An Unexpected Asset Could Increase Your Net Worth (And You Might Already Own It)

The United States stock market has experienced fluctuation over the past year, with the current U.S. Stock Market Index trending upwards. This shift had been characterized by a massive drop in April following announcements, such as tariffs, and has then slowly recovered. This volatility has urged many Americans to diversify their investment strategies by looking outside of publicly traded companies — which might mean looking to their own possessions. While looking through your old collection of playing cards may be a way to find a market-proof investment, the richest Americans have found another asset nearly guaranteed to increase in value: wine.

For generations, elite American families, including the Rockefellers, have diversified their portfolios by investing in fine wines. This is in line with classic investment strategies shared by the nation's elite, where holding multiple forms of assets is considered the most lucrative. Forbes has reported that wine investment has experienced a 10.6% annualized return over the past 15 years. Along with this, wine outperformed the S&P 500 between 2000 and 2018, making it a highly stable investment.

The kind of wines that hold value are very different from those found in many liquor stores. Wine is a tangible asset that will need to be purchased and stored, unlike stocks. With this being said, Vint, a wine and whiskey investment company, states that investment-grade wine is determined by professional appraisal value, along with several other factors that go into what creates a valuable wine. These include the brand that makes the wine, with Chateau Margaux and American winemaker Opus One being highly recognized vineyards. Another factor that helps cement the value of each bottle is the age and rarity. This means that certain years and production runs are less available, making them much more valuable.

Much like art, investment in wine should be done with the partnership of an appraiser or through a dedicated wine investment service. One new company that is working to make wine investment more accessible to the average American is Vino Vest. Wine investment once had a high upfront cost, with companies like Fixr putting the cost of installing a wine cellar at upwards of $60,000. What Vino Vest aims to do is work as the middleman for investors to buy bottles and store them at lower costs, all with the help of professional appraisers. This increased accessibility, along with low correlation to market manipulation, has made wine a worthy investment for many Americans.