yieldstreet, we believe that money should fuel, not dictate how people live. We work tirelessly to develop new opportunities for our investors to help them bridge the wealth creation gap. For more dynamic conversations on alternatives, investing, and more, make sure to subscribe to The Yield wherever you get your podcasts.
For more information on Calaxy, check out their website.
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