Kevin O’Leary just backed an $11 million baseball card sale and wants 5% of his portfolio in collectibles, but the strategy that works for a billionaire may quietly wreck a retirement account.
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Kevin O’Leary went on CNBC this week to pitch 5% of his portfolio in high-end collectible cards, and his group just paid a record sum to prove he means it.
O’Leary is a principal at Secure Collectibles. The buying group for the card in question is the Secure portfolio of Kevin O’Leary, Shyne and Paul Warshaw, which paid a record Secure portfolio of Kevin O’Leary, Shyne and Paul Warshaw, which paid a record $11 million1 million for a one-of-one Shohei Ohtani card, according to Sports Collectors Digest. His group also owns the Jordan and Kobe Dual Logoman card he uses on air as an appreciation comparison. He is arguing for an asset class in which he is heavily positioned, on a network with a large retail audience.
What Was Actually Sold
The card is a 1/1 Topps Chrome redemption, autographed in English and Kanji. The Topps Chrome Back to Back Gold Logoman set honors MLB players who took major awards during the 2024 and 2025 award seasons, with Ohtani winning NL MVP, according to Sports Collectors Digest. According to Sports Collectors Digest’s Jeff Owens, the two game-worn gold patches come from different games: the first from Ohtani’s two-homer road game on September 7, 2025, and the second from his home run at Dodger Stadium on April 12, 2026.
Owens writes that this sale ranks as the third highest public sports card sale of all time, behind the Jordan and Kobe Dual Logoman and a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. The card was pulled at Boca Sports Cards in Boca Raton, Florida. O’Leary described the finder as a Florida teenager during his September 8, 2026 CNBC appearance.
O’Leary’s Thesis
Kevin O’Leary told CNBC, “This is an alternative asset class. You want to index it. You want many many many cards but only the very best. And then over time you create diversity like an ETF. This is my theory. And I want 5% of my portfolio.”
O’Leary calls the Ohtani piece an “ultra modern card” and argues Ohtani has “transcended the sport”. He reframes the collectibles rally as a macro question: whether money is getting worth less or rare things are becoming worth more. M2 money supply sat at $23.22 trillion in July 2026, up 0.4% on the month, the backdrop hard-asset bulls point to.
Why 5% In Cards Is A Poor Fit For Most Retirees
Copying a billionaire’s allocation into a retirement account differs from the billionaire’s trade:
- Zero income. Cards pay no dividend and no interest. A retiree drawing down a portfolio needs cash flow. Cards do not produce any.
- Heavy transaction costs. Grading, authentication, auction premiums, insurance, and secure storage all eat into returns, and none of it is priced like a fund expense ratio.
- Opaque valuation. There is no daily market price. When O’Leary cites the Jordan and Kobe card as worth more than his group paid, that is a self-assessed markup on an asset he holds rather than a transacted price.
- Illiquidity. O’Leary notes there are only three 1952 Mantle PSA 10s in the world and it has not transacted in 30 years. An asset that does not trade cannot be sold on a retiree’s schedule.
- Loss tolerance. O’Leary can absorb a total write-down. A household living off invested savings cannot.
An ETF is continuously priced, cheap to exit, and settles in two days. A card index lacks continuous pricing, cheap exit, and fast settlement.
Fair Case And The Takeaway
The bull case is real. Genuine one-of-one scarcity exists, cultural staying power exists, and the category’s returns have moved independently of equities. Even so, the asset class remains unsuited to a retirement allocation.
For readers who love the hobby, collect because the hobby itself is worth it and size the spend as discretionary. Treat any capital deployed in $11 million territory as money you can lose without changing how you live The same 5% ceiling O’Leary throws around is workable for a speculative sleeve if it comes with real position sizing and exit rules, which we spelled out in a free playbook here: Small Stakes, Big Swings
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
AJ has spent the past 10 years writing about financial markets at The Motley Fool. His coverage centers on technology stocks and the broader macroeconomic trends, from interest rates to geopolitics, that shape where markets are headed next. AJ is drawn to the stories where big-picture economics and individual companies collide.
