"The great thing about our world is that if you're a person who looks around and thinks about how to improve the world, you're in the best position to invest in something new that will bring a fresh wind to the market. I think a lot of celebrities have decent skills in that," Quaid Walker, who has spent part of his career with the technology company Google, told Forbes magazine.

Walker founded Bezel, which sells luxury watches such as Rolex and Omega. And he's made several videos describing how he was able to raise several million dollars in seed money from well-known sports and show business figures to launch his business.

It is not only Walker's experience that suggests that being a celebrity does not mean being financially illiterate. Even among celebrities, there are many examples of celebrities taking more than solid care of their finances.

For example, the Fast Company portal recently published a ranking of celebrities who are most successful in investing in so-called venture capital (venture capital - investments usually in start-ups, i.e. companies at the beginning of their life cycle).

The ranking is led by Joe Montana, who is much better known in the United States than in Europe. Montana is an American football star from the 1980s. At that time, he won the Super Bowl four times as quarterback of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. But Montana has also managed to make his mark as a celebrity investor, having invested in 569 start-ups since 2020 and even backed ten later-stage unicorns (companies with a market capitalisation of at least one billion dollars) with his investments.

Right behind Montana we can find the American actor Ashton Kutcher. Film critics usually do not leave him out of the loop, but he is doing well in the world of finance. Kutcer boasts successful investments in over a hundred companies, five of which have also developed into unicorns.

Robert Downey Junior, Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey are also in the top ten of successful celebrity investors from the world of silver screen and television.

Thinkadvisor.com has published a slightly different ranking of celebrity investors. Namely, the ten most successful celebrities in the world of finance for 2023. The least successful of them was the famous TV chef Gordon Ramsay. His fortune is estimated at $820 million and his monthly income at $12 million. His investments are mainly in real estate, luxury vehicles and yachts, but also in stocks. His wealth has appreciated by 17.6 percent in 2023.

The ninth position is occupied by Canadian rapper Drake, who invests in almost the same assets as Ramsay. And it is probably no coincidence that he achieved almost identical appreciation, namely 17.8 percent.

American rapper Kanye West (20.7 per cent appreciation), Trinidadian singer, rapper and actress Nicki Minaj (36.9 per cent) and American youtuber and boxer Logan Paul (49 per cent) also invest similarly. American singer-songwriter Kenneth Edmonds was the best performing artist last year, appreciating his wealth by 134.4 per cent. Real estate and luxury vehicles also form the basis of his portfolio.

It is real estate that is most often found among celebrities' investments. But that doesn't mean that small investors who don't have millions of dollars in cash to spare can't invest in real estate. In fact, there are many mutual funds on the financial market today that focus on real estate investments. They function like classic ETFs (exchange traded funds), in which even very small amounts can be invested using various applications.

But with ETFs, you can set up your investment portfolio in almost any way you like. And you can mix in companies or entire industries that you have more in common with than just a desire to make the most of your savings.

David Matulay, analyst at InvestingFox

- Warning! This marketing material is not and should not be considered investment advice. Past performance data is not a guarantee of future returns. Investing in a foreign currency can affect returns due to fluctuations. All securities transactions may result in gains and losses. Forward-looking statements represent assumptions and current expectations that may not be accurate or are based on the current economic environment, which may change. These statements are not guarantees of future performance. InvestingFox is a trademark of CAPITAL MARKETS, o.c.p., a.s. regulated by the National Bank of Slovakia.