Luxury-goods firms feel the heat

It used to make sense to buy shares in luxury goods firms. People were getting richer and rich people like luxury goods. But these days, conspicuous consumption has its downsides.

I've written here several times about the rising risks in holding luxury-good-company stocks. A few titbits in the newspapers over the weekend make the case for selling out ever more clear.

First, a small story in the Guardian. It notes the case of state official Yang Dacai and his watch collection which I tweeted about last week. Yang was shown in pictures online wearing, onseveral different occasions, a variety of different ludicrously expensive watches, none of which he should have been able to afford on his official salary. He is now being investigated by the party's provincial discipline inspection committee (which doesn't sound that nice).

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Explore More
Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.