Explore how fine jewelry investing works

Tiffany & Co. was among LVMH's most expensive—and complex—acquisitions

Three years after LVMH acquired Tiffany in 2021 for $15.8B, the jeweler's profits doubled to over $1B per year.

The bestselling visual art mediums, visualized

Fine art is a particularly appealing alternative investment for many—but it's also a pretty broad term. This data visualization shows which fine art mediums sold the best in 2024. For instance, paintings accounted for about 59% of all fine art dealer sales that year, whereas sculptures accounted for roughly 15%. See the full picture here.

How to invest in silver

This article explains the value of silver as an investment opportunity—and explains the different ways you can invest in the asset. It also outlines the pros and cons of silver as an investment. To learn more about investing in silver, read this article.

Explore a guide to investing in alternatives

Investors often use alternative investments, from collectibles to real estate, as a way to diversify their portfolios in case of market volatility. Getting started investing in these alternatives differs depending on the investment.

A startup is trying to create the diamond equivalent of the gold standard

It's called the Diamond Standard Co, and it uses an algorithm to assign standard values to a variety off small diamonds, grouping them together into individual coins. Historically, diamonds haven't been able to be classified as commodities or standardized like gold because they aren't uniform—factors such as clarity, cut, color, and carat size significantly influence the value of a diamond.

Costco's bullion program offers an attractive option for retail investors, experts say

Although Costco's gold bars often sell out, experts caution that the Costco gold rush was more "mob mentality" than sound investment. The bullion program is one way for retail investors to get exposure to the commodities market.

Value investing is the strategy of buying assets you believe are worth more than their current price

Famed investor Warren Buffett is known for building his empire with this strategy, which he learned from his mentor Benjamin Graham.

There's a debate over whether or not Hermes Birkin bags are good investments

Hermes often requires would-be buyers of its luxury Birkin purses (which can cost as little as $10K or more than $100K, depending on the bag) to have a relationship with a sales associate before getting off the company’s Birkin “wish list” and being granted the opportunity to purchase one.

Several birthstones play key roles across modern technologies

Diamonds are used in drills and quantum computing, while peridot and zircon help in steelmaking and carbon capture. Rubies, sapphires, and alexandrite enable several varieties of lasers found in medicine and advanced optics. Garnets are found in water filtration systems and radiation detectors. Sapphires are used as substrates in semiconductors.

Capital assets include investments from stocks to fine jewelry

Capital assets can be classified as property owned and used for personal or investment reasons. If a capital asset grows in value and the holder decides to sell it, their “capital gains” would be roughly the difference between the original purchase price and the amount of money they sold the asset for.

The dot-com stock bubble taught Howard Marks about markets

Annual investment letters from Howard Marks, the billionaire cofounder of top distressed debt shop Oaktree Capital Management, are required reading on Wall Street. The prolific writer and investor explains the distinction between the folly of trying to time the market and the necessity of paying attention to market cycles. The difference makes all the difference in returns.

One $100 investment in the Medallion Fund skyrockets over time

The Medallion Fund, the famously secretive quant fund that invests billions of dollars for the partners and employees of a single firm with a legendary track record, has trounced the market for more than three decades. While its results are an extreme outlier, this visualization showcases the power of compound interest.

Diamond engagement rings didn’t become popular until the 1900s

However, the history of engagement rings stretches all the way back to the year 850, when the pope said that a ring symbolized a man’s intent to marry. At the time, gold was the most popular choice for engagement rings. See a full timeline of the engagement ring’s history.

CD ladders are an investing strategy in which you buy multiple CDs with different maturity dates

This way, you take advantage of high interest rates with longer-term CDs while keeping liquidity with shorter-term CDs. If you're well acquainted with the basics of CD investing, the Wall Street Journal's Oyin Adedoyin, and guest host Danny Lewis, can tell you how staggering your investments makes good money.

Pop culture sometimes changes the way people invest

After the "Barbie" movie premiered, the number of investors in Barbie parent company Mattel's stock grew more than six times larger on the investment platform Public, according to the platform's recent report. Other cultural trends have affected which stocks investors choose as well.

The largest jewelry heist in US history resulted in $100M of jewelry stolen

Robbers stole the gems from a Brinks truck in Lebec, California, in July 2022. The truck was transporting the jewels to different jewelry shows in the state, and thieves stole diamonds, emeralds, gold, rubies, and designer watches while one driver was asleep and the other was getting food. Some of the stolen jewelry has been recovered.

NFTs have been leveraged by brands to represent physical and digital items

The buzz around non-fungible tokens has faded since 2021 to 2022, when brands including Prada and Starbucks launched their own NFTs. While Prada’s NFTs were linked to limited-edition fashion items, Starbucks’ were part of a loyalty program.

Should you pay off debt or invest?

Some experts say you should put aside 20% of each paycheck and use that money for future goals, such as saving, investing, and paying off debt. But which should you prioritize first? It all depends on where you are in your financial journey. This article outlines the steps you should take depending on what your finances look like right now. Read it here.

A look at the principles guiding the Met's collection practices

While there are serious questions about the provenance of pieces that the Met has acquired in the past, the museum says its collecting practices today are all guided by three principles: research, transparency, and collaboration. A particularly interesting facet of their approach to research is looking into how pieces might have changed hands during the Nazi occupation of Europe and to whom (and where) they truly belong.

Successful art thieves run into the problem of having a painting too famous to sell

This potentially explains why some robbers hold onto these pieces for years, even decades. Security experts say no reputable art dealers, or even black-market dealers, are willing to sell stolen works by famous artists like Van Gogh or Modigliani.

Estée Lauder used wealthy people's bathrooms to curate the color of the jars her products were sold in

While Lauder herself was just starting her cosmetics empire, she knew wealthy people who could afford high-quality products would always be her target market. In order to make her products as appealing to this market as possible, Lauder held up different colors of glass bottles in people's bathrooms to see what would look best with their decorations before landing on a turquoise bottle with a gold cap.

Why new Rolexes can cost less than used ones

It's reasonable to assume a new Rolex watch—which often sell for thousands of dollars each—would be more expensive than a used version. However, that's increasingly not always the case. This video explains why some used Rolexes cost more than their new counterparts. Watch it here.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

League tables show the number of deals top investment banks do in a time period

These tables provide a visual to help keep track of the leading companies in investment banking. Companies such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs typically sit up top.

Inside the rise of focus music

Any casual YouTube or Spotify user has likely stumbled upon a playlist called "lo-fi beats to study and relax to" while searching for new music. Those "lo-fi beats" actually represent a growing genre of music called "focus music." Spotify, for instance. saw a 50% increase in listening time for focus playlists in its 2023 Wrapped report. This article explains why productivity tunes are on an upswing right now. Read it here.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

The evolving industry of flowers

The global trade of flowers is worth billions of dollars, and new markets and supply chains are opening each year. This multimedia deep dive takes a look at the origins of the modern flower trade in the Netherlands and its expansion into dozens of...

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Poison ivy was sent to Europe in the 1600s as an exotic, ornamental oddity, where it was purposefully grown in the English royal gardens at Kew, the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and a few other locations.