The Economics of Emotions. Which Is Better: An Index Fund or a Han Solo LEGO Figure?

Which was a better investment in 2000: buying an S&P 500 ETF or a LEGO set 3341 featuring Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Boba Fett minifigures? Over the course of 26 years, the ETF grew by an average of 7.7% per year, while the LEGO set—which cost less than $4 at the time of its release—increased in value by 5,000%. In other words, the toy’s average annual return exceeded 10%.

This is one of many examples of how a new generation of market participants has broadened the concept of investing. For young people, it’s not just dividends, price-to-earnings ratios, and financial statements that matter—it’s also culture, identity, community, and emotional engagement. Now, instead of shares in a company like General Electric, many are choosing exclusive watches, limited-edition sneakers, toys, and other unexpected items that their fathers—let alone their grandfathers—would never have invested in.

This does not mean that young people have lost interest in the stock market. Rather, the very psychology of capital has changed. Money is increasingly flowing to places that offer a combination of history, emotion, scarcity, and digital liquidity.

This shift in the perception of investing is already reflected in the statistics. According to a survey conducted by Bank of America and the research firm Escalent in 2024, 72% of investors aged 21 to 43 believe that stocks and bonds alone are no longer sufficient to generate above-average returns. In the portfolios of this age group, equities account for only 28%, compared to 55% among older generations, while alternative and crypto assets make up about 31%.

There are several reasons for this shift. First, the market has become more technologically accessible. Where connections, capital, and infrastructure were once required, now all you need is a smartphone, an account on a platform, and a basic budget. Second, the consumer experience itself has changed. Purchasing an asset is now increasingly combined with entertainment. Collecting, reselling, and digital purchases are integrated into the content of social media and other online communities.

Finally, many young investors view the traditional stock market as something far removed from their reality. To them, stocks are abstract ticker symbols, whereas a pair of rare sneakers, a Pokémon card, a piece of art, or a virtual item is more understandable and visually closer to their everyday lives. In a world of high inflation, political turbulence, and constant information noise, anything that has cultural value and is in limited supply begins to be seen as a potential means of preserving capital.

The most straightforward segment of the new economy is collectibles: sports cards, comic books, figurines, rare coins, vinyl records, gaming items, and much more. Experts at Deloitte, one of the world’s leading auditing firms, estimated that in Australia alone there will be 7.6 million collectors by 2025 (representing 35% of the country’s adult population), and the total value of their collections reaches 16.8 billion Australian dollars (approximately $11.6 billion). Of course, a single market does not reflect the full picture, but this example confirms a global trend: collecting is no longer a niche hobby and is evolving into a mass consumer and investment category.

Sneakers are perhaps the most striking symbol of the new financial paradigm. They have emerged at the intersection of fashion, sports, status, and stock market dynamics. A limited release, a collaboration with a well-known brand or a famous artist, and limited supply can drive the price of a pair several times higher than the retail price.

Platforms like StockX have turned this market into something resembling a trading terminal, complete with a transaction history, transparent pricing, charts, and a supply-and-demand dynamic that closely mirrors that of a stock exchange. As early as 2020, Rally—another similar service—offered investors the opportunity to buy not the entire collectible item, but to invest in shares of exclusive sneakers, trading cards, and other items, structuring each such asset almost like a “mini-company” with an initial offering of “shares” and their subsequent trading on the secondary market.

Business Insider cited the example of a rare model at the time—the Nike Moon Shoe. Rally split the asset into 18,000 shares priced at $10 each. More than 600 investors snapped them up in just a few hours. This was a striking example of how collecting has begun to align with the logic of the stock market. Today, the platform also offers the opportunity to invest in a pair of 1988 Jordan III sneakers autographed by Michael Jordan. The “entry ticket” costs $11.

Until recently, investing in art was largely the preserve of a select few, but digital platforms are changing the rules of the game here as well. Masterworks, the largest player in the fractional art ownership segment, manages nearly $1 billion in tokenized shares of works by contemporary artists and has hundreds of thousands of users. According to its estimates, the fractional art ownership market has grown from nearly zero in the late 2010s to $1.8–1.9 billion by 2024 and could approach $9–10 billion by 2030.

The mechanism is simple: the platform purchases a work by a legendary artist—such as Basquiat or Picasso—divides it into thousands of shares, and sells them to investors, who can hold onto them for several years until the painting is sold or trade them among themselves on the secondary market. Technologically, this is increasingly being implemented through tokenization and blockchain, which simplifies record-keeping, lowers the barrier to entry, and allows people to invest from anywhere in the world.

However, investments in exotic assets are far from always guaranteeing a profit. According to CoinGecko, by 2024, prices for metaverse land—tokenized plots of real estate in various metaverses—had fallen by an average of 72% from their highs, with some projects seeing declines of 89–95%.

Low liquidity and high volatility are the key drawbacks of new asset classes. It is often literally impossible to quickly sell a share in a painting or a rare item at a fair price. Determining their fair value can be difficult due to a lack of market data, and the price itself is often opaque and subjective. Carelessly following trends can turn an investment portfolio consisting of such instruments into a collection of expensive but illiquid souvenirs.

Add regulatory uncertainty to the mix. Blockchain platforms and NFTs are still in a gray area for authorities, and the tax implications of such investments could come as an unpleasant surprise to their owners.

For individual investors, the simplest and most straightforward way to get involved in the experience economy is to choose one of the relevant exchange-traded funds. For example, the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF (METV) allows investors to bet on the ecosystem of digital worlds, virtual consumption, and immersive technologies*. The fund trades on NYSE Arca, and its annual fee is 0.59%. Its largest holdings include Roblox, Apple, NVIDIA, Alphabet, Unity, Microsoft, Meta, and Tencent—companies associated with virtual platforms, digital infrastructure, and technologies that deliver new user experiences.

A more "prestigious" option is the Amundi Global Luxury UCITS ETF. It includes stocks from the S&P Global Luxury Index segment, which consists of global luxury brands. The annual fee is 0.25%.

From February 2014 to May 2026, the value of a single GLUX share rose by 236%. The METV metaverse investment fund showed more modest growth—about 20%. However, data for this fund is only available starting in July 2021.

The entry threshold for a private investor is effectively equal to the share price of each fund ($20 and $200, respectively). Add the brokerage commission to that, and you have a much more convenient way to invest than buying an alternative asset directly.

The experience economy has taught the market to turn emotions into a product. But it’s important to understand the role it plays in your financial strategy. If it brings you joy by opening up new opportunities, that’s certainly a plus. However, the downside of such investments isn’t always apparent.

An investment decision should be based on an analysis of risks and the time horizon. The liquidity of an asset is equally important: it can take weeks to sell a rare sports card at a fair price, whereas making changes to a portfolio of stocks or mutual funds takes just a couple of seconds. Therefore, when all factors are considered, the collectibles investment market is hundreds of times smaller than the stock market.

Of course, a rare Han Solo LEGO figure—if you're lucky enough to find one—could turn out to be a valuable item, but the opportunity to invest in an index fund and earn a comparable return is available to everyone.

An article from the magazine *Finansist*.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor