Study: Lego Investments May Be Better than Gold

January 4, 2022, Daily News | Advanced

Exercise 1

Vocabulary

profitable/ ˈprɑːfɪtəbəl/ Adjective

making or likely to make money

Example:
The company will be profitable in three years.

investment/ ɪnˈvɛstmənt/ Noun

the action or process of putting money into something in order to make
more money

Example:
I am trying to recover the money I lost in a bad investment.

stock/ stɑːk/ Noun

a share of a company owned by a person or business

Example:
I often read the newspaper to check how my stocks are performing.

index/ ˈɪndɛks/ Noun

a system showing the number, level, etc. of something compared to a
standard

Example:
Syria is the lowest ranking country on the 2016 Global Peace Index.

seasonal/ ˈsiːz(ə)n(ə)l/ Adjective

happening or available at a certain time of year

Example:
Our meals include seasonal vegetables so the menu changes every few
months.
Exercise 2

Article

Study: Lego Investments May Be Better than Gold

A new study has found that Lego may be a more profitable i nvestment
than stocks or gold, or even alternative investments such as art and
wine.
Researchers from Russia's Higher School of Economics looked at the
prices of 2,322 Lego sets sold between 1987 and 2015, using information
from Brickpicker.com and the 2015 book The Ultimate Guide to
Collectible Lego Sets. It was found that these sets increased in value by
an average of about 11% every year.
The study authors note that in 2015 The Telegraph wrote that the
average increase in the value of gold since the year 2000 was less than
10%, while a 2013 study found that the value of art increased by an
average of less than 4% per year between 1957 and 2007. Lego also
performed better than the S&P 500 stock index in most years after the
2008 financial crisis.

The sets that rose the most were Lego Ideas sets, which are t hose made
based on ideas from Lego fans. These rose in value by an average of
64% per year. Next were seasonal sets, which rose at 58% per year, and
superheroes sets, which rose at 51% per year.
The study also found that the value of small and large sets g rew faster
than that of medium sets. Only sets that had never been opened were
studied.
However, the authors also said that Lego is only a good investment if
kept for many years, and that it can have costs — such as storage and
shipping — that other investments such as stocks do not.

Study co-author Victoria Dobrynskaya also warned that not all sets are
equally successful. You have to be "a real Lego fan" to have a sense of
the ones that are likely to increase in value, she said.
Exercise 3

Discussion
1. What are your thoughts on the fact that Lego may be a more
profitable investment than stocks or gold?

2. Do you find it surprising that the average Lego set increased in value
by 11% per year? Why? Why not?

3. Do you know anyone who collects or invests in Lego?

4. Do you own anything that has gone up in value since you bought it?

5. What alternative investments would you consider putting money into if

you had cash to spare? Why?
Exercise 4
Further Discussion

1. Do you have any Lego? Are there any sets you'd like to buy?

2. Do any of your friends or family have young kids? Are they into Lego?

3. What were the most popular toys when you were growing up?

4. What was your favorite childhood toy? Why?

5. Do you think today's toys are better than the ones you played with as
a child?

Source
This lesson is based on an article by Ryan Coogan.