Passion assets

Passion assets are the collectible goods that the wealthy hold both for enjoyment and as a wealth diversification tool. The sector's benchmark index, published by Knight Frank, tracks ten categories, including art, watches, classic cars, wine, whisky, jewellery, coloured diamonds and luxury handbags. The ultra-wealthy devote a substantial share of their wealth to them, of the order of 17 %. These markets share traits that set them apart from classical financial assets: low liquidity, high transaction and custody costs, expert-based rather than continuous valuation, and pronounced volatility driven by fashion effects. For insurance purposes they fall within the specie class and pose the same founding problem as the artwork, that of an asset whose price fluctuates with a market of desire: yesterday's agreed value can diverge sharply from today's market value, which requires regular revaluation of policies.

A family office insures a collection mixing watches, wine and Hermès handbags. Between 2023 and 2025 rare whisky corrects sharply while handbags advance: the insurer requires an annual revaluation of agreed values to track these diverging paths.

passion assets, passion investments, actifs plaisir, investissements de collection