From the throne to the moon
Outsider grew up with elders telling him never to throw money down the toilet. But he recently learnt that this may actually be the wisest investment decision one can make.
At an AMP self-managed super fund roundtable, SMSF head of policy Peter Burgess regaled us with the top five most unusual investment routes our DIY SMSF crowd chooses to take, and bottles of wine and vintage cars are now passé.
Number three was portable toilets. That's right: the port-a-loos that are hired for construction sites and the like, and the plumbing miracle they dedicated a whole motion picture to in 2006 called ‘Kenny'.
Our first reaction was to snigger and chuckle but after asking those in the know, Outsider found out port-a-loos can cost $10 a day to hire.
Think about it: traditional stocks and bonds go up and down. Booms and busts will come and go. But man will always need to use the can.
They don't call it the Throne for nothing.
The most unusual investment choice was a pride of lions, which are leased to circuses. As Burgess told us, "it was a roaring success".
AMP got some of its data from the ATO, which suspected SMSFs may eventually own a piece of the moon one day.
They aren't far off. The second most unusual investment was a moon rock. The going rate of a Honduras goodwill moon rock, given to the good people of Honduras by former US President Richard Nixon, is a cool $5 million on the black market.
Those with budget constraints can opt for 0.2 grams of lunar dust from the Luna 16 mission in 1993 for a modest $442,500.
AUTHOR
The Outsider
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