Art Investing for Beginners

0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human Ernest, what's up? Look, if you've been sitting on a business idea, a side hustle, or a brand you wanted to launch, this is your sign to finally make it happen. Wix Harmony lets you create an entire website just by telling it what you want. Literally, you type it, and it builds a site for you with business features already included. And the best part? You still have full control to edit everything yourself. It's fast, it's smart, and it makes building a website way easier than people think. Try it today at Wix.com slash Harmony. That's Wix.com slash Harmony.

0:37Earners, what's up? Look, building wealth isn't just about making money. It's about knowing where your money is working for you. That's why we partnered with Empower. Empower is all about helping you invest well so you can go out and live a little. Their free Empower personal dashboard gives you a complete view of your financial life in one place. Track your net worth, monitor your budget, analyze your investments, set retirement goals, and more. You've worked hard for your money. Now make sure it's working hard for you. Download the Empower personal dashboard or visit Empower.com. Not an Empower client paid or sponsored.

1:14Ernest, what's up? Look, let's face it. Most guys just power through pain and strains, but the smart move is taking action early before it turns into something bigger. That's where a physical therapist comes in. They can assess what's really going on and create a plan tailored specifically for you. And physical therapy isn't just for recovering after an injury. It's about staying ahead of them, building strength, improving movement, and supporting longevity so you can live life on your own terms. To learn more and find a local physical therapist, visit ChoosePT.com. Ask yourself, what are your best people spending their time on right now?

1:51Expense reports, receipt chasing, month-end close that takes weeks. You become what you spend on, and that's not what you're building toward. Brex is the intelligent finance platform that eliminates that work before it starts. AI agents that handle the manual stuff automatically, so your team can spend their time on what actually compounds. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at brex.com slash AF. How do you get into art investing? so you know i used to get these big bonuses the wine and spirits business is a bonus based business and uh i would get these big bonuses and i would you know buy a watch buy a purse buy all the toys the things the things i like things and i remember hearing a record i think it was a j record and he talked about art and i was like i have not bought that yet.

2:48You know, it like, it pricked my conscious. And the first real piece that I invested in was a piece of art from South Africa from an artist named Nelson McComo, who's an incredible artist. And the reason why I say invested in it is because it was literally half my bonus. And it was hard for people to understand. They were like, you're going to spend what? You're going to, what? What are you talking? That's a lot of money. Just because we haven't really been taught the value. How much was it? It was like$25 ,000. And who educated you to know that that was something that you should buy? Well, and with that purchase, I just loved it.

3:25You just looked at it and just liked it? I loved it. And I researched the artists and it, I mean, it fell in line with just kind of me falling in love with South Africa too, you know, and I loved it. So I think the first thing that I always like to tell people is even though I invest in art I only invest in what I love like if I don't love it I'm not really going to spend my money on it and so I've been really fortunate to get to know a lot of artists directly buy from artists directly so you circumvent the whole gallery and all that and you're supporting the artist like the artist is getting a hundred percent how much does that worth now you know um uh i don't know that's interesting right i see it i love it definitely worth more than what i bought it i'm assuming that maybe it was picasso babies the jay song that might have sparked it but does that now spark your love for art or is it did it just translate into to south african art right did you start studying art american artists artists throughout the world and now this becomes a passion for you based on that one purchase Yeah, you know what I realized?

4:34Art for me was, I just got lost in it. Like I realized, I was like, I love this. Like I had just like this genuine passion for it. I didn't grow up going to museums. I didn't grow up going to art exhibits. I didn't grow up in a house where there was art. and so I think for me I was like oh wait we belong here too you know that it was really that that fueled me I was like wait this is this is a space that we belong in as well and there's such an incredible art community so I also was enjoying like getting to meet people you know and those people are like involved in in some cool stuff you know so I think it was that definitely you African art, black artists in general, was something that I was like, okay, I love this.

5:20These stories are incredible. And then it became like, yeah, I remember buying a piece. You asked about the value. I bought a piece for like$12 ,000. And I remember seeing an auction for the artist and her piece sold for$90 ,000. And I have one of her bigger pieces, earlier works that I bought for$12 ,000. that's clearly gone up in value. So I then also started just to understand like, oh, okay, this is how that works. And then I think when you study really wealthy people, really wealthy people have a few things in common. They have real estate. A lot of them have a lot of investment in wine and they invest in art.

5:59And I was like, okay, this all kind of makes sense for me. You know, this is the space that I play in anyway. So how many pieces do you have roughly? Oh, now I probably have over 40 or 50 pieces of art and everything, not just, you know, I have sculptures, I have vases, I have, I mean, you know, weight. So where do you keep it all? It's everywhere. I mean, it's in my bathrooms, it's on the floors. But does it ever get to a point? Because it's like, all right, you could invest in a variety of things that art is some way where it has to be kept, right? So after a while, it's like you can't really fully appreciate it, I don't think, because you can't put it on your wall.

6:43You can't put 50 pieces of art on one wall, right? So it's like you can put it in your office. You can put it in different places. But when you really start to get a lot of art, I'm always curious to know, like, what are people doing with all of the art? Are they just hoarding it in the basement? Take the damn dash roll. Yeah, I mean, listen, people do have, you know, art storages that are specific for art, just like they have wine storages. For me, I'm working to sell a lot of wine so I could buy a nice big house so I could have all my art up in it. You know, I mean, now it's... Because the art storage, that kind of, I don't understand that.

7:21I used to go to art school when I was young, but I don't understand art storage because the point of art is to be appreciated. And if you're just storing it, I feel like it's actually disrespectful to the art form, right? Because now you've taken the beauty out of it, and now it's just become like a file cabinet. I think it's a double entendre. You use the word appreciated while it's stored. It is appreciating. I get what you're saying. Like an art, from an artist standpoint, I understand the business. Yeah. But art should always come first. The business should come second. Well, some people create galleries, right?

7:56They create their own galleries. I mean, I know people who have, like, bought the houses next to their house, and the house next to the house is their art. It's the gallery. Which is amazing, right? Yeah. So I'm with you, like, part, and when you ask me, like, the buying, you know, my rationale around buying, I only buy what I love because, like you, I want it up. I want to see it. I want to appreciate it. I also want to share it with people. So like when friends come over, they'll be like, your house is like a museum. And that makes me feel so good. You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, yeah.

8:26So everybody does it for a different reason. But what I could tell you is, again, one thing I learned is that people that understand wealth, they into art, they into wine, and they into religion. Well, one thing I learned about art is that if you put it in your office, it's a tax write-off. It is a tax write-off. Yeah. So I was saying one of the places that we definitely know that your art is going to show up is the Smithsonian. Yes. Talk about that. I mean, that's something that people will be able to frequent and go down in history forever, right? Yeah, that's exciting. So myself and 10 collectors got together.

9:02We've now acquired three pieces together. And it's our way of, you know, collective economics. and we purchased a piece, a Bisa Butler piece, that we then donated to the Smithsonian Museum in D.C. And so my name will forever be on the museum walls at the Smithsonian as a donor of the piece. And even that little thing, right, like we talk about having the art in your home and wanting to see it. I remember thinking like, wow, donating to a museum. But that's really also a big part of, you know, the art world, art collecting and also increasing the value of your collection. So my collection inadvertently increases in value because I own a piece in a museum.

9:52And people who are in the art world, they know all these little nuances. Yeah. Do you see, because we talk about it in real estate, right? A lot of times if people can't afford the property, let's have a collective. Maybe it's five people and we make the down payment. Right. Do you see that? Is that something that happens often, especially amongst our community? You know, I don't want to misspeak. The collective that I'm a part of, that was the first instance that I had ever heard of it. I'm sure people are doing it. I just don't know. The two pieces we bought, they were both$150 ,000 each. They go together.

10:31It's Adam and Eve by Harmonia Rosales. So the total price of the work was$300 ,000. And when we all thought about it, we were like, I can't do that, but I could do this. And so 10 of us got together and purchased it. Those two pieces have been on display at different museums. It's actually at the Spelman Museum right now. And so we're allowing the work to just tour so people get to experience it. And once we did that one, we were like, all right, let's keep doing this. This is amazing. And so I don't want to say that it does happen, but I don't want to say that it doesn't happen. I just wasn't aware of it.

11:10I know that when we had the opportunity to do it together, I said, come on, y 'all, let's do this. Because it was$30 ,000. But at the end of the day, I'm part owner of$300 ,000 worth of art. And that's just that one buy. So what are some best practices for people that want to get in art? Is it like always go through an art dealer, have insurance? like you know like when you buy a watch right like you can there's best practices to go through authorized dealer as opposed to just a jeweler right it's best practices to have insurance on the watch right what are some of the best practices for art buying yeah i mean again i've been really fortunate i've been able to buy a lot of art directly through art through artists and and the reason why i say fortune is because one you get to know who you're buying the work from i mean this work is in your home.

11:58It's energy, right? A lot of these pieces have stories. These artists may be going through different things while they're actually creating the work. And so, you know, I'm an advocate for people that want to get to know the artists if you can. It's worked for me. Secondarily, you know, I've gotten to know some galleries that I respect that I think are doing good by artists. So, you know, it doesn't hurt to have some galleries in your repertoire, only buy what you can afford. And so I would say that that's my biggest advice to people. You know, I've never financed any art, although you can, you know, there are financing programs for art, but I just like to think for good financial hygiene, buy what you can afford.

12:44That's worked for me. You absolutely have to insure your art and you have to make sure that that's a reputable insurance that specializes in art insurance, you need to think about where the art is going to be in your home. A lot of light is not art's friend. A lot of light. Yeah. It ruins it. It can. Yeah, it can. So, you know, making sure that the art is in a position in your home, that it isn't getting damaged, making sure that you're framing with a reputable framer that's going to talk to you about UV glass versus museum glass. I mean, this is all this stuff that goes into thinking about preserving your art.

13:26And then, you know, I've not been someone who's gotten into the business of selling my art. I know people that are in that business of selling. I can't say that I would never do it. For me, it's legacy building. So this is what I'm going to leave behind for my son, my goddaughters, my grandchild. You know what I mean? Like, Like this is really legacy building for me and wealth building for them. So I think it's just making sure you get educated like you do in anything that you're going to be investing your money. And the last thing I'll say is the 10 people that I invested in art, I respect all those people.

14:03I respect their portfolios, right, what they've done with their money. I would have never just gotten with 10 people and bought some art that I didn't know I felt were a good fit in what I was trying to do. Because that's a relationship. You're getting into a business relationship with them. But I think the biggest thing is buy what you can afford and then do all the due diligence, the insurance and all that kind of thing to make sure you're protecting your asset. So when it's touring, museums are paying to have it on display? How does that work? Yeah. So sometimes you will get paid by museums to have the work.

14:41Sometimes it's that you're donating it because you want the connection. You want to lean into the equity of, I think, the institution, right? A lot of these institutions have incredible equity. Smithsonian for example I mean for me to say that I've been collecting for five six years and I already have my name in the Smithsonian Museum is like a big deal so you know it's a it's a mix but yeah there are times when institutions will pay you to um to actually have your art in their exhibits. Ernest what's up look building wealth isn't just about making money it's about knowing where your money is working for you that's why we partner with Empower.

15:20Empower is all about helping you invest well so you can go out and live a little. Their free Empower personal dashboard gives you a complete view of your financial life in one place. Track your net worth, monitor your budget, analyze your investments, set retirement goals, and more. You've worked hard for your money. Now make sure it's working hard for you. Download the Empower personal dashboard or visit Empower.com. not an empower client paid or sponsored earners what's up look let's face it most guys just power through pain and strains but the smart move is taking action early before it turns into something bigger that's where a physical therapist comes in they can assess what's really going on and create a plan teller specifically for you and physical therapy isn't just for recovering after an injury it's about staying ahead of them building strength improving movement and supporting longevity so you can live life on your own terms.

16:16To learn more and find a local physical therapist, visit ChoosePT.com. I'm U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. We all seem to be in a rush these days, from work to driving our kids around. But when you're behind the wheel, please do not speed. A few minutes saved by going faster is never worth the risk. So follow the speed limit, Enjoy the drive. Maybe bring some snacks for the kids. And know that along the way, you're getting quality time with your family. Paid for by NHTSA. Ask yourself, what are your best people spending their time on right now? Expense reports, receipt chasing, month-end close that takes weeks.

17:00You become what you spend on, and that's not what you're building toward. Brex is the intelligent finance platform that eliminates that work before it starts. AI agents that handle the manual stuff automatically, so your team can spend their time on what actually compounds. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at brex.com slash AF. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.