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Gold vs. luxury watches: Which is the better investment?
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Although Americans continue to deal with high inflation and high interest rates, the upside has been that many investments have been rising too, such as with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting record highs in 2024. But stocks aren’t the only hot investment.
Gold prices, for example, have also recently hit record highs as some investors have turned to precious metals to diversify amidst the current economic conditions. And, other alternatives, including collectibles like luxury watches, can also be appealing to those looking for portfolio diversification, although resale prices of luxury watches have been on a downward trend lately, according to WatchCharts data.
Still, as the saying goes, past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Just going on recent prices alone isn’t necessarily the best way to choose between investing in gold vs. luxury watches.
Find out more about the gold investing options available to you here.
Gold vs. luxury watches: Which is the better investment?
There could be some scenarios where one is a better fit for certain investors, including:
When gold might be the better investment
Some situations where it might make more sense to invest in gold rather than invest in watches include the following:
When you want to hedge against inflation
While your dollar might not go as far as it used to due to inflation, it’s possible that buying gold could provide a better hedge.
“If someone’s worried about ongoing inflation, gold might be a smarter bet than luxury watches. Gold has a long history of holding its value when prices rise, acting like a safe haven,” says Aron Solomon, chief strategy officer at Amplify, and a co-founder of Mission Watch Company.
“Luxury watches are a massive crapshoot as their value can fluctuate based on trends, brand popularity, and collector demand, which might not always keep up with inflation or provide the stability someone might be looking for during uncertain economic times,” he adds.
Explore how gold could add more value to your investing portfolio now.
When you want more liquidity
If you need to sell an asset for cash, gold is often considered more liquid than luxury watches.
“Getting into or out of gold and silver bars and coins is a breeze and easier on the wallet in this climate,” says Alex Ebkarian, COO and co-founder at Allegiance Gold.
In contrast, certain luxury watches don’t have as established or deep trading markets.
“While some of the entry-level stainless steel and sport model Rolexes, Pateks and Audemars pieces may be more liquid at lower prices than in previous cycles, we’re starting to see many of the higher-end models hit the market with a smaller pool of buyers,” says Rob Petrozzo, co-founder at Rally.
When you want simplicity
Buying gold can also be a better choice for investors looking for an alternative investment that typically is widely accessible and one they’re more familiar with.
“For most individuals, investing in gold bullion will be a more straightforward investment. Gold has been a store of value around the world and across different cultures for thousands of years,” says Patrick Yip, senior director of business development at APMEX.
In contrast, successfully investing in luxury watches tends to require far greater expertise in a very niche market, and even that doesn’t make investing easy.
“Even really smart collectors make huge mistakes in buying and selling,” says Solomon.
When luxury watches might be the better investment
Although luxury watches can be more complex and require far greater expertise, there are times when it could make sense to invest in luxury watches over gold. Some examples include:
When you have a passion for watches
Luxury watches can be difficult to turn a profit from, so some people see collecting as more of a hobby with a potential upside.
“If you are interested in collecting and looking for a way to diversify your investment portfolio, then it might make sense to add some watches instead,” says Albert Ganjei, president and owner of European Watch Company.
“The joy of collecting definitely surpasses the joy of making a profit, but it’s important to understand the market dynamics and trends to make informed decisions,” he adds.
When you’re willing to take on a higher risk/reward ratio
Luxury watch values can be highly speculative, which can lead to both higher risk and higher return potential.
“Even in a down market, many of the watches that were highly sought after during the pandemic boom are still providing massive returns for those lucky enough to purchase at MSRP,” says Petrozzo.
“For someone with the relationships, deep pockets, and a slightly more aggressive risk profile, you can own some of these pieces as a wearable investment and see much greater returns than gold has historically provided,” he added.
When you find a good buying opportunity
Because gold is generally more liquid than luxury watches, you’re probably not going to easily find gold bars or gold coins for sale at significantly less than the spot price of gold per ounce.
In contrast, sometimes luxury watches present good buying opportunities precisely because of their more limited liquidity.
“if you know what to buy, can be 100% sure of its authenticity and condition, and the person is in distress and needs to say, sell a $40,000 watch this week and will let it go for $28,000…then you can do better percentage-wise with luxury watches than gold,” says Solomon.
The bottom line
Both gold and luxury watches can be appealing to investors looking for portfolio diversification. However, there are many different motivations for buying gold vs. buying luxury watches, not all of which are strictly about maximizing returns. Consider factors such as your risk tolerance, knowledge and interest in these different assets before investing. You might even find that there’s a place for both in your portfolio.
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Pope Francis denounces military attacks that go “beyond morality” when asked about Israel’s recent attacks
Pope Francis criticized military attacks that go “beyond morality” after he was asked about Israel’s recent escalation of attacks in Lebanon that targeted top Hezbollah commanders.
Francis made the comments while en route home from Belgium when reporters asked him to weigh in on Israel’s airstrike that killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday. The strike in Beirut targeted an area greater than a city block and reduced several buildings to rubble.
Hezbollah confirmed that the airstrike also killed Ali Karaki, one of the group’s senior commanders. At least seven top commanders in the Iran-backed militant group have been killed in recent days by Israel strikes.
Andrew Medichini / AP
Francis, who didn’t mention Israel by name and said he was speaking in general terms, said that “the defense must always be proportional to that attack.”
“When there is something disproportionate, there is a dominating tendency that goes beyond morality,” he said. “A country that does these things — and I’m talking about any country — in a superlative way, these are immoral actions.”
He said that even if war itself is immoral, there are rules that “indicate some morality.”
“But when you don’t do this … you see the bad blood of these things,” he said.
The death of Nasrallah has sent shockwaves throughout Lebanon and the Middle East, where he has been a dominant political and military figure for more than three decades.
President Biden said the Israeli strike was a “measure of justice” for victims of Hezbollah’s “reign of terror.”
Francis has tried to strike a balance in his comments on the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the conflicts in Gaza and southern Lebanon that have ensued. He has called for an immediate cease-fire, for the release of hostages taken by Hamas and for humanitarian aid to get to Gaza.
Francis repeated that he calls the Catholic parish in Gaza every day to see how they are doing.
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Transcript: H.R. McMaster, former National Security Adviser, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 29, 2024
The following is a transcript of an interview with H.R. McMaster, CBS News contributor and former National Security Adviser, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Sept. 29, 2024.
ROBERT COSTA: We’re joined now by retired Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. He did serve as National Security Advisor in the Trump administration, but he has not endorsed either candidate in the presidential race this time around. He’s also a CBS News contributor and the author of a new book, “At War With Ourselves.” Good morning, General, thanks for being here.
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Robert, great to be with you.
ROBERT COSTA: You just heard from retired General McChrystal. He has made an endorsement. You have not. Why not?
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, Robert, I respect his- you know, his ability to make that decision and right to make that decision. But what concerns me these days is the military is getting drug in to partisan politics, and you hear really both parties trying to involve the military. Now, of course, General McChrystal is endorsing Vice President Harris as an individual, but I think sometimes it’s difficult to differentiate between an individual endorsement and the military getting drug into partisan politics, right? You hear- you hear this narrative these days, you know, from some people on the far right, that the military is woke, or from the far left that the military is extremist. Hey, the military is not woke or extremist, right? The military is doing its duties under the Constitution and for whoever’s elected commander in chief. So that’s been a big part of my reticence. And then the other role is, I think, Robert, I mean, the other reason is, I don’t think anybody needs me to tell them how to vote, right? In the book and in other venues, I lay all- all of it out, right, the good, the bad, the ugly, you know, of- of the Trump administration. But I do so in context of the eight Obama years that followed it and the four- that preceded it, and the four Biden years that followed it. So I think voters should make their own decisions, and what I’ve tried to do is help inform voters, no matter what their- which way they’re leaning.
ROBERT COSTA: Let’s turn to the Middle East. What’s your view? You heard from Senator Cotton, you heard from General McChrystal. How do you see a possible war on the horizon, if any, between Israel and Iran? Or is there something that can be done, especially by the United States, to contain what is happening?
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Robert, I would say there already is a war between Israel and Iran, and it’s a- it’s a war that Iran has been waging for four plus decades. Nasrallah, who was there at the beginning of Hezbollah, who was there when they killed 241 Marines in- in Beirut, and began a campaign against not only who Nasrallah called the cancerous boil of Israel, but the great Satan of the United States. And Nasrallah, remember what his catchphrase was at the end of like, almost- many of the speeches that he gave, which was, the Jews are vulnerable because they love life. We can take that away from them. We will win, because they love life and we love death. And so the Israelis have had, really, no choice. Remember, right after the heinous attacks of October 7, that’s when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with- with Hamas. That resulted in the evacuation of 10% of Israel’s territory. About 70,000 Israelis are out of their homes. And so I think Israel is taking the right approach to escalate against an enemy who’s been able to escalate, really, on their own terms, with impunity. And I think increasingly the United States has to act like we know what the return address is, in Iran. Now’s the time to double down on the pressure on Iran, to dry up the cash flow available–
ROBERT COSTA: What does that mean, though? Just in terms of financial action, or do you expect there might need to be a U.S. military role down the line for the United States in the Middle East?
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, there already is- is a military role–
ROBERT COSTA: In terms of ground troops or air strikes?
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, I think- I think both- all of this should be kind of on the table. And I think we should act like we know where those rockets are coming from, the 150,000 rockets that Hezbollah has pointed at Israel, the 40,000 or so members of Iran’s proxy army in Syria, the Palestinians, along with Jihad and Hamas in the West Bank, what remains of Hamas in Gaza, those were all trained, equipped, supplied by Iran, to create this ring of fire around Israel, and to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews. The precursor to that is to act against us. Robert, 175 attacks against U.S. forces and U.S. installations by Iranian proxies since October 8 of last year.
ROBERT COSTA: General, you say the United States and Israel should be in lockstep, or at least aligned, as they move forward. But the Pentagon has said, the Biden administration has said, they were not informed about these attacks ahead of time. So what does that say about the real state of play between Israel and the United States?
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: I think what Israel has determined is that it had to protect its security and secrecy around this operation. If you think about the blows that they delivered to Hezbollah in the- in the past week, 10 days, it’s really unprecedented, you know, killing so many of them, winning so many with the beepers and then the walkie talkies, and then when they couldn’t talk securely, they met at a location in Beirut, struck that target. So, Nasrallah has- has been taken out, but so has all the cadre around him. These are decades long of relationships and knowledge, and so I think now is the time to put on the financial sanctions. Why did the Biden administration not enforce the Trump era sanctions against Iran, and allowed about $100 billion to flow to that theocratic dictatorship? Now’s the time to reverse that policy.
ROBERT COSTA: So that- Israel has taken out military targets. Lebanon is saying that many civilians have been killed. What should the U.S. do in terms of protecting civilian deaths moving forward, talking to Israel about that issue, what needs to be done on the civilian front?
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, what you want is, you need firepower to overwhelm this enemy, but you also want to apply that firepower with- with discrimination.
ROBERT COSTA: Is that being done?
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, it depends on the calculus at the time. Remember, the bunker in which Nas- Nasrallah was killed was underground, several stories underground, underneath where? An apartment complex. And so it’s Hezbollah. Remember, he said, we love death. Remember what Hamas leadership said just before the October 7 attacks? The purpose, one of the purposes, of that attack, was to get some of their own people killed so they could use that against Israel. So it’s really important, I think, at this stage, to continue to impress on the Israelis, apply firepower with discrimination, but also to recognize that these terrorist organizations are the principal causes for the violence and destitution and the suffering of the people in Gaza and the people in Lebanon. Look at the great promise of Lebanon. It’s a beautiful country. Look at what Hezbollah has done to that country, with their alliance with the Syrians in the 2000s, remember, we had the Cedar Revolution in 2006 after Hariri’s assassination. I mean, the Lebanese people are destitute, in large measure because of Hezbollah.
ROBERT COSTA: And just finally here, former President Donald Trump, who you know well, he met with President Zelenskyy in recent days. He keeps talking about being able to broker something between Zelenskyy and Putin. Do you buy it?
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: You know, I don’t really buy it in terms of, you know, hey, in 24 hours, it can be- I think it’s a real- it’s a real myth, right? It’s a real misunderstanding of war to assume that you can get a favorable political outcome without a favorable military outcome. That’s never really happened in war. And so I think the right course of action is, if you want to accelerate toward progress, toward a settlement, is to convince Putin that he’s losing the war. I think that’s the only way you get a favorable settlement. How do you do that? You demonstrate our resolve to continue to support the Ukrainians as they defend themselves against this continued onslaught by the Russians. That’s how you get to, maybe, favorable conditions for negotiation.
ROBERT COSTA: General McMaster, we appreciate you coming on “Face The Nation.” Hope you come again. Thank you very much.
LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Thank you.
ROBERT COSTA: And we’ll be back in a moment.
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Pope Francis denounces military attacks that go “beyond morality” when asked about Israel’s recent attacks
Transcript: H.R. McMaster, former National Security Adviser, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 29, 2024
Open: This is “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 29, 2024
Pope Francis denounces military attacks that go “beyond morality” when asked about Israel’s recent attacks
Transcript: H.R. McMaster, former National Security Adviser, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 29, 2024