👜💰 Luxury Assets vs. Stock Market: Why Hermès Birkins, Cartier Jewelry, and Real Estate Are Winning 2025
- Angela Chan
- Apr 14
- 2 min read
In the past few weeks, the stock market has been a rollercoaster.
The S&P 500 gained 5.7% in early April 2025 — its best week since 2023 — but it's still down 8.8% year-to-date (Wall Street Journal).
Watching my portfolio dip lit a fire under me — to stop relying solely on stocks and rethink how I diversify. Here's what I found.
1. 💼 Hermès Birkins & Kellys: Elite Assets with Elite Barriers
You don’t just buy a Birkin. You earn the right to be offered one.
Unless you're a celebrity or VIP client who’s spent thousands at Hermès on other products, you’ll be lucky to get on the waitlist — let alone score a bag at retail.
As Vogue puts it:
“The Birkin is not sold. It is offered.”
📊 Resale ROI:
Birkin 25 in Togo leather: $28,000–$30,000
Kelly 28 Sellier: +33% YOY | recent sale: $38,100
Mini Kelly 20 II: Avg. resale: $27,000
Himalaya Birkin: Auction record: $450,000 (Sotheby’s)
Even refurbished ones on The RealReal hold value — often appreciating.
2. 💎 Cartier Love & Branded Jewelry Resale
Branded jewelry isn’t just wearable — it’s bankable.
Cartier Love Bracelet: Resells for 80–95% of retail
Van Cleef, Tiffany: Also high resale brands
Non-branded diamond jewelry? Often loses 30–50% of value
Lesson: Labels matter more than carats.
3. 🍷 Rare Wine: Vintage Liquid Assets
Fine wine aged just right? So do the profits.
Avg. ROI: 13.6% per year over 15 years
Bordeaux, Burgundy dominate: Think DRC, Château Lafite
4. ⌚ Luxury Watches: Pre-Owned Growth Machines
From 2018 to 2023, luxury watch values grew 20% per year.Some Rolex models now outperform gold.
Key brands:
Rolex
Audemars Piguet
Patek Philippe
5. 🖼️ Art: High Risk, High Reward
Art appreciation = literal appreciation.
In 2022: Art prices jumped 29%
Top-performing: Contemporary + underrepresented artists
6. 🏡 Real Estate: Your Long-Term Lever
“Buy the cheapest house on the best block.”– Barbara Corcoran | Shark Tank
If you can hold it for 5–7 years, it almost always pays off. Even starter homes or investment condos are safer long-term plays than most stocks in 2025.
🧠 Final Word: Diversify Like You Mean It
Whether it’s a Birkin, a Basquiat, or a Studio in Brooklyn, luxury assets quietly outperform the stock market — with much less panic along the way.
⚠️ Disclaimer
Of course, all of this assumes we don’t end up in a luxury-tax showdown or a full-blown tariff war. If handbags, wine, and watches start getting taxed like cigarettes, we may all be back to ETFs and tears. Cheers to hedging, hoping, and shopping.
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