FREE, the inside report on "Alternative Investments in Collectibles"
Lecture given by Chief Executive at the University of Stirling...
Almost 20 years ago, I sat in a lecture theatre in the beautiful city of Stirling in Scotland vaguely listening to some "old guy" babbling on about something or other...
Usually my head hurt so much from the night before that I couldn't take anything in...
20 years on and I am that "old guy"...
Dr Veld of the university invited me to give a lecture on "ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS IN COLLECTIBLES" to their MBA students of Investment Analysis.
The students certainly looked a lot fresher than I ever did.
My lecture was a mandatory part of their course. Dr Veld told me that there would be an exam question on my lecture.
It was a surreal experience for me but one I enjoyed for many reasons. Most importantly, the research I did before the lecture served to compound my belief of how strong an investment proposition rare stamps and signatures really are.
I thought it would be good to share the slides with you. You needed to be there to get the full impact of the message but I hope you will still find this useful...
Click here for FREE report: Chief Executive's slides from lecture at University of Stirling(Requires Microsoft PowerPoint. Click Here to download free viewer)
Exporting skills to China
One of the things that struck me most in the lecture was the number of foreign students compared to when I was there in the late 80s...
I would estimate that around half the attendees at my lecture were from China. I asked Dr Veld whether these students go on to take jobs in the UK. He said that almost all of them go back to China to work after graduating.
The UK is in essence exporting skills to China. We are providing the training to enable them to become world economic leaders in the future.
The Chinese are the masters at copying the West but doing it more efficiently. The Chinese have a work ethic which is now rarely seen in Europe..
I am seeing a growing amount of empirical evidence to support the predicted shift of power from the West to the Far East.
I will watch the future with interest but not concern. Any dramatic change in the dynamics of the world economy will not impact the prices of rare collectibles.
Good question from a bright student...
After my lecture, a bright young student approached me and asked a very good question...
"Would stamp and autograph prices not be impacted by a recession in the same way as, say, the art market where prices normally crash in a recession?"
A* Student
I will share my answer with you as I think this raised a very good point and a clear area of potential misunderstanding.
Not all collectible markets are the same when considering their investment qualities.
A general rule is that where there are funds investing in an asset class, the market dynamics are different. There are investment funds for fine art, wine and rare coins. There are no investment funds in stamps or rare signatures.
Where there is a fund, market prices can be influenced by the actions of investors and speculators in that market. As a result, a market crash is possible, caused by a speedy withdrawal by those investors in the same way as any other financial market.
This is because the motivating factors influencing prices are the "greed" and "fear" of those investors and not any passion for the underlying collectibles.
The stamp market and signatures market is driven purely by an enormous base of passionate collectors. Remember that stamps are the most collected items in the world. The defensive investment qualities are therefore far superior in the stamp market than in say, fine art.
This may not last forever though...
There is a visible growing appreciation by investors on the benefits to sensible wealth diversification. Uncertain global economic conditions always result in more attention in our products.
I am just glad to be in before the crowds arrive. Strong price performance in rare stamps and signatures in recent years may just be the beginning in a long term growth curve...
The Family Heirloom
The main reason I own stamps and rare signatures is that I love the concept of leaving a family heirloom. I read somewhere that, on average, it takes two generations for wealth created to be lost...
The way I see it is that my poor destitute grandchildren will inherit a load of old pieces of paper and wonder what they are worth. In an hour of desperation, they will take them to get valued...
The valuation of my £100,000 investment in stamps in 50 years time will be £11,739,085, assuming that the price performance over the past 50 years continues for the next.
You see, I can change the lives of my descendents without even lifting a finger.
My grandchildren will probably say:
"Our crazy old grandpa wasn't so crazy after all."
To join our elite club of "family heirloom fanatics" or simply to find out more about the benefits of diversifying your investments, please contact our Investment Director, Adrian Roose today on:
+44 (0) 1481 708 277
email aroose@stanleygibbons.co.uk
TOLL FREE from the USA 1 866 644 6146
Regards,
Mike Hall
Chief Executive
The Stanley Gibbons Group
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