Lego more valuable than Gold.

Jonn420

ive been wondering and sometimes even defending my Lego addiction on the assumption that the value of LEGO is better than gold recently.....when i tell people the price of some of the sets i buy , it blows their mind....so my go to is "Hey LEGO isn't a joke, once it retires its value triples, its more valuable than Gold"....just this one Minifig (Mr.Gold) was going for $650-$700 at one time"...that's usually enough to shut people up about me collecting Kids toys or the price of them.....
But what is the real value on LEGO, is it higher than Gold, does the price usually triple after retire or its is set specific.... someone much more smarter than me should try to figure it out, im interested to know if im just talking out my ass.

CCC

It's not really the price that matters if you are selling it, it is the increase in price. Lego isn't more valuable than gold, but the increase in price can be. Gold is a slow mover, whereas the rate of change of price for some lego sets can spike (price jumps).

GoodCoffeeJoey

No. Gold is generally considered a poor investment. Speculating on Lego sets is a terrible one.

minicoopers11

Set specific. Not every set will eventually triple in value. Gains are usually much more modest. Some sets lose value. Even so, I disagree with "Speculating on Lego sets is a terrible one." Investing in poor stocks is a poor investment. Investing in poor sets is a poor investment. Obviously, don't treat Lego as your retirement plan, but writing it off completely is a bit silly.

Jonn420

oh i have no intention of investing in LEGO at all, my sets are my collection...."LEGO is more valuable than Gold" was just what i said to nay Sayers about my "kids toy" collection i spent hundreds of dollars on a month......i was just wondering if there was any validity to the things i was telling people.

akunthita

I - of course - use the same excuse for my LEGO investment, but as far as the truth of it, it is yes and no. First of all people often mix up short term investments for speculating/creating cashflow and long term investments for storing value. They are really a different animal all together.

Gold is for storing the long-term value of your wealth. It is not for buying and selling on the short term. Gold has an intrinsic value that is likely always going to be there, and it is universally accepted and acknowledged as such. If I really have to I can buy food and get shelter both in good times and in bad times no matter where I'm in the world.

LEGO does not have such intrinsic value - well, for us it does, but it is not a universally accepted form of wealth. LEGO is better for short term investment and speculation. By short term I mean 5 years or less. Yes, there are some sets that will hold their value longer, but in general, and expecially in the direction LEGO is going (releasing more and better sets more often), and with people becoming more aware of the value of LEGO, it is best to hold LEGO short-term (if someone is planning to invest in it).

Although it is fine to give people whatever excuse we want for our LEGO hobby, it is important that in our own mind we are clear if we are investing in LEGO, or if we are in the LEGO hobby for joy. This is true of course for all investments, and it is amazing how many people don't have a clear strategy when they invest; they have no entry, holding and exit strategy at all. They just buy stocks/bonds/real-estate/precious metals or whatever because they heard someone saying something on TV, but have no idea what to do with it or how this thing is actually going to make money for them or provide cashflow.

Of course these are the same people who will loose every time, or maybe they win sometimes out of sheer luck, but since they have no idea how or why that happened, they can't duplicate their success in the future, get bold and greedy, try it again, and end up loosing whatever they have gained and maybe even more. And this is also true for investing in LEGO. But yes, in general LEGO can be a lucrative investment, and sometimes it can be worth more than gold on the short term in certain situations... if you know what you are doing - just like with any other investment out there.