You may want to think twice before donating that old box of LEGOs. The children’s toy is more valuable than gold, according to Russia’s Higher School of Economics. LEGO investments do better than large stocks, bonds, gold, and other investments.
People have a lot of nostalgia for the interlocking pieces, and with a new LEGO movie hitting theatres in February and several video games on the market, LEGO is more popular than ever.
According to the study, over the past 30 years or so LEGO sets have surpassed gold, stocks, and bonds returns in investment by a whopping 11 percent a year. Higher returns come from small and large LEGO sets, as well as seasonal, architectural, and movie-based sets.
Demand increases for smaller sets and individual pieces, some of which are only available in larger LEGO sets.
Researchers note that “LEGO returns are not exposed to market, value, momentum and volatility risk factors, but have an almost unit exposure to the size factor.”
Because the toy has a low exposure to standard risk factors, it’s “an attractive alternative investment with a good diversification potential.”
Danish man Ole Kirk Christiansen founded The Lego Group in 1932. Lego comes from the Danish words “leg godt,” which means “play well.” In 2015, The Lego Group had sales of US$2.1 billion, making it the largest toy company by revenue (surpassing Mattel, which had US$1.9 billion in sales).
Interesting facts about LEGOs:
- Each new LEGO piece is compatible with older pieces, regardless of what year it was produced
- LEGO created the first mini figure in 1978, and now there are 4 billion of them in existence
- A British man made an entire house of LEGOs in 2009 with 3.3 million bricks and a fully functioning toilet
- LEGO makes more rubber wheels than Bridgestone, Goodyear, and other car tire manufacturers
- Only 18 of every 1 million LEGO pieces fail to meet company standards due to the company’s extremely effective manufacturing process
- Seven LEGO sets are sold every second, but during Christmas, that number jumps to 24 LEGO sets every second
- There is an average of 80 LEGO bricks for each person on earth
