Investing in Lego, does anyone else?

AnnoyedEnergyUser

It all started as an idea during the first lockdown, I have always been interested in Lego but never had the money to buy it before, a chance buy of a lego football set then led me to go on brick link and buy bricks for a stadium I wanted to build, then onto the main lego website. I noticed the larger sets and how they retired them and when looking at the price of sets which were retired led me to think if I bought the sets direct from Lego so I know they are genuine, keep them boxed and out the way and in a few years time once they have been retired may make a nice gain.

Tried to go for items which are exclusive to lego website and things I like, (if it doesn't work out at least I can build them) 

You normally can get £5 to £7.50 back from Lego to spend again on the site for every £100 you spend with them, so you can think of it like buying £100 worth of shares and then being given another £7.50 ... You also on certain purchases get free gifts, which in them self can be re sold, I did this just before Christmas netting £80 back from all the free gifts I received with my purchases. So currently I hold just over a £1,000 worth of sets which are in their originals boxes and packaging and stored in a back cupboard.

As with anything it is only worth what someone else will pay for it, so can't be guaranteed my money back and it isn't something for quick access to cash. But even now if I was only to get back the money I have paid I am £80 up with the gifts and I still have a football related one which for free still to sell so that would be a return of 8% Experience of other sets which have been retired do show an increase of 50 to 100 percent so over ten years that is a return of 5 or 10 percent.

Your thoughts and your own alternative investments would be interesting to read.

Malthusian

You normally can get £5 to £7.50 back from Lego to spend again on the site for every £100 you spend with them, so you can think of it like buying £100 worth of shares and then being given another £7.50

Except that if I buy £100 worth of shares I can immediately sell it to someone else for £100 (short-term fluctuations and fees / stamp duty aside). If I buy £100 "worth" of Lego I can't sell it for £100 - not at scale at any rate - because there's a retailer markup.

It's more like buying £200 worth of silver from a jeweller, which will cost me about £1,000, and getting a £75 cufflink set thrown in (street value £15).

Tried to go for items which are exclusive to lego website and things I like, (if it doesn't work out at least I can build them)

That last part is very sensible. There is a saying when it comes to "investing" in fine wine: "never invest more in wine than you can afford to drink". Likewise, never invest more in Lego than you can afford to build and have space for in your mancave.

The short answer to the question in your thread title is "probably not". It is not investment as most of us would consider it. It falls partway between commodity speculation (with you paying the cost of storage, insurance etc) and eBay trading (which is not a passive investment but a job). But then if I went onto a Lego forum and asked "hay guys who invests in Vanguard LifeStrategy" I wouldn't expect much of a discussion.

It is time-consuming, expensive in terms of storage, impractical for an investment large enough to significantly effect your lifestyle, and as you describe it the returns on offer are modest and comparable with much lower-risk and lower-effort investments. But if you enjoy owning lots of Lego none of that matters. It's your money, more power to you.

A return of 50-100% over ten years is 4.1% to 7.1%pa, not 5-10%, which is OK but nothing to write home about, given that you can reasonably hope for that kind of return from pressing a few buttons and buying a globally diversified tracker fund. (Not necessarily over 5 or 10 years, but over some undefined length of time in that ballpark - and the same lack of guarantee applies to Lego sets.)

Thrugelmir

Eras come and go, Pokemon cards, collectible toy soldiers, model cars, teddy bears, stamps. You name it. Once was a fad. Now it's only the real rarities that are worth collecting. 

Little fun in buying something in a box that never sees the light of day. 

getting_better_2

On a slightly more positive note, whilst I agree it probably won't be a life changing investment, for a bit of fun and something a bit different, chances are you'll make a decent return particularly if you've chosen the sets well

While my aims weren't really investment, I too got interested in buying/selling Lego during lockdown - admittedly I did it very differently (second-hand trading), I was amazed at how well value seemed to hold for most sets...however...my approach was very time-consuming - much closer to ebay trading as mentioned by someone else and could easily feel like a (badly paid!) job 

Like many things, it's all in exactly what you invest in, the more you learn, the more likely you are to make decent returns but I'd stick to doing it for a bit of fun rather than expecting to make a fortune

Thrugelmir

Your post reminded me of this. 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/star-wars-lego-set-breaks-7401372

There's some serious collectors globally. For whom money is no object. 

strawb_shortcake

The Star Wars sets seem to be the ones that make the most gains, but not guaranteed. 

My Husband has speculated on a few sets  which are sat safely upstairs, some are doubles, some will be used and other will go to Children or future grandchildren at some point if the value doesn't go up.

We also have the Lego VIP points which can add up, but we buy a fair bit of Lego as gifts and usually when they have a promotion on for extra points. 

I do have shoes and perfumes that I guess could be considered assets but I'd never consider them to be investments. 

@AnnoyedEnergyUser do you also use Quidco to boost your cashback on Lego? Rates fluctuate but usually get something back on my Christmas shop