The Smithsonian Institute puts out a very fine magazine.  it offers a variety of information to its readers.  it runs articles of interest to most anyone.  to the point then it once ran a 3 page article on investments people simply do not tend to consider for investing.  We have all heard of banks and bank savings accounts.  Stocks and bonds.  Gold and silver.  Real estate.  IRA or 401's.  money markets and CD'S.  (and these days many of us would just as soon forget the pain and grief from these different common investment "tools" without doubt)

The Smithsonian article points out that there are OTHER INVESTMENTS you can make. Al of theml well supported by research and all of them proving to be superior investments over those mentioned above............in both the short term and the long term.  Today, if your watching the business markets diligently and the volatility you can well appreciate finding an investment you can better control and one that holds far greater promise for you.

An oil painting by Botero (for example) will grow in value, appreciably so, and will historically command a high price when the time comes that you chose to sell such a painting.  There are quite a number of artists and paintings for you to invest in safely.   How about a knife?  Who would imagine that you could hire a known craftsman to make you a knife.....such as the movie series Rambo and his knife......where that specific knife cost several thousand dollars to be made.......but then that same knife in the movie Rambo sold for several thousand dollars more after the movie........and the price on it continued to climb and last we knew it had sold for $55,000.  All that gain  in increased value and all in only a few years following the original movie.  There are, as we understand it four copies of the Rambo knife, (all 4 made by the very same master craftsman of course), and these 4 knifes also command very high prices. 

Old coins, gold in most any form, old silver coins and silver bullion, furniture, maybe a work in glass such as a vase, an old book, particularly an old bood that has been signed and authenticated, toys........all of these and more proved to have outperformed stocks according to the research. 

Guns.  If you can manage to buy the first gun off of the assembly line for a new model or a somehow changed existing model.  If you can buy a gun where just a tiny few will be produced.  you must never use such a gun.  to fire even one round down the barrel with destroy its greater value.  Think in terms of driving the proverbial new car off the lot and the value drop the car suffers as soon as it leaves the dealers driveway.  Same with a gun thats been fired.  So what you do is invest in such a gun, from the factory, and leave it in its factory box to the day you sell it for a substantial profit over what you paid for it.

Its interesting to note that you COULD buy a new car, zero miles, load it on a trailer and take it home.  put it into storage never having driven it at all, and then 25 years from now MAYBE that new car would show with an appriciable collectors value for you.  But......to store a car that long is typically folly and expensive.

On the other hand the gun will likely be kept by you for considerably less time and will command a very fine price (profit) the day you sell it.  Not to mention its far easier to store a painting, knife, or gun that it is a car or motorcycle.

Toys were also mentioned in this article.  Specifically diecasts such as hotwheels and matchbox cars.  These diecasts proved to be a very fine investment as well. 

Diecast cars produced a 17% profit per year across the board.  Across the board meaning any and all diecast cars lumped together.  Considering the tiny price these cars cost you off the store shelf this is a very impressive investment!  The article mentions how some cars commanded a much greater gain in value than 17% depending on how many of a specific model were produced or other factors about each diecast car which made it somehow more or less unique.  Take a hotwheels car for example. Maybe Mattel decides to produce a 1955 ford pickup truck.  They produce 150,000 of them.  They choose to paint pickup trucks in base colors of say red, black, blue, and green and then apply white pinstripe decals to the sides of all these trucks .....BUT.......the factory had some white paint left over from a prior production car they just finished producing and so the first 200 1955 ford pickup trucks that are produced are painted white with no decals applied.  This white truck will forever command a very high price compared to its brothers and may climb to selling value of hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars.  Rarity.  While theres lots of 1955 ford pickups Mattedl only produced a tiny few white ones and so to have one you automatically know and can depend upon a growth in value thats quite significant according to the Smithsonian.  Imagine you buy the truck off the rack at your local retail store for $1.00 and you sell that little white truck three years later for $200.

We are attracted to this article since it offers a person a very safe way to go about investing your hard earned dollars and building up your savings so that you can expect to take a nice vacation, buy the kids an education, or work towards your retirement income.  All the items the Smithsonian mentions can be held in your hand, controlled by you, and sold by you when you determine you want to sell the item.....It is a much different story with common investments.  The stock market is kin folk to Las Vegas and gambling.  You have no control over it whatsoever.  Bank savings are a dreadful experience, a complete rip off, and have been so for many years now.......BUT while your bank gives you next to nothing for savings, cd's, money markets, and whatever all else......they clearly do not mind charging you an arm and a leg for use of the bank in hidden ways and in CREDIT CARD INTEREST

We encourage you to couple your hobby, your passion,  your home furnishings and paintings to your investment portfolio!!  In other words try to work those dollars of yours and try to make account for themselves far more than you ever did in the past.  Learn to be patient.  Learn to save.  Learn that adding to your savings little by little, where it grows in value, that it will one day have become a very impressive savings for you.  Maybe your not able to hang a painting on the dining room wall just yet but.....save for it......buy a painting from a recognized artist.....and watch its value grow........this as opposed to going over to walmart and buying something they have in stock to hang on a wall......its just wasted money.....junk.  So you complain that its going to take a long while for you to be able to save up enough money to buy an oil painting......fine.....then go to level two and buy yourself a print from a recognized artist and simply be sure that the print you choose has a very limited production......the fewer prints made.......the greater the value and the faster the growth in value.  Forget the oil painting.  You will be happy with your print we have no doubt at all.  At least you will have avoided wasted money at walmart!!!

I wonder how many people scoff the notion that a grown man or woman collects toys like hotwheels?  These same people will surely find new respect for that little car the day they discover you bought the car for $1.00 and then sold it for $100.00 some years later.  (Ask me how i know this)  People think your out of your mind but then they see you sell a toy (or whatever) at a profit and suddenly these same people are VERY interested.  (A few individual cars of the original redlines hotwheels sold into the thousands of dollars at times over the years.   Remember the old hotwheels army car?  and the jeep?  just two of many examples.  A  great  investment!  I myself bought the army car off the store shelf for 79 cents....but i sold it for $600.00 to a collector in Hong Kong.  He would have boughten more from me if i had more.  The jeep and other cars, the old original hotwheels redlines......big bucks folks considering you would have paid any place from 25 cents per car to no more than $1.00 in years gone by.........IT SURE DOES BEAT THE STOCK MARKET

As a collector we will all differ.  some will like art, others cut glass, others toys, and still others will simply collect anything that is old. 

A wise investment portfolio is one that is broad in scope. 

I believe the two issues go hand in hand.  Collections and Investments, in my opinion, in one and the same thing. 

Do put all of your eggs in one basket.  A little stock, particularly stock that offers a dividend, some gold, some silver, a nice coin collection, an item from a movie, old toys, the IRA and 401 and so forth.  Its your money.  Your creation.  Try to broaden your investment depth.  Add collecting to your list.

With collecting you need to become educated on the field, the items that you choose to focus on.  Avon.  We are all familiar with Avon products and that the little glass figures and so forth appeal to certain collectors.  Avon, in my experience, is a cycling type hobby.  That is to say that once every 10 to 15 years Avon produced items become very hot.  At this time the items will sell quickly and will clearly offer a profit over your original investment.  Then, just as suddenly the Avon items will quiet and disappear.  Over and over through the years.  The Rambo knife would be a much different scenario i suspect along with all older knives as they seem to attract collectors year in and year out without let up.  If you chose to pursue Avon items then you would obviously do so when the market was quiet and the prices were depressed.  Buy low and sell high....an old rule of thumb in business.  Its not always possible but at least you can make the effort and be none the worse for your time and money hopefully.

These days gold and silver command alot of attention.  I do not recall that the Smithsonian went into gold and silver to any extent.  No need really.  Both have seen significant rises and falls in their value over the years.  Today however is a much different picture.  Your seeing the value of the dollar decline.  The federal government being called on the carpet by people in and out of the USA for printing dollars by the truck loads worth no more than the paper and ink the money was printed with.  Your seeing a highly volatile stock market full of promise yet full of significant risks as well.  All the while gold and silver hang on. 

The markets on gold and silver, in my opinion, can ONLY improve.  You will see much activity over both.  Rise and fall in prices.  Yet, in the end, you will see that these two items will have increased in value greatly.  Imagine that some people even forecast that silver will one day pass gold in value.

If you choose to go with coin collections, fine.  Its a steadily growing interest attracting many new hobbyists worldwide annually.  Coins as your no doubt aware will also demonstrate a rise in value.  Like Avon, said in loose manner, coins have the hot and cold spells depending on the coin.  Right about now any coin thats made of gold or silver is a hot item.  The old morgan dollars are hot.  Perhaps the Indian Head penny is still hot.  There are many coins to collect for various reasons and there are also many foreign coins you might want to consider.  Coupled with these coins and gold and silver is what is called bullion.  Little bars or rounds as they are called which are .999 pure in content.  You can click on bullion within ebay to take a look-see at these bars and rounds.  many are somehow decorated as well which adds to the level of interest.  The interest and rise in value on these bars and rounds is certain to continue to climb.  On ebay their prices tend to be a direct reflection upon the market value within the past week or two.

So a word to the wise.  Coins.  There are many reputable sellers and it is unfortunate to add, many less than reputable sellers on and off ebay.  So your new to coin collecting and you do not want to get stung.  (Getting stung is a very easy thing to do folks)  Let me offer you one really simple way to stay out of trouble and to get into this investment quickly.  There is this company we refer to, typically, as PCGS.  Go to ebay search and simply type in..... PCGS.  Look over what comes up and become familiar with the things for sale........now go to google or IE7 and their search bar and type in..... PCGS online price guide........you should now be at the company itself.......go through the whole site.....not to study it but to simply become comfortable with it and a bit more aware than you were the moment before.  PCGS is the most recognized grader out there.  They have been around a very long while and have maintained a very fine reputation all this while.  Now then, they have a price guide for you!!  If you can beat their pricings fine.  But at least stay within their prices and NEVER go past them.  Not one penny.  So why would i have you focus on PCGS........because they offer coins in what is called a slab......a SEALED and numbered plastic see through encasement......which promises you that the coin was graded (by pcgs graders) as is noted on the slab by them and......that the slab is not degraded or broken somehow......the coin inside was not swapped before it was sold to you in other words.  OK.  You are now a coin collector.  Well on your way to a fine, dependable, quality set of coins.  No muss no fuss no bad memories of being cheated somehow.  Also, you need not worry about people touching your coins which is a serious no-no and you need not worry about unacceptable deterioration.  The coins are safe and sound inside your pcgs slabs and you will soon become the envy of all your friends who also collect as a hobby and investment........because your collection is solid PCGS.

Once you have been collecting for a couple of years you might decide to start to buy loose coins and coins from the many other graders who compete against pcgs....and so be it.......you will find some bargains i am sure......but be cautious.  People are stung daily where they paid too much for a certain coin or they bought a coin which was compromised somehow.  Compromised?  yes, like a coin that joe smuck down the street cleaned and then sold as a hardly circulated bright coin.....and you send it off to say pcgs for a grade and to be put into a slab......and they phone you to tell you that the coin was cleaned, not by a professional, and has been degraded and they are sending it back to you.......something like that as an example.......your money wasted.....likely joe is not going to give you your money back either because scum bums are scum bums forever........

flip the coin over.....as a seller i once sold this JERK a very bright and handsome Indian Head which was loose.  I had thought to send it in to pcgs but i already had others, indian heads, which were slabbed so i simply put this one on ebay and right off sold it......pretty soon i get this email where the guy tells me the coin is not as represented, that it had been cleaned and compromised.....i knew he was a liar but how could one prove this.......how could one avoid a scandal on ebay.....and how could i avoid a red feedback which the guy right off warned me was coming unless i gave him some money back......he wanted to keep the coin but he did not want to pay the original price......theres a clue!!.....so as a seller who likes to avoid red marks i let this guy go......but i also put certain other sellers on notice about him and eventually WE GOT HIM.  of course i lost money on the deal (around $30) and more than that time.  since then, if i sell you a loose coin, regardless what anyone says including ebay, theres no refund for any reason on earth.  If you buy a slab from me and its not as described there is a refund given the slab has not been compromised in any way and is fully intact.  done deal.

This article rambles.  Seemingly it can not help but do so.  Being a collector and taking into consideration all the various forms of investments is a huge door to open.  My intent is to cause you to become smarter in what you do with your money and why.  To broaden your investment portfolio in safe manner.  To avoid the little commercial scams out there which stem from the banks, wall street, and even your federal government.  To become wealthy is not so hard to do if you have discipline and are educated in your chosen interests.  You save first.  Then you spend.....carefully.  One little step at a time.  A buck saved here and there and put into a savings account that you do not touch till the time is right no matter what.  Smart shopping.  Do you buy the Rolex for $10,000 or do you buy the Deporte for $75 and place $9,925 into your savings account.  One day, a year later, your savings account is worth maybe $12,000 and you go and buy the first decorated silver inlaid cellular phone ever produced for $12,000 and then two years later, still in its box, you sell the phone for $25,000 to a museum. 

in any event i would be happy to know that i have caused you to be very cautious about the various bank savings/investment programs, the stock market, insurance, and so forth.  While a few make money at these games many lose every penny they invested.  Watch Out.  Go Slow.  Become Educated.  

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ps - if you buy stocks NEVER hold onto them.  you wait for profit and then you start taking your profit monies out.  as with any form of gambling the ultimate trick is to make a profit, to double your money, then you take YOUR money out, and then you ride on THEIR MONEY not yours.  easier said than done i fear.  do not take it for granted any more than you would take Las Vegas or Atlantic City for granted.  you will LOSE your money.  never buy any stocks but that you did your homework first and fully understand what your getting into and why!!!  if you dislike the effort required to play the stocks and choose to hire a broker then be mighty sure you have given your money to a seasoned broker with a fine track record.  I would encourage you to listen to your business channel a bit more than you used to and to also tune in to Jim Cramer, his Mad Money show which airs daily.  Cramer is NOT always correct in his information he gives to you or his calls on various investments but he WILL help you to become EDUCATED and he is, in my opinion, on the side of the little guys, trying to help the common folk, more than most others...........and by the way.....Cramer is quite wealthy where he made a ton of money for himself in the market years ago and the thing is........this guy doesn't need to spend his day working with you and i.  I do believe he does so, for the most part, to help us.

On the day YOU are recognized as a wealthy person i should like to hear from you.  what impact this article had on you.  how your life may have changed and what interests and investments resulted from an ariticle such as this one. 

my oldest daughter listened to me.  she had a job at 18 and did without while other kids were spending every penny they had.  my daughter saved, in those days, at least $200 a month every month, no exceptions.  By the time she was 30 she had gained a very fine position and was a regional manager for an internationally recognized corporation.  At that income level she was saving a minimum of $500 a month plus bonuses plus other company perks.  She is now 42 years old.  Officially retired.  She is quite wealthy needless to point out and enjoys a life at home with her kids.  And, even now, she avoids many expenses that most folks think nothing of spending money on.  Like a movie and dinner out on a friday night.  She eats at home and belongs to netflix and monitors what movies her kids see or not pertinent to their age and exposure.  Is she suffering?  not a bit.  she shops high end, she travels high end, and she does as she pleases......but she always does it intelligently with an eye toward discounts and various modes of savings.  discipline.  she has alot of discipline.  IT WORKS