Lots of educational video to watch today, because… it’s the weekend!
One of the reasons why wealthy people are looking at hypercars as fungible assets and investment vehicles [sic] is because they are wealthy enough to ride the ups and downs of consumer demand — why, for example, a rusted-out 1950s-era Porsche 911 or 1960s E-type Jag can ask for, and get, a premium price for that piece of junk. Scarcity, of course, helps — which is why a rusted old 1956 Porsche 356 cabriolet will always be worth more than a worn-out 1975 Honda Civic: the first is worth restoring, the second is only worth recycling.
If you’re interested in learning about this business — even or especially if you can’t afford to play in it — then I would suggest you watch Cars & Money, Rob Moore’s excellent podcast channel with his partner, Carl Hartley of Tom Hartley Motors. Here’s one example. (All the podcast episodes are long, about twenty minutes too long in my opinion, but they’re peculiarly fascinating. This particular episode, you can quit at 1:28.)
And speaking of watching, there’s the premium watch business, where Teddy Baldassarre, for example, plies his business. (Here’s one.)
But in this latter category, if you want to see all the costs of creating a watch collection — as an investment strategy — then please take a look at this one, (yeah, it’s A.I., but it’s factually correct) to find out how the big watch brands are bending collectors over the table:
(…and these guys are the worst, which is why I’ll never own a Rolex, because I’m not going to play their stupid game.)
Oh, and by the way: the actual purchase price of these items is only the first lightning-strike on the wallet. Then comes the (mandatory) servicing, the parts replacement, etc. etc. etc…. see how the insurance companies play ducks and drakes with your premiums.
Oh, and by the way, car manufacturers like Ferrari are equally guilty of the same kind of practices (which you’ll also learn from Cars & Money; watch out for the word “allocation”).
…and Porsche is just as bad.
If a fool and his money are soon parted, then the duration of “soon” is shrinking faster than a cheap Chinese cotton T-shirt in the clothes dryer.
And when baubles like watches and performance sports cars start becoming investment assets, the Finance Fucks in companies like Rolex are going to start making marketing decisions (pro tip: they already are).
It’s the utter cynicism of the whole business which gets up my nose. My only consolation is that the fools who’re being thus led around by the nose are the super-wealthy who can afford to pay those bullshit prices. And I have absolutely no sympathy for them.
