Why Investing In Luxury Pieces Is Actually More of a Luxury and Not an Investment

Shop that luxe out of love. And not for profit.

                                            

Because the truths hurt.

                                            

"It's about time we correct all market posturing that luxe is REALLY an investment."

In a recent article of Forbes.com, it mentioned that luxury buyers in China come mostly from the middle-income segment.

This means that those high-end luxes flaunted and shopped for social media  worth content, are actually aspirational buys.

If this is true, which I have proven already in my personal time and space efforts to offload pieces to make it an economic decision that makes sense, investors in luxe of a not-so- distant generation, would probably have gone berserk for the purchases they have done, with hopes their child or children, could actually brag about such investments.

Locally even in the preloved luxury market for goods and bags, the prices are still dauntingly  high for items of second-hand bags.

Thus, a buyer of exquisite or limited pieces cannot simply shelve a few five thousands to own an item of a branded worth.

In reality luxury bags that are sold to local retailers are much less valued for it's original costs.

A "petit noe" for example, that have been bought say, Php 25,000 to 30,000 or higher, many years ago, could  now fetch at Php 40,000 to Php 50,000 pesos. But as a seller, the item is actually priced at Php 2500 only in recent market value.

The price could actually go up more a bit, depending on the 

seller , and whether the buyer is going for vintage or newer pieces that would spell the difference in selling an item for a price that one expects. 

Also the overall quality of the bag is taken into consideration.  That's just one example. 

The problem with luxury shopping is that prices of  new items  are  "hyperbloated" in the real sense of the word.

This means that buyers from middle income  segment, shelve months and months of their salaries or earnings just to afford a luxury piece.

If an adult shopper buys an item with hopes to leave it as an important investment piece, then that adult would be blindsighted to the fact that luxury items in the country and these include cars or transport vehicles, are not actually bought decently at a pre-loved level. 

Hence, a bag worth Php 40,000 many decades ago as a sort of long term investment in luxuries, would not actually equate to 50,000 now, but rather, a depreciated value of about 90 or more percent. 

Give the luxe item a 2 percent to 5 percent retained value in Philippine pesos, if that is a vintage investment.

So now we go for the truth,  in the current influencer era, can we  cling to our own peace of mind in investing at luxury items, for our kid/s this generation, when we know already that these bag luxes do not retain it's actual original price worth?  And that these are more for status show?

These are why those who prefer generic, non-branded items laugh their way to their bank.

Because they could not be duped or be mesmerized into buying luxury goods, unlike the middle-class who needs to be constantly validated and be seen for all their status worth.

Social commentary NRP.