Quote from: Spaceman_Spiff on March 20, 2013, 04:12:25 AM

Guns aren't bad - one of the last bastions of fine machine work. And useful, on occasion.

Long-term, you might want to think about rare wood, too - if you have the space and proper atmospheric conditions to store it. Padouk, zebrawood, amaranth; like that. As climate change and deforestation in the third-world areas where most of it grows take their toll, the stuff has been gaining value very nicely.

Wood far outperforms most investments; and has, for as long as I've been paying attention to it. It doesn't outperform bitcoin, of course; but it is diversification.

Sad cause, but interesting investment advice.
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I've been paying attention to fine wood since I was a kid. I read an SF story in the late sixties by one of the big three - Heinlein, I think - where wood was at the apex of the jewelry/craftsmanship chain. A desk was worth a lifetime of work by a small village. A sad cause; you're right. All that beautiful stuff going away.

I have a little stash for my kids, at a relative's place inland on the west coast. A thousand pounds, maybe. The value of it's gone up about twenty times since I bought it, back in the eighties.