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Fine wines are being bought by a new generation of ‘cool kid’ investors

22 March 2022 By Jessica Mason

A generation of investors – oft described as ‘the cool kids’ – are buying fine wines, comic books and trainers with cultural cachet and kudos.

In a study, named The Alternative Wealth Report by Cult Wine Investment, it was revealed that the new breed of investors want to feel engaged by more than financial reward unlike their predecessors and seek out items that are cooler than the average investment.

“It’s a profound shift in attitudes, experiences and expectations that’s given birth to an entirely new investor phenomenon: the Identity Investor,” said the report.

According to the findings, “fine wine has increased in value on average 127% in the last 10 years” and “47% of millennial millionaires have at least 25% of their wealth in cryptocurrencies” showing the ‘identity investor’ also has a penchant for NFTs.

“Some buy for thrills, some buy to make the world a better place, others are looking for cultural cache; they’re young, financially powerful and they’re changing the world of investments forever,” the report highlighted.

The Future Laboratory co-founder Chris Sanderson said: “This report highlights how – even during a time of instability and economic uncertainty – a buoyantly resilient high net worth investor is emerging – one bucking the trend in terms of seeking out alternative asset opportunities, favouring emerging business sectors and deploying the rise of new digital platforms to their best advantage. Unorthodox, bold, and highly entrepreneurial, this new investor mindset is setting the agenda for the decade ahead.”

Cult Wine Investment co-founder and CEO Tom Gearing added: “The pandemic has really accelerated the digital transformation of wine as a product, as a category and now as a safe bet asset. In parallel the investor’s desire for assets has evolved, imminent financial reward is no longer a dominant motivator, rather it is personal passions driving diversification within asset classes. We’re seeing emerging investors come to us through their love of a region or grape, but also with an expectation to experience it as they have other asset classes.”

Alternative assets for identity investors include what are known as ‘vin-vestments’ with the report findings outlining how “technology is democratising fine wine, enabling individuals to champion regions and look beyond the dominant established sources in France and Italy” and this, in turn, is feeding into the buying trend.

According to Cult Wine Investment, the US especially is a seeing a spike in such investors raising their heads to get involved in wine investments, revealing that “there has been a 23% year-on-year growth in US investors, with £168k being the average investment by New York clients”.

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