Overhaulin'

What things appreciate in value over time?

Ok, off the top of my head I can think of property and classic cars, what other things appreciate in value over time?

Public Comments

1. anything valued by a large group of people that is scarce Paintings, sculptures, autographs, furniture,
2. Good start to the list, but not all property appreciates. Think of the property that has a landfill opened down the road, or some other undesireable entity. Other things that I can think of are: Collectibles: baseball cards, memorabilia, etc... Wine
3. Memories
4. Art, furniture, period pieces, limited made items, gems and some jewelry.
5. Artwork, antiques, collectibles, almost anything old that can't be found now.
6. firearms -- especially when governments ban certain types, but "grandfather" in existing supplies. they then command a premium.
7. I have three contributing reasons for this: 1) Item survivorship. For items like cars, as time goes on, fewer of them exist. As some items become scarcer, they become worth more money. 2) The baby boom. This demographic phenomenon has been responsible for a lot of the increase in prices in real estate. As the babies were born from 1946 to 1964, they started buying their first bigger houses as they turned 30-35, meaning that the big surge in prices would be from 1976 to 1999 (approximately, of course). This increase in demand has resulted in an increase of prices of houses. Similarly, they also increased demand for schooling, vehicles, and just about everything else you can name. There is a good reason that prescription drug plans are coming into play in the US now that the boomers are just turning 60. 3) The declining value of the dollar. There are an astonishing number of dollars out there, and the number is being increased at a rate that would make your head spin. This increased number of dollars increases the supply more than the demand, therefore value of the dollar itself falls. Imagine measuring the length of a piece of string (value of an object) with a ruler that is shrinking (dollar that is falling in value) - each time you make a measurement, the ruler says that it is longer, even though it hasn't really increased in length at all! Add the three things together, and you've got most of the story!