The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: Quinn on January 13, 2016, 08:15:29 PM
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https://baghunter.com/pages/hermes-birkin-values-research-study
In conclusion, historical data along with current indicators show that investing in the S&P 500 or in gold commodities brings with it a huge amount of risk and returns are heavily influenced on external factors out of the investor’s control. In comparison, an investment in a Hermes Birkin bag has shown to be safe and steady over the last 35 years, with all current indicators showing that this trend is set to continue. In 2016, the safest and least volatile investment market of the three is certainly Hermes Birkin handbags.
I know it's click-bait garbage but I'm just smh.
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Definitely click bait garbage that makes you shake your head
HOWEVER, this subforum is a good place for that kind of stuff, haha.
I didn't click the link because I don't have adblock at work and refuse to generate revenue for a site like that, but I'm assuming these are 'NEW' or 'UNUSED' bags?
Even the nicest handbag in the world will eventually fall apart with daily use. I'd imagine that $10k purse isn't worth $10k after 10 years of wear and tear.
Whereas if you have a $10k handbag you never use and just preserve it and care for it... why bother?
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I heard a Planet Money report about this bag and was just astonished.
Along the same lines, there was an interesting TED talk recently about the Nike sneaker market that just blew me away. I had no idea this was a thing! These people are paying thousands for sneakers they will ever wear, and treating them like collectables. Nike makes a new fancy sneaker model every week and releases a limited quantity.
https://www.ted.com/talks/josh_luber_the_secret_sneaker_market_and_why_it_matters/citations (https://www.ted.com/talks/josh_luber_the_secret_sneaker_market_and_why_it_matters/citations)
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Wow. I just love their 'facts' (with personal commentary added)
Value increase of over 500% in last 35 years (total SP500 return: 1,278% after inflation)
Much less supply than demand fuels price growth (or is it because it's a fashionable fad?)
Historically safer investment than stocks (Funny - I've never had to insure a stock, keep it from getting dirty or store it in a humidity controlled room)
Value of Birkin bags expected to double in 10 years (according to who? Also, stock market doubles about every 10 years too...)
Record number of collectors/investors in 2016 (sometime remind me what the signs of a bubble are?)
Hermes Birkin bag is new status symbol for women (for how long? What happened to the old status symbols? )
Birkin bags are only sold to special clients of Hermes (so the game is rigged from the get-go? Anyone in the free world can buy stocks or bonds)
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Lots of things are better investments than lots of other things. The question is knowing which one.
So yes, if you had the foresight (and capital) to buy a bunch of Birkin bags many years ago, you could now make a good amount of money. You could have done the same if you thought to buy Apple stock when they first started up.
Or maybe instead you bought Enron.
I'll take the lower return of a balanced portfolio over the super high boom but highly probable bust of any one thing.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hermes-bags-investment_5697a827e4b0ce496423521e (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hermes-bags-investment_5697a827e4b0ce496423521e)
Lol.
So what exactly makes these bags so special?
If you ask Heritage Auctions, whose Hermes bags have sold in the tens of thousands of dollars, it's all about the supply and demand.
“These bags are not available to your average woman. She can’t just walk into Hermes and buy it,” Max Brownawell, the New York City auction house's senior specialist of luxury accessories, told The Huffington Post.
Even if one has the money, “Hermes won't sell these bags to just anybody,” he said. “You'd have to have a long-standing relationship with one of their sales associates."
So you have to buy a bunch of bags to get the opportunity to buy a special bag that you can sell. Sounds like a wonderful investment opportunity.
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I was completely unaware of this concept until I listened to a recent Planet Money podcast called "Bagging the Birkin".
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Not that it is near a Birkin, but Hermes in general hold their value quite well. And we recently had a member who was thinking of throwing away Hermes scarves because it would be a pain to bother to sell them...
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"Birkin-stocks!"
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"Birkin-stocks!"
That was amazing
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Birkin bags are the tulip mania of the 21st century
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania
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I'm not always good at the low-information diet, but it's things like this that make me glad I manage any part of it. Honestly, the power of marketing and "limited edition!!!" and "exclusivity!!!!!"--those things do have power, and the best and safest way to protect oneself is to just never hear about it. It's bad enough when a family member picks up a $300 purse and I find myself admiring it; I can't imagine exposing myself to the risk of desiring a $30,000 one.
Anyway, a fool and their money are soon parted. I look forward to seeing this bubble burst. (#schadenfreude)
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I shudder to think of how many people are now buying Birkins because of this article. There may be people that were sensible and hadn't because of the expense, but are now going to because "it's an investment." I know someone who was talking to her husband about buying one because of this article.
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I shudder to think of how many people are now buying Birkins because of this article. There may be people that were sensible and hadn't because of the expense, but are now going to because "it's an investment." I know someone who was talking to her husband about buying one because of this article.
Just make sure your friend knows that if he/she truly is thinking of htis as an 'investment' then he/she has to keep the bag in pristine condition. No using it. Eventually it has to be sold. That's usually enough to get people to stop wanting this to be an 'investment'.
(what? I can't even wear it and I have to give it up sometime??)