A reader left some info about a postage stamp index (the context is alternative asset investing). I found the Stanley Gibbons website which owns the index for stamps and also has an index of autographs.The SG 100 Index (the stamp index) from 1997 to 2005 lagged property but beat stocks (for some reason their chart only goes to 2005). They do provide data through April, 2008. YTD the SG 100 was up 1.43% through April 30. In 2007 it was up 5.01% which was pretty close to the S&P 500. In 2006 the SG 100 was up 4.5% which badly lagged the S&P 500.
I think it is worthwhile to take a gander at these things but I'm not terribly interested. I doubt there will be a stamp ETN and I doubt there will be an art ETN (as mentioned yesterday) but who knows, I am certain there will be a sports card ETN (joke).
I found this article yesterday about inflation and whether or not to own TIPS or TIPS products. I have had one TIPS product for a while. It did nothing for ages then had a big move up into a run of doing nothing again for a while and has since come off a little. If you are thinking of buying something like this I would suggest not having grand expectations for the short term. Owned in the proper amount I believe they add value but chances are that things aren't going too well if your TIPS fund is your best performer. My hope is that they add value over the long term.
Lastly a stock I own for clients is rumored for a takeover. This is a mixed blessing especially if this comes to a name you use as a narrow proxy like a sub-sector or country as is the case with the name in question. This is a positive in the short run of course but if you own a stock to capture something narrow, chances are you think it is the best way to access the theme. You might be right about that or wrong but you obviously own the one you think is the best choice for the long run (differentiates long term versus short term).
When the deal closes, or maybe sooner (there is an argument to be made for selling as soon as the news hits which I have done before but that was when the stock getting taken over was more easily replaced) you need to swap into something else assuming the sub-sector or country is still important to you.
(This makes the obvious case for keeping at least vague tabs on what is going on elsewhere in a theme you care about. For example if you own Vimplecom (VIP) you might want to know a little about Mobile Telesystems (MBT). I don't own either one but if you have VIP and Telenor (TELNY.PK) ever decides to buy the rest of VIP (not a prediction just an example) and you still want Russian cellphone exposure there's a good chance you'd be buying MBT.
5 comments:
Some have advised a mix of regular Treasurys and Commodities/Gold instead of TIPS. But the problem is - which commodities and what percent?
My solution would be a new ETF based on a "real" CPI, plus Treasurys.
The only "real" CPI I would trust would be one made up by Barry Ritholtz.
An Exchange Trade Fund offering Inflation Protection - what do you think?
OG
this is a great question, I will reply with tomorrow's post. thank you
Thanks for the link, Roger. My father has thousands of stamps (his father was a postmaster either side of WWII) that he's convinced are worthless. Now he's retired he has plenty of time to place them in albums and get a valuation, that they've possibly doubled in the last 10 years will give him a boost!
without asking you to come back and disclose the value of your dad's stamps, I would be curious to hear the ease or difficulty of getting a number from someone qualified to value a collection.
An associate invested in a "guaranteed minimum return contract" offered by Stanley Gibbons (SG) -- I can't recall if was a stamp or autograph-based product -- and was quite pleased with the results but that's not surprising considering he invested during a period when the British Pound appreciated significantly against the $USD, boosting the the rather low fixed return into double digits even before the collectable's appreciation was added in. He did say he found SG reasonably easy to deal with and had no problems liquidating the position when the contract matured. FWIW
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