I have a confession to make.
Sometimes, I get really bored with stocks…
I’ve built up my portfolio with rock-solid dividend aristocrats, I plug high-value blue chips into dividend reinvestment programs and I’ll take a swing on early industries I know will be making huge strides — like the current marijuana boom.
Now, I don’t mean to complain — I’ve made a small fortune with this strategy. But oftentimes, these aren’t necessarily fun things to invest in. And believe it or not — even as a financial analyst — I do still like to have fun.
That’s why I’ve always been a huge fan of collectibles. They were actually the reason I ever got interested in investing in the first place.
My eureka moment came when I was an elementary school kid, having a sleepover at my friend’s house. I remember it vividly: we had spread our baseball card collections out on the brown carpeted floor of his room. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a very rare Robin Yount rookie card that I knew would become far more valuable in the years to come.
Here it is…
For you non-baseball fans, Robin Yount was a perennial All-Star for the Milwaukee Brewers, and at the time he was heading into the twilight of his career. Because he was an aging guy who wasn’t making headlines anymore, kids my age weren’t terribly interested in his card — he wasn’t as popular as the hot new players on the scene like Ken Griffey Jr. or David Justice.
However, I was certain he’d be inducted into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot, sending his rookie card soaring in value.
So I traded my friend five much weaker cards for it, and held onto the card for the next few years. Sure enough, when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, the value of the card shot up hundreds of percent. I eventually sold it for close to a thousand dollars to help buy my first car. The cards I traded my poor friend ended up being worth a couple dollars — total.
I did this over and over with my baseball card collection and made a pretty penny, especially for a kid.
I was so successful, in fact, that my father asked me to give a presentation to his wealth management firm about identifying trends for under-appreciated assets and what kinds of catalysts could send them skyrocketing in value. It was a pretty promising start for a 12-year-old investor…
And the best part of all this was that I was having a blast while making money hand over fist.
While I don’t really collect baseball cards these days, investing collectibles is still a no-brainer for three main reasons:
1) Collectibles are tangible assets. They’re not influenced by inflation or interest rate headwinds.
2) Collectibles have a low correlation to the stock market. That is, they act as a hedge against the market.
3) The only place for prices to go is up. Due to growing rarity — over time collectibles become scarce as they are lost or damaged — prices are pretty much guaranteed to rise.
Now, you can’t just run out and start rummaging through yard sales, attending art auctions, or buying out your local coin dealer. It isn’t that easy…
That’s why I’m going to give you one ticker symbol that will allow you to play the entire collectibles industry in one fell swoop…
First, let’s take a look at another of my favorite collectibles: rare coins.
Rare coins are another example of lucrative investing made fun.
While I was collecting baseball cards, my little brother was establishing a serious rare coin collection. I called him when I was putting this article together, and asked him if he’d ever sold any of them for big returns.
“Not a chance,” he told me.
“Every single one has gone up so much in value, I see absolutely no reason to sell them. Unless there is some sort of emergency where I desperately need the cash, I’ll hold them forever.”
Once I did a little research, I discovered that my brother wasn’t kidding: rare coins are up a whopping 373.67% in value in a little over a decade:
And they haven’t shown any sign of slowing down…
In fact, the current stock market environment should catapult their values even higher — starting soon.
You see, when the DOW hits record highs — like it has done over the past few years — savvy investors start taking their gains out of stocks and dumping them into non-dollar-based investments — like rare coins.
I think we’ve reached the point where this will ramp back up again. These types of “treasure assets” do great in times of uncertainly. That’s because they are sure to retain their value — they aren’t making any more of them, and their value never falls to zero, like some speculative stocks.
So not only are these fun, lucrative investments — they are also safe from the typical market swings.
Millionaires are especially bullish on the rare coin market — and “treasure assets” in particular. In 2012, for instance, the millionaires of the world had 9.6% of their portfolios in non-financial assets, like coins and collectibles. This percentage has been increasing lately, as has the value of some of the world’s most coveted coins.
Like this 1808 Quarter Eagle, which sold for a cool $2.4 million earlier this year:
Or the famed 1794 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar, which shattered records when it sold for $10,016,875 at a public auction:
There are countless examples of these prized items growing exponentially in value. The point being, both retail investors and the super rich are going to be upping the ante of these treasures for the rest of time.
And I’ve found a very easy and unique way to get your share of these millions every time it happens…
I recently discovered a virtually unknown company that gets paid every single time one of these coins goes to auction.
I call these guys the “Gold Barons”, because they are the behind-the-scenes kingpins of the rare coin market. If you want to sell a valuable coin, you’ll have to go through them. There’s no way around it.
Over $4 million worth of precious metals passes through their hands… every single day.
In the past 30 years, they’ve had their hands on over 30 million coins, worth a total of over $29 billion.
Thes best part? They make money hand over fist regardless of the price of silver or gold. You can think about it like a free call on the precious metals market.
I was fortunate enough to land a behind-the-scenes tour of their operation, and I’ll just tell you: the treasures these guys have are stunning.
Just like investing in collectibles, investing with the “Gold Barons” is lucrative, safe, and most of all — it’s investing made fun.
You can watch part of my tour of their facility here.
