The Art of Making Money

By Matthew Milner, on Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Right this second, there’s a certain corner of the market where investors are minting money.

It has nothing to do with stocks… options… gold… or anything else that sits in your portfolio.

In fact, this market is extremely exclusive: it’s estimated that less than 10,000 investors are active participants worldwide.

But the low participation level isn’t due to lack of profits—on the contrary, certain investors in this market are earning twice the returns of stocks…

The lack of participation is due to high investment minimums—often as high as $1 million.

But now, an innovative new website is changing everything…

And it’s opening up this exclusive marketplace to you.

A Lucrative Corner of the Market

What is this exclusive “corner” of the market I’ve been referring to?

It’s the market for fine art.

Investors in art are making fortunes.

Two months ago, for example, a Gauguin oil painting, “When Will You Marry?” sold for $300 million.

That’s the highest price ever paid for a painting.

Thanks to hedge fund titans and wealthy citizens from China, Latin America, and the Middle East, billions of dollars are being injected into the global art market.

This is leading to an unprecedented rise in prices—and unprecedented profits.

Prices for Rodin sculptures and Dali paintings have gone up 3 to 4 times…

And prices for modern artists like Basquiat have risen nearly ten times.

Historically, making money in this market has been the sole provenance of wealthy collectors or well-connected art dealers…

But now it’s your turn.

Buying Art Versus Investing in Art

If you’re anything like me, you’ve bought art before.

It’s simple:

You see something you love, you buy it, you hang it on your wall.

But when you’re investing in art—when you’re actually trying to make money with it—it’s more complicated.

To invest in art, you need access to the right sort of deal flow…

You need an expertise in a specific artistic category…

And perhaps most importantly, you need significant capital.

A Website called Arthena

To solve these complications, a “crowdfunding” website called Arthena recently got started...

Arthena allows investors like you to pool together your capital, and invest it in investment-grade art that’s been selected by experts.

Here’s how it works.

First you browse Arthena’s panel of Art Advisors. Each Advisor has a different area of expertise—from emerging European artists, to artists who were based in New York City in the 1960s and 70s.

Once you find an Advisor you like, you can invest in an “art fund” managed by the Advisor. The minimum investment is $5,000. The Advisor will use your capital, plus the capital of others, to acquire a collection of art within his or her area of expertise.

When the Advisor buys a new piece, Arthena stores it securely and insures it—and occasionally, you can “borrow” it and hang it in your home.

Then, after five years, Arthena will aim to sell the collection of art, and distribute any profits back to you. (As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the average holding period for contemporary art is two years—so five years seems like plenty of time to try and make a profit.)

And since Arthena makes money only when you make money (it makes 20% of any profits), your interests are aligned.

But who are these Advisors? Do they have the “right” credentials?

Meet Michael Klein

As just one example of an Arthena Art Advisor, meet Michael Klein.

Klein served as the first in-house Curator for the Microsoft Art Collection based in Redmond, Washington. He’s also owned an art gallery in New York City, and he’s renowned for curating projects at esteemed institutions like the Whitney Museum.

Michael has experience identifying “undervalued art”—the type of art that can increase in value by more than ten times.

And with the help of Advisors like Klein, now it’s your turn to capture some of that value.

Join Them

Eager to become a more cultivated (and wealthier) version of yourself?

To explore joining Arthena, click here >>

At the moment, the U.S. government only allows “accredited” investors to invest in private deals like Arthena’s. (An accredited investor has at least $1 million net worth or $200k in salary.)

These rules are expected to change starting in June…

But in the meantime, if you’re not yet accredited and you’re eager to capture some art world profits, check out Sotheby’s (NYSE: BID), a publicly traded company that specializes in auctions of fine art, or even eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), which has a Collectibles & Art section of its site as well as a partnership with Sotheby’s.

Please note: Crowdability has no financial relationship with Arthena, Sotheby’s or eBay. We’re an independent provider of education, information and research on start-ups and alternative investments.

Best Regards,


Founder
Crowdability.com

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Tags: When will-you-marry Art Arthena Basquiat Dali Ebay Gauguin Highest price-ever-paid-for-a-painting Microsoft art-collection Rodin Sothebys Whitney museum

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