Art, wine, jewelry, classic cars… These are the alternative assets affluent investors often buy when they want to diversify their holdings and have some fun collecting beautiful objects.

Yet there are a number of other unorthodox moves you could consider that not only bestow the pleasures of ownership but also aren’t tied to the ups and downs of capital markets.
 

In searching the globe for worthy possibilities, Bloomberg Wealth sought out ideas for assets that can withstand the vicissitudes of the 21st century economy. As 2021 commences with interest rates near zero, a frothy stock market spurring bubble fears, and the global outlook clouded by the Covid-19 pandemic, you may find inspiration in these offbeat ways to invest.
 
Some of these alternatives are a twist on a familiar investment, others are brand new, while still others are simply strange. The best part is you don’t have to be ultra-wealthy to invest in them.

Cask Whisky: An Investment to Savor
Bottles of 95-year-old Scotch whisky have gone for $1 million to $2 million at auction in recent years. But savvy collectors don’t mess around with bottles: They buy whisky by the barrel. That’s because Scotch gets better with age, and unlike wine, it stops maturing when transferred from wooden casks to glass bottles. The barrels, which are made of American or European oak, imbue the spirit with vanilla, caramel and other flavors.

As a result, aficionados are increasingly enlisting whisky brokers to secure casks that are approaching their bottling dates. The casks are stored in certified warehouses. When it’s ready, a 20-year-old hogshead barrel will yield about 230 bottles, says Andy Simpson, the co-founder of Rare Whisky 101, a brokerage and consulting firm in Scotland. A perk: You can have the whisky bottled and branded with your own label.

With Asian demand surging (as it did in rare wine a decade ago), there’s a bullish case for buying now. There have been some notable auctions of rare whisky in the last 12 months.

Why now: Spurred by rising demand from Asian investors, the value of rare whisky has soared 564% in the last decade, and the asset has outperformed not only fine wine but every other luxury asset, according to the Knight Frank 2020 Wealth Report. Knight Frank’s data shows rare whisky soaring despite the volatility in markets in recent years.

Risks: Casks, which are stored in warehouses, can leak and break down, degrading their contents so much that the liquid no longer qualifies as Scotch. You can insure casks, but that won’t make the whisky you’ve waited for taste any better.

How much you’ll need: Cask prices start at about $11,000 and can run to $700,000 for top-shelf stuff, but many distilleries maintain ultra-exclusive client lists. In February, the estate of the late American businessman and collector Richard Gooding sold a 1926 Macallan for 825,000 pounds ($1.1 million). Brokers such as Rare Finds Worldwide in Asia get investors access.
 
Music Rights: When Spotify Isn’t Enough
Owning the rights to hit songs used to be an obscure game for music industry insiders. Now the asset class has jumped to the top of the charts as music streaming surges and entertainment forces such as Netflix salt their shows with classic tunes. Social media, too, is making an impact: A TikTok video of a guy skateboarding to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” made the 44-year-old track one of the year’s surprise hits.

No wonder then that Fleetwood Mac’s two main songwriters, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, have separately sold rights to their songs in recent weeks for reportedly eight to nine-figure paydays. In December, Bob Dylan stunned the entertainment industry by selling his entire songbook to Universal Music Group for an estimated $300 million. Neil Young followed suit by selling half his catalog in January.

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