Stamps - A Top Investment

The Advisor.ca website reports, "Few hobbies are persued as universally as stamp collection. Year after year, millions around the world build, become bored with, and bequeath small fortunes in stamps before moving on to other pursuits. But while dabblers come and go, only seasoned stamp collectors—philatelists, if you prefer the technical term—know their passion is among the top four investments of the 20th century, producing double-digit returns annually."

Reporter Vikram Barhat pens, "Few alternative asset classes can match the portability and profitability of postage stamps. Nor has the long-term performance of any other class of collectibles been so closely monitored and painstakingly documented."

Barhat points out, "A 2009 study by two finance professors, Elroy Dimson at London Business School and Christophe Spaenjers at HEC Paris, tracked the investment performance of British collectible postage stamps between 1900 and 2008. Their study, Ex Post: The Investment Performance of Collectible Stamps, pegs annualized return on stamps at 7% in nominal terms, or 2.9% in real terms."

Shown above, a good philatelic investment - letter that was postmarked on the Titanic before it sank.

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