You Might Be 'Upper Class' If You Leverage This Asset

In September 2024, Pew Research determined that, using 2022 dollars, 19% of adults fall into the upper middle class. In addition to the organization's finding that households need an income of at least $169,800 to be considered upper class, there are also behavioral signs that indicate your economic class as well. Odds are, if you own rare art, antiques, or vintage cars, you're doing alright for yourself. But there's one practice involving high-end assets that sets the upper class apart, and that's using paid-in-full art to finance other purchases. This process entails using a piece of art as collateral to secure a loan from another party, often to buy more valuable pieces.

To use artwork to obtain more pieces, first find out how much your artwork is worth in the current market. Then, banks offering fine art financing may allow you to use the already-owned art to finance another valuable piece. This provides upper-class art investors with the ability to act quickly when quality artwork becomes available while maintaining their investment portfolio liquidity. Museum-quality pieces may provide the borrower with the best interest rates, especially if the owner of the art also has an outstanding credit score. Some investors even use this strategy to get around paying capital gains taxes, though that often depends on what purchase the loan goes toward.

There are many signs pointing to the fact that investing in art can be a sound financial decision. While the exact value of an artwork can fluctuate depending upon the current valuations — especially in times when an artist retires or dies — many experts consider art to maintain its value more steadily than other popular investments. Sure, the same piece of artwork could go for higher prices in cultural hotbeds like New York City than in lesser-known locales, but a high-profile artist's work will attract collectors anywhere.

Investing in high-quality art helps diversify an individual's portfolio, which can reduce risk levels alongside savvy purchases of stocks, mutual funds, real estate, and so forth. Including art in a portfolio may also serve as a hedge against inflation, while having the potential for desirable returns. These reasons help to explain why, according to Deloitte's Art & Finance Report 2025, $2.338 trillion of wealth in the United States existed in art and collectibles in 2023. Meanwhile, that estimate increased to $2.564 trillion in 2024, while Art Basel and UBS reported that over $57 billion worth of art transactions occurred that same year. As Deloitte projects art and collectible wealth could grow to $3.473 trillion by 2030, now may be as good a time to get in the game as any.