INVESTMENTS 

THE WORD SHOULD CATCH THE ATTENTION OF EVERYONE.   YOUNG OR OLD.   TO SAVE AND TO PROSPER IS A THING WE ALL NEED TO DO.

AS YOU KNOW OUR COUNTRY MAINTAINS A SUBSTANTIAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN WASHINGTON DC.   THE SMITHSONIAN.

YOU MAY NOT KNOW THAT THIS SAME SIGNIFICANT PROPERTY GENERATES A MONTHLY PUBLICATION.   I ALWAYS FOUND IT WORTHY OF READING REGARDLESS THE LEVEL OF BUSINESS PRESSURES WITHIN THE DAY.

A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO NOW I CHANCED UPON AN ARTICLE CONCERNING INVESTMENTS.   HOW ITEMS THAT MOST FOLKS MIGHT NEVER THINK ABOUT HAD OUTPACED MOST ANY AND ALL OTHER TYPICAL FORMS OF INVESTMENTS.   ART.   AN OIL PAINTING FROM A HIGHLY RESPECTED PERSON.....THE OLDER THE BETTER TYPICALLY.   PERHAPS A GUN WHERE FEW WERE MADE AND WHICH HAD NEVER BEEN FIRED.   NIB   NEW IN THE BOX.   A KNIFE SUCH AS THE ONE MADE FOR THE RAMBO MOVIE BY A HIGHLY RESPECTED CUSTOM KNIFE MAKER.   THESE SORTS OF ITEMS HAD OUTPACED THE MORE TYPICAL INVESTMENTS HANDILY.   THIS GOT MY ATTENTION!   ITS TOUGH TO WORK DAWN TO DUSK AND LOSE YOUR HARD EARNED DOLLARS TO THE STOCK MARKET.   ITS TOUGH TO SEE THE COST OF LIVING AND TAXATION OUTPACING PALTRY INTEREST FROM YOUR BANK SAVINGS ACCOUNT.   OBVIOUSLY I COULD GO ON AND ON HERE FOR YOU BUT I AM SURE YOUR WELL AWARE OF YOUR OWN ACCORD AND DO NOT NEED MY INPUT HEREIN.

BUT.....EVEN MORE TO THE POINT

THE SMITHSONIAN ARTICLE HIT HOME AND KEPT MY ATTENTION WHEN IT WENT ON TO DISCUSS DIECAST CARS.   IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT DIECAST CARS HAD DEMONSTRATED A 17 PERCENT GAIN ACROSS THE BOARD HISTORICALLY.   HEY!   THAT WAS ME.......I WAS GENTLY ATTRACTED TO THESE CUTE LITTLE CARS AND HAD BEEN BUYING ONE OR TWO HERE AND THERE FOR SEVERAL YEARS RUNNING.  TO THIS DAY I AM CERTAIN THE ARTICLE TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION MATCHBOX AND HOTWHEELS ALIKE.   PARTICULARLY THE HOTWHEELS PERHAPS.   SO I LOOKED INTO IT ONE DAY MUCH LATER WHEN I HAD THE TIME AND SURE ENOUGH THE VALUE OF MY CARS WERE ON THE RISE.   DRAMATICALLY SO IN FACT.   MY THING WAS MATCHBOX AND HOTWHEELS BUT I WAS SOMEWHAT PRIVY TO THE HOTWHEELS AND HAD FOCUSED MORE ON THEM AS A RESULT.

I CAME TO REGRET MATCHBOX INTEREST FALLING OFF TO FAVOR THE HOTWHEELS.   I RECALL MATCHBOX FROM WHEN I WAS QUITE YOUNG AND ALWAYS DID RESPECT THOSE LITTLE CARS.   SUCH IS BUSINESS AND BEING IN BUSINESS.   MEANWHILE, AS HISTORY NOW EASILY IDENTIFIES, HOTWHEELS TOOK OFF IN A MAJOR WAY TO BECOME A HUGE WORLD WIDE HOBBY/COLLECTOR INTEREST WITH SUBSTANTIAL ATTENTION CARRYING ON TO THIS VERY DAY. 

NEVER DOUBT THAT THERE ARE AVID MATCHBOX FOLKS OUT THERE AS WELL.   IN FACT AT THIS POINT IN TIME THERE ARE A FAIR HAND FULL OF COMPANIES PUTTING OUT SOME VERY ATTRACTIVE DIECASTS WHO HAVE GAINED COLLECTORS INTEREST AND SUPPORT.   JOHNNY LIGHTNING FOR ONE (OF WHICH I HAPPEN TO OWN NONE OF) AND THE MEISTO FOR ANOTHER.   AND THERE ARE MORE.

MOST OF YOU HAVE NO DOUBT BOUGHTEN A DIECAST CAR FOR A KID AT SOME POINT.   IT WOULD BE GREAT IF KIDS TOOK CARE OF THEIR CARS.   THAT AS THE KIDS GREW OLDER THEIR PARENTS KEPT THEIR KIDS TOYS,  AND SAVED THEM AWAY TO SOME CORNER OF THEIR ATTIC FOR THEIR KIDS TO ONE DAY DISCOVER ANEW WHEN THEY MATURED.   IT SURE BEATS PIGGY BANKS OR SAVINGS ACCOUNTS IN REAL BANKS.

AS FOOTNOTE TO THIS LITTLE ARTICLE OF MINE....THE STATEMENT: 17 PERCENT ACROSS THE BOARD.....THAT IN OTHER WORDS MEANS ANY AND ALL DIECASTS WILL DEMONSTRATE THIS GROWTH IN VALUE AND AS A GROUP WILL EVENTUALLY AVERAGE OUT AT YEARS END TO....17 PERCENT ANNUAL INCREASES IN VALUE.   WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT THIS IS ONE HECK OF AN INVESTMENT AND A WHOLE LOT OF FUN IN THE MEANTIME.

I WONDER ABOUT THE BARBIE DOLL AND OTHER DOLLS.   THE MUPPETS.   WALT DISNEY.   ON AND ON THE MANY OTHER TOYS AND POTENTIAL VALUES OUT THERE.   SURELY MUCH OF THIS WOULD ALSO PROVE TO BE GRAND INVESTMENTS.   STAR TREK AND STAR WARS.   THE INVENTORY OF POTENTIAL SEEMS ENDLESS. 

THAT RAMBO KNIFE, LAST I KNEW WHICH GOES BACK A NUMBER OF YEARS NOW....THE LAST I KNEW THE THING HAD SOLD FOR FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS SHORTLY AFTER THE MOVIE AND FOLKS WERE SAYING IT WOULD GO FIFTY THOUSAND IN VALUE IN NO TIME AT ALL.   THAT WAS THE TALK ANYWAY.   AS I RECALL THERE WAS NEWS OF IT IN THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER WHERE IT HAD BEEN SOLD IN AN AUCTION FOR SOMETHING LIKE FOURTY OR FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS A FEW YEARS DOWN THE ROAD FROM THE MOVIE.    I HAD LEARNED THAT A HIGHLY RESPECTED KNIFE MAKER HAD BEEN CONTRACTED TO MAKE THIS KNIFE FOR THE MOVIE AND THAT HE HAD ALSO MADE FOUR COPIES OF IT..... WITHIN THIS TIME FRAME I BECAME DETERMINED TO TAKE SOME OF MY MONEY OUT OF STOCKS AND BUY ONE OF THOSE KNIVES!!  BUT AS MY FATE WOULD HAVE IT THIS WAS THE POINT IN TIME I HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF EXPERIENCING A WHOPPING LOSS IN THE STOCK MARKET OVERALL WHICH I NEVER DID RECOVER FROM TO THIS DAY.

SO BY ALL MEANS DO THE BANK SAVINGS ACCOUNT, THE CD'S, THE BONDS, AND EVEN THE STOCK MARKET AS APPROPRIATE BUT BE CAUTIOUS AND SMART ABOUT IT.   THEN, TO SPREAD YOUR PORTFOLIO OF INVESTMENTS ALL THE BETTER TAKE A LOOK AT THOSE THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE OF MINE....OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE REALLY, AND REST A BIT EASIER AT DAYS END FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR KIDS ALIKE.

SATURATION?   KEEPING ALL THIS A SECRET?   NO PROBLEM.   FEW PEOPLE WILL READ THIS ARTICLE.   OF THOSE WHO DO ONLY A FEW WILL TAKE IT TO HEART.   ROUND THE WORLD ITS JUST ANOTHER DAY.   MOST FOLKS WILL BUY, FOR EXAMPLE, A DIECAST, PLAY WITH IT, WRECK IT, THROW IT AWAY......AND THUS IT IS THAT YOUR INVESTMENT IS QUITE SAFE IN THE END.   THE GROWTH VALUE IS THERE.

 WITH SINCERE WISHES TO MY FELLOW EBAYERS BE YOU BUYERS OR SELLERS

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