Most "best assets to buy" lists default to two things: stocks and crypto. We built AssetAddicts on the opposite premise — that an asset earns a place only if it has historically appreciated or held its value over time. To see what that filter actually produces, we catalogued every asset on the platform. The result is one of the few public datasets that maps an appreciating-asset universe by class rather than by hype.
How the universe was built
This is not an index of everything tradable. Each asset cleared a deliberate inclusion filter, and a long list of popular "investments" were cut for failing it — among them most memecoins (treated as gambling and exit liquidity), NFTs and digital art (down 80–95% from peak), generic sneakers, and carbon credits. What survived had to show a credible, durable claim to holding value. The 2,718 assets below are what passed.
The composition, by class
Classic & collector cars are the single largest class on the platform — larger than US equities — followed by international equities, crypto, and watches. The long tail of passion assets (cards, art, instruments, comics, cameras, coins, spirits, books) is where the breadth lives.
| Asset class | Assets | Share | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equities & Yield (US) | 500 | 18.4% | Public markets |
| Classic & Collector Cars | 400 | 14.7% | Tangible |
| International Equities | 281 | 10.3% | Public markets |
| Crypto & Web3 | 246 | 9.1% | Digital |
| Watches | 212 | 7.8% | Tangible |
| Trading Cards | 133 | 4.9% | Tangible |
| Fine Art | 107 | 3.9% | Tangible |
| Instruments | 81 | 3.0% | Tangible |
| Comics | 80 | 2.9% | Tangible |
| Video Games | 75 | 2.8% | Tangible |
| Collector Motorcycles | 74 | 2.7% | Tangible |
| Cameras | 74 | 2.7% | Tangible |
| Sneakers | 72 | 2.6% | Tangible |
| Coins | 71 | 2.6% | Tangible |
| Fine Spirits | 69 | 2.5% | Tangible |
| Rare Books | 63 | 2.3% | Tangible |
| Rugs & Textiles | 48 | 1.8% | Tangible |
| Bullion & Hard Assets | 43 | 1.6% | Hard assets |
| Whiskey Casks | 38 | 1.4% | Tangible |
| Stamps | 33 | 1.2% | Tangible |
| Real Estate & Land | 6 | 0.2% | Real / income |
| Income & Royalties | 5 | 0.2% | Real / income |
| Digital & Domains | 3 | 0.1% | Digital |
Scarcity used to be the whole thesis. The data — ours and the market's — now says scarcity is necessary but no longer sufficient.
What the market actually did
Composition is only half the story; performance is the other half, and 2024–2025 was a reset. According to Knight Frank's Luxury Investment Index, which tracks ten collectible categories, the index slipped about 3.3% in 2024 and roughly flat (around -0.4%) in 2025 — yet it is still up about 21% over five years and roughly 73% over a decade. The spread between winners and losers was brutal:
- Handbags — the year's top luxury performer, modestly positive
- Jewellery and gold coins — small gains, classic store-of-value behaviour
- Watches — slightly positive; blue-chip references led
- Fine art — down sharply, a near-total reversal of 2023
- Fine wine — down on shifting consumption patterns
- Rare whisky — down again, well off its 2022 peak
That pattern lines up with what our inclusion filter already implied. Knight Frank's own framing is that scarcity no longer guarantees returns — narrative, provenance, and genuine blue-chip status increasingly separate the assets that hold from the ones that don't. Over the long run their illustration is striking: a million dollars placed in the index in 2005 would have outpaced the same sum in the S&P 500 by 2024 — but only at the index level, not for the average lot.
- A durability filter produces a tangible-heavy universe — 60% physical, not paper.
- Within collectibles, value concentrates in iconic, original, blue-chip examples; the median lot is not an investment.
- Categories sold on artificial scarcity (much of whisky, speculative art) corrected hardest in 2024.
- Monetary metals behaved like ballast — small, steady, defensive — not like a get-rich trade.
The AssetAddicts read
We don't treat all of these classes as equal. Gold is monetary insurance, not an engine. Bourbon and most spirits are the most speculative corner we track — artificial scarcity, thin and often illegal US resale. Memecoins are gambling. The dataset isn't a buy list; it's a map of where durable value has actually clustered, so you can hunt inside it with clear eyes. That is the entire point of the platform: discovery first, conviction second, never hype.
I built this filter because I was tired of "alternative asset" lists that were really just whatever was trending. The 60% figure surprised even me — when you genuinely screen for durability, the center of gravity moves off the screen and into the physical world. That doesn't mean tangibles are easy money. It means the discipline is the same everywhere: buy the iconic, original, blue-chip example, or don't bother.
If you want the underlying class-by-class breakdown for citation or research, it's open — reach me through the site.
Explore the full universe behind this study, asset by asset.
Frequently asked questions
How many assets and classes does the study cover?
The study catalogues 2,718 assets across 26 classes, from public equities and crypto to cars, watches, fine art, coins, whiskey casks, and rare books. Each was screened against one test: has it historically held or grown value over time? This is research framing, not financial advice.
Why is the universe 60% physical assets?
Because the inclusion filter screens for durability rather than attention. When popular but value-destroying categories are removed, what remains skews heavily toward tangible collectibles and passion assets, with public equities and crypto in the minority. This is research framing, not financial advice.
Do collectibles outperform stocks?
At the index level, Knight Frank's luxury collectibles index has posted strong long-run returns and, in one illustration, outpaced the S&P 500 from 2005 to 2024. But that is index-level; most individual lots underperform, and only iconic, blue-chip examples reliably hold value. This is research framing, not financial advice.