Hands up if you love Christmas (me). If you love the excitement that is all around, the anticipation, the parties (oh the parties), the food, the general feeling of excitement and yes, the present buying. Personally, I love the thought that goes into present buying at Christmas. Naturally, I love receiving them too, but trying to recall all those conversations with loved ones, things that they have said over the previous year so you know you will strike it right when it comes to present opening time on the 25th.
I appreciate not everyone is as into Christmas as I am. In fact for some, Christmas and all its trimmings is actually a Great. Big. Hassle. For these people, Christmas and present buying is the bane of the year, and holds no joy for them whatsoever. So, this blog is addressed to you. The Grinches and the Ebeneezers of the world. The time poor people. The working mothers. The stay at home mums. The single guys and gals who prefer to spend their time in the Christmas spirit and not in the department stores. Or simply, the very, very organised among us, who simply like their Christmas shopping to be done in a single click. This is for you.
Wine Collections
We have previously explained in our wonderful piece on alternative investments why passion assets (a synonym for alternative investments) are so very important to the serious investor.
Hands down, one of the very best gifts you can get is a wine collection through a reputable wine investing app. Investable fine wine has surged in popularity post-2020, when it proved itself to be by far one of the most investable and lucrative assets in a very uncertain time. Alternative investments are really anything invest-worthy that lie outside of the traditional stock, shares or bond market. These are usually art, gemstones, jewellery, gold bullion, cars, property and in more recent years, fine wine. But the 21st century has seen an increase in people buying fashion items such as handbags, collaboration clothing and limited edition sneakers for buying and reselling purposes. So really, almost anything can be considered alternative and invest-worthy these days, providing there is a secondary and tertiary market to sell it on to.
Fine wine’s impressively high returns are well documented. Liv-Ex showed that investable wine had an astonishing 40.5% return rate in 2011. Remember, this was post 2008 crash when the rest of the financial world was struggling with economic turmoil. Fine wines not only proved astonishly covetable during this time, they also detailed an annual compound return of 14.1% in the first ten years of 2000. Not bad.
Fast forward to 2020, or the great COVID-19 Crisis as we like to call it. Fine wine once again proved to be an asset with having in your portfolio, only dipping during April and May 2020, back to its February 2020 value by June of that year and showing a healthy return by the end of Q4.
As fine wine is a tangible asset, its supply is naturally limited. Thus, as supplies dwindle, demand soars. And the very liquidity of wine makes it a product that dwindles stupendously year on year. Then there is fine wine’s razor edge uncertainty: only certain regions can produce the good stuff, and even then the stars, heavens and universes have to align in order to produce a vintage that is of interest to serious investors. But when all the above is achieved? Well, this is when the magic happens. Additionally, as great vintages get better with age, they create the perfect storm: low supply (assuming many bottles are drunk before maturity) and high quality, thereby attracting legions of serious drinkers. This creates what Andrew della Cassa, the founding director of the Wine Investment Fund describes as “a perfect inverse supply curve”.
However, wine investment has traditionally been seen as an exclusive domain for old men in velvet smoking jackets belonging to the upper classes. And if you don’t know much about wine then you’re bidden to trust a trader, who might make the wrong decision for you. And if that’s the case, then you’d be better off drinking your bottles than keeping them. The beauty of wine investment apps is that you are the one doing the trading. Many, such as Vindome’s, have fantastic guides on the chateaux and estates, allowing you to read all about them yourself and make educated decisions.
Vindome’s wine investment app has another, huge benefit. Their wine collections (or Collections). These Collections are ideal for those who are time poor, or just starting their wine investment journey. These pre-built cases of 6 or 12 bottles have been carefully selected by Vindome’s team of specialists in order to make your life – as well as that of the lucky giftee – literally richer. There are three fantastic benefits to buying a collection:
- They’re easy. Simply click on the Collection that you want and bingo, job done. There are lots of Collections on vindome.net’s website to suit different budgets and time investment horizons.
- They’re secure. The provenance of all wineson the platform is guaranteed and the cases stored in state of the art in-bond wine cellars. This is good news for the wine investor as not only is the wine’s history traceable but you know that it has been stored in optimal conditions, essential when it comes to selling later on.
- They’re dynamic. These Collections are constantly being updated and added to, meaning you can update your portfolio with new and attractive investment opportunities in a matter of minutes.
If I still haven’t managed to convince you, then not only have I not done my job very well, but let me add just one last thing. You can order these collections directly online and give them as gifts. Simply download the app, go to Collections and click on Gift. A gorgeous, personalised certificate will be sent to your inbox, allowing you to give something to the lucky receiver on the big day. What’s more, Collections can either be sent to the address of their choice whenever they want, or kept in our bonded warehouses gaining value and quality. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not.
Other Investment Options
I think I’ve extolled the virtues of why wine investment is the way to go this holiday season, but no journalist worth their salt wouldn’t present at least one or two other options. So here we go:
Stocks
Now, ask any parent what their child wants to unwrap this 25th December and chances are they won’t be saying shares in apple. Presents, especially those for under-18s tend to revolve around Nintendo, Xbox, Barbie and Mattel. Many parents however feel that their children have enough electronic and plastic stuff to fill many lifetimes, so why not think outside the box this year and give the gift of stocks?
Traditionally, I would not recommend this option as stocks are volatile, and who needs more instability in today’s world? But, giving stocks to someone can be considered a good thing as it helps teach children (of all ages) best practices for planning their financial future. Yes, ok, it’s not as sexy as a PlayStation, but these babies will keep on giving (hopefully), long after the PS5 has been put away. Investopedia has a great article on this very subject here. I’ll refer to them on this, as the FTSE100, Dow Jones and Hangseng etc are very far out of my comfort zone.
Financial Education Courses
“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” The proverb’s origin is uncertain, but the sentiment rings true. If you can give a gift of financial education to your loved ones this holiday season then surely that’s a gift worth giving? Yes, ok, much like giving stocks and shares, financial education courses do not exactly top my Santa’s wish list, but bear with me. Recommendations from trusted financial websites such as
Morningstar, Investopedia or Time can be a great way to learn the skills you need to start your investment journey. These courses are aimed at all levels of financial wizard – from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, all the way to the Deathly Hallows. The beauty of one of these courses is that it will help the attendee to understand the latest trends in finance and become skilled in competent investments. You could even go one step further and give a wine investment course – Sonoma State University does a great online course that is loved by wine industry professionals with limited experience in finance. Courses vary in length and in budget but are invaluable when it comes to gaining practical knowledge and financial literacy in the fine wine industry. So if modern financial strategies that promise financial proficiency and, hopefully, profit float your loved one’s boat, then why not offer one of these courses this Christmas? It really will be the gift that keeps on giving.
Coins
In the days of instant, online stock trading and financial accounts, sometimes money seems almost make-believe. But believe it or not, collectable coins are an alternative investment that has a huge following. There are currently around 1,000,000 Numismatists (coin collectors) in the US alone, the gold coin collecting market amounts to approximately $17.59 billion in revenue annually. That’s why there’s something very satisfying and solid about investing in and wanting to buy gold coins. Their very tangibility makes them covetable and depending on your budget, buying gold and silver coins can offer the investor (or investor in the making) a potentially superb ROI. We have been vocal on why we believe that gold is one of the less good alternative investments – prices are contingent upon current market conditions, so the cost varies and gold is not insured against unforeseen circumstances.
If you’ve already done a little research, you’ll agree that discussions about investing in rare coins can generate mixed responses from investors (particularly wine investors). The concern among the wine community is a lack of expertise for the layperson. At the risk of shooting ourselves in the foot, novice investors should take heart from the fact that a lot of inexperienced investors have succeeded investing in rare coins with very little knowledge. Also, if one lacks the inclination or time to study the ins and outs of rare coin investing, there are always experts in the field who offer advisory or consultation services. However, this of course runs the risk of wine investing of old – namely that you are beholden to a third party’s expertise.
Cryptocurrency
When considering investing in currency, the modern investor should consider cryptocurrency. However, apart from being the hot buzzword of the investing world these days, what exactly is it? We have all heard of Bitcoin but Dogecoin, Litecoin, XRP or Ethereum? Nope, us neither.
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets people use as investments and for online purchases. You exchange real currency, like dollars, to buy “coins” or “tokens” of a certain kind of cryptocurrency. This currency is decentralised, meaning there is no third party governing it. Put simply, cryptocurrency is exchanged from person to person on the web without a middleman, like a bank or government. The currency is stored in a cryptowallet (yes, really), and gathers interest according to market value. Some shops and online retailers accept cryptocurrency in exchange for goods, although these are not many. While the benefits can be vast, investing in cryptocurrency is tremendously unstable, has a lot of unknowns and has an unproven rate of return.
Thus when it comes to practically guaranteed, covetable gifts that you can actually unwrap under the tree, there is only one answer. Our advice? Stick to wine.
Explore our Christmas collections and get the best gift for a loved one!