I recently met with two of my clients who are both transitioning into retirement. They initially invested in rare coins because they were simply looking for alternatives as a way of diversifying their holdings and preserving wealth. During our discussion they shared that their investments into rare coins have quickly become their favorite investment. The explanation was simple. Rare coins have given them something many other investments recently have not... peace of mind.At this stage in their life, they have already experienced financial success and, like many other of their peers, were looking for ways to protect their wealth. Traditional investments such as stocks and commodities like gold can certainly assist in this process. However, they are susceptible to so much volatility created by external factors that are uncontrollable. The constant review of portfolio value becomes almost a daily obsession which creates unneeded stress, affects relationships, and ultimately reduces quality of life. What good is protecting your wealth if the vehicle in which you chose to accomplish this takes up lots of time and causes so much worrying and stress? After all, you only have one life to live.Certainly, investing in rare coins isn't for everyone. This type of investment is really meant only for successful individuals that have the ability to hold something until the right opportunity to sell is presented. Generally speaking, when you are at this point in life, your priorities should be on enjoying life by doing the things you love and spending time with the people you care about - not constantly worrying about your investments.The beauty of rare coins, as my clients discovered, was that it became an investment that improved their quality of life by letting them focus more time on their family and less on stressing over events entirely out of their control. There was no need to perform constant reevaluations on their rare coin position after every major economic, financial, or geopolitical event - or whenever Janet Yellen spoke about changes to monetary policy. Instead, their investments weighed less heavily on them as they were comfortable knowing that at least this part of their portfolio held real, secure value that would always be there.The main reason for this is that the rare coin market has no correlation to traditional markets and mainstream economic indicators. Instead, the market is supported by very wealth collectors that pride themselves in the exclusivity of owning truly rare, historical assets that are irreplaceable. The small availability of these items do not regularly flood the marketplace as these types of wealthy owners are rarely in situations where they would need to liquidate their prized possessions. And when things do look economically scary, these are exactly the kinds of items best held onto. They know that things will eventually improve and at that time they will own something with significant, intrinsic value that will always be desired and can never be duplicated or replaced.This is especially true today given all the uncertainty in traditional markets. So if you are someone who is qualified to be investing in this type of asset, it is probably worth your time to explore this further simply from a quality of life standpoint. Feel free to send RCW any questions, or contact me directly, if this is something you would like to learn more about.
