Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Tangible investments are physical objects that gain value over time. They include a range of different types of assets including:

• Real estate: Such as buildings or land.
• Precious metals: e.g. gold and silver.
• Collectibles: Including coins, watches, books, vinyl and toys.
• Antiques: Such as old jewelry, furniture and ceramics. 

Unlike investments such as stocks and cryptocurrencies, tangible investments are things you can see and touch. There are several benefits to adding tangible investments to your portfolio. Below are three of the main benefits explained.

Tangible assets hold their value well during economic downturns

During an economic downturn, the value of investments like stocks and cryptocurrencies can often take a nosedive. However, tangible investments are not always negatively affected. Real estate prices sometimes go down, but often not as much as stocks. Investments like gold meanwhile typically increase in value during a recession.

When it comes to reducing your losses in a potential financial crash, tangible investments can be useful to have in your portfolio. Investing wholly in intangible assets is often more risky.

You have more control over their value

If the price of a cryptocoin plummets or a stock you’ve invested in crashes, there isn’t anything you can do to fix this. The price of cryptocurrencies and stocks is out of your control. This is not always the case with tangible assets.

One of the biggest reasons that property investing is so popular is that you can improve the value of a property by making restorations or improvements. Even if property prices fall because a certain area becomes less attractive, you can potentially counter this by adding an extra bedroom or redesigning the kitchen. 

Similarly, you can increase the value of some old items like classic cars and furniture by restoring them, while maintaining them can help them to hold their value. With memorabilia, it may be possible to increase the value by getting items signed. Just make sure that items like antiques and rare collectibles are authenticated before you purchase them.

They may have personal uses

Another benefit of tangible investments is that they can often have personal uses beyond just being ways to grow money. You can hang a valuable painting on a wall and use it to decorate your home. You can play a rare vinyl record on a record player. And you can sit on an antique armchair.

Even if these items do lose value as a result of damage or changing trends, you will always be able to get use out of them. This can make them more attractive than stocks or cryptocurrencies for some investors – if a stock or cryptocurrency loses all its value, it has no other use, whereas a worthless antique armchair can still be sat on.

Conclusion

Every investor should consider investing in something tangible. When choosing a tangible investment, consider where your interests and skills lie. If you’re a painter-decorator, buying a property to flip could be a great investment to consider. If you’ve a petrolhead with experience as a mechanic, why not invest in a classic car? If you love music, why not invest in a rare vinyl record from an artist that you are a big fan of?