Comments on: The Material Girl is now a tangible investment

The Material Girl is now a tangible investment

Mutant — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:50:40 -0800

Follow the money: for the past year, the big trade was short bank stocks, and use the cash to go long oil. Massively profitable, but now that trade is unwinding. So where is the big money being invested now? Lots of places: diamonds, fine art, guitars, and Madonna.

By: Mutant

Mutant — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:51:17 -0800

Back in the 80's I owned two art galleries in New York, so fine art as an alternative investment class didn't surprise me. Neither did diamonds or perhaps even guitars (the '42 index' tracking guitars has returned 31% per annum over the past 17 years. Not too shabby. But the Madonna as an investment angle is very amusing. What was that expression about a fool and his money ...

By: cgc373

cgc373 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:55:44 -0800

If a fool and his money don't show her proper care then she'll just walk away-ay?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:58:34 -0800

Bowie Bonds

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:59:37 -0800

I know where my retirement fund is going.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:38:33 -0800

What the fuck do you think you're doing?

By: vbfg

vbfg — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:47:51 -0800

I know where my retirement fund is going "showing signs of performance wear and age related soiling" I can recommend against that.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:19:16 -0800

"Diamonds are getting rarer. The earth just isn't giving them up," said Mr. Sancroft-Baker in a telephone interview. Was it here that I read about Cartier trading a pearl necklace for a Fifth Avenue townhouse? Due to the invention of cultured pearls, today, that necklace is estimated at about $300k, while the townhouse still looks like this. I know which I'd rather have.

By: zog

zog — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:42:13 -0800

Diamonds are getting more common - people can make purer than natural diamonds in machines now.. also haven't these people heard of the debeers cartel that keeps diamond prices artificially high?

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:42:38 -0800

I was under the impression, from a bunch of links in a diamond AskMe recently, that diamonds are absolutely pants as an investment vehicle due to buyers paying fractions of wholesale prices for diamonds bought at well above wholesale.

By: billysumday

billysumday — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:55:22 -0800

The guy on the AM radio told me that gold still has a long way to go - up, that is!

By: rdone

rdone — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:02:45 -0800

My retirement fund is one '57 gold top Les Paul.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:01:35 -0800

I'm investing in pumpkins. They've been going up the whole month of October. I figure they'll peak right around January.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:15:01 -0800

By: Balisong

Balisong — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:16:56 -0800

I'm buying silver, while the price is so low. Gotta buy low to sell high, right?

By: not sure this is a good idea

not sure this is a good idea — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:43:13 -0800

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:43:46 -0800

So, as the world falls apart from environmental destruction, investors turn to "safe" commodities, which in turn speeds up the destruction. At some point, the environment itself will be a good investment, due to its rarity.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:09:15 -0800

why is madonna so much more laughable than fine arts? in both cases you seem to buying into some kind of social convention. is the difference mainly that the market is less established? or is it snobbery? Oh, come on. A bunch of guys bought a few things a celebrity wore (but did not make), then bought some Lesser Jackson crap at that notorious fire sale, and now want- what?- you to give them money so they can keep on doing it? They won't even identify who they are or why they're at all qualified to do this. I wouldn't call it an outright scam, but anyone who gives money to something like that is a blind fool.

By: not sure this is a good idea

not sure this is a good idea — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:14:40 -0800

but did not make i thought that kind of argument went out the door years ago. you think art is valuable for the craftsmanship?

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:28:51 -0800

Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

By: mkultra

mkultra — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:36:49 -0800

i thought that kind of argument went out the door years ago. you think art is valuable for the craftsmanship? You're confusing art with memorabilia.

By: Paid In Full

Paid In Full — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:41:48 -0800

With many vintage guitar models trading well over US$250,000, ACP doesn't see the market being driven up simply by the Baby Boomer generation. The Company views generations X and Y as a major part of the equation. Uh huh. Who else but Baby Boomers are willing and able to spend six digits on a guitar? I like to think that my generation isn't so fucking stupid.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:54:22 -0800

This thread is rife with eponysteria. Also, if I ever get any money, I am going to drop you a MeMail, Mutant, about whether to go long on Miley Cyrus or short on Usher. (heh)

By: geoff.

geoff. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:13:11 -0800

I shorted oil through ETFs and I'm using the money to finance my iron condor on Ummagumma.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:16:41 -0800

to go long on Miley Cyrus or short on Usher Go long on the former and go short on Hannah Montana. It's the best of both worlds! Why are you looking at me like that?

By: DreamerFi

DreamerFi — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:30:49 -0800

Anybody want some tulips?

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:42:54 -0800

Alvy, last night I gave my daughter a Hannah Montana yogurt and she was mad because her brother got a Cars yogurt. I felt badly about it but she ate it once I explained that we were out of the Cars yogurts, and it's the same yogurt anyway.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:43:16 -0800

Diamonds as an investment surprised me. Maybe investment diamonds are different than jewelry diamonds, but the story I'd always heard is that the diamond market is one of artificial scarcity propped up by the supply-side control of DeBeers and other mining consortia, and were it not for that supply regulation, the price would collapse. I.e., they're not as uncommon as the suppliers would like you to believe they are.

By: mullacc

mullacc — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:43:51 -0800

I swear I read an article every six months about fine art as an asset class for investment. It's that and articles about "suits & ties making a comeback in a business casual world." A quick google search turns up art as investment articles from 2006, 2005 and 2004.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:49:28 -0800

The fact that some people invest in a thing doesn't make it a wise investment.

By: geoff.

geoff. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:52:07 -0800

I swear I read an article every six months about fine art as an asset class for investment. I swear that Klarman mentions it in his book as being an example of a product created by banks just to generate income and screw investors, and this was in the 80s.

By: Kwantsar

Kwantsar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:53:39 -0800

Ironically all the interest in gold is spurring a huge supply-side ramp-up in environmentally sensitive areas, like the Amazon, where they are destroying large swaths of rain-forest to get at it (with high pressure hoses and mercury, 1849 California style). So, as the world falls apart from environmental destruction, investors turn to "safe" commodities, which in turn speeds up the destruction. Copper, bauxite, and iron ore, rather than gold (which is extracted principally from underground, rather than open pit, mines) , are behind the most environmentally damaging mining practices. And when it comes to the Amazon, though a few open pits and some runaway tailings are a problem, sugar is the key villain.

By: gompa

gompa — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:28:39 -0800

Someone call Bear Stearns, I think I know how to bring 'em back from the dead! See, what you do is you take your Madonna equity and you leverage it to buy a whole bunch of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus, that sort of stuff. Then you take the short-term equity growth from those shares and float it as a derivative. As long as those girls keep making better albums and selling more of 'em - and how could they not, doesn't America always need its morally ambiguous sexpots? - you're gold.

By: dw

dw — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:27:02 -0800

As it was explained to me, one of the big reasons the housing bubble blew up so quickly is because up-and-coming nations were looking for places to put their new billions and trillions in capital, and the banks were more than willing to take their money, even to the point of writing NINA mortgages just to print more CDOs. At the same time, hedge funds were taking in the money of the new rich in the developing world. So, as I've understood it, while the housing bubble has popped and a lot of wealth has been wiped off the books, the money's still coming in, and it's still looking for places to go. Thus, the speculation in oil, the money pouring into gold, and hedge funds shorting the bejeezus out of banks. And now that the hedge funds are pulling out of oil and gold and there's really no money left to be made shorting banks, the money is looking for other places to go. And thus, it's investing in Madonna. I'm starting to wonder if we're moving into a time where the bubbles are going to be short, sharp, and everywhere. The idea that there are investment opportunities everywhere, and with the Internet and new instruments to extract the wealth from anything (e.g. ETFs), anyone can invest in anything -- or anyone else. Maybe I should start thinking about turning my daughter into an S-type corp and floating her potential earnings as a bond, then using the capital to pay for her college. Of course, there's always the fear she'll go to art school instead and I'll get sued for not pushing her harder in math.

By: _dario

_dario — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:16:25 -0800

So, I should keep that 1992 FlyingV in a bank vault until 2028? Really?

By: Durin's Bane

Durin's Bane — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:01:30 -0800

I've spent the last 12 years dollar-cost averaging into Magic:The Gathering cards. I'm totally going to retire early.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:02:29 -0800

Marquee Capital only solicits investments from high net individuals who meet the "Sophisticated Investor" as defined by the FSA. Selling investments to high net individuals or "Sophisticated Investors" are exempt from FSA regulation. As long as the investor meets the Income Test (earning of >£100,000 per annum) or Capital Test (>£250k in capital excluding property, pensions and insurance) So only the rich can share in the ownership of a pair of Michael Jackson's old pants. Get saving kids!