Lego a better investment than shares or gold

onlyroz

Fancy an investment with a 12% return? Then forget gold, property etc - you should be buying Lego.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/11817380/Lego-a-better-investment-than-shares-and-gold.html

All you have to do is keep it pristine and store it properly. The Star Wars sets tend to do the best.

So who's in?

Generali

onlyroz wrote: »

Fancy an investment with a 12% return? Then forget gold, property etc - you should be buying Lego.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/11817380/Lego-a-better-investment-than-shares-and-gold.html

All you have to do is keep it pristine and store it properly. The Star Wars sets tend to do the best.

So who's in?

Oh the joys of hindsight investing!:money:

onlyroz

Generali wrote: »

Oh the joys of hindsight investing!:money:

I guess the trick is to buy into an ongoing franchise. Perhaps in 10 years nobody will care about Harry Potter or The Hobbit, but I'm betting that Star Wars will still be around.

Generali

onlyroz wrote: »

I guess the trick is to buy into an ongoing franchise. Perhaps in 10 years nobody will care about Harry Potter or The Hobbit, but I'm betting that Star Wars will still be around.

Looking at ebay there are a lot of items listed with no bidders and plenty of chancers.

Is there really any added value to getting all the different Harry Potter sets, all of which you could still get with a bit of hunting, and putting them together into one set for example?

Sorry onlyroz but I'm Out!

The problem with 'investments' like this is they really are subject to the whims of fashion. I remember when 'collectors cars' were the hot item with E-Types and so on seeing YoY price growth of 30% or something over multiple years.

The problem with an investment such as Lego in a box or gold for that matter is it doesn't give you anything. At least with an old car or some shares you get the joy of driving it or getting a dividend cheque. With Lego in a box or some gold coins you get....a box full of Lego that you daren't take out in case someone spills coffee on it.

Mistermeaner

Never have coffee on the lego table, or any beverages for that matter.

onlyroz

Interesting article here:

http://monevator.com/investing-in-lego/

ruggedtoast

Lego is so expensive. My kid wants all those sets. The Star Wars ones are the worst value and seem to work out at around £1 a brick.

When I was a kid I had a lot of different coloured bricks in a bucket that I used to make into spiky multicoloured blobs I used my imagination for.

Now apparently Stephen Spielberg has to consult on every 55 piece box set and you need a Wonga loan to buy one.

Generali

onlyroz wrote: »

Interesting article here:

http://monevator.com/investing-in-lego/

Very interesting, thanks.

I'm not sure that Lego is a symptom of ZIRP so much as a fad. I remember when it was all lead soldiers and tin cars.

Any investment like this is predicated on finding a bigger fool to sell to. If you buy a share or a bond then it has a genuine value being the discounted predicted future cash flows. You might be wrong about what they might be, for example the company could go bust, but if you buy enough then you should make money overall.

The only intrinsic value Lego has is as a toy. Ironically the Lego investment market strips away the only intrinsic value Lego has as the market insists that the Lego remains untouched in the box!

paddyrg

Likewise the only intrinsic value in any collectible is the certainty that there's a bigger mug coming along... this is why some companies trading in stamps/lego/whatever make sure they keep appealing to the bigger mug down the road...

Stamps/lego/fad can collapse overnight. Likewise gold, bitcoin etc have done just that.

the_flying_pig

my son really wants that batman 'killer croc' set.

now £167 [tho i've seen ebayers ask more], originally £15, 1011% appreciation.

onlyroz

the_flying_pig wrote: »

my son really wants that batman 'killer croc' set.

now £167 [tho i've seen ebayers ask more], originally £15, 1011% appreciation.

£22 just for the mini figure:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEGO-BATMAN-MINIFIGURE-KILLER-CROC-WITH-TOMMY-GUNS-GUN-RETIRED-BATBOAT-7780-/201374138890?hash=item2ee2d5820a