Vol. I  ·  Forthcoming  ·  MMXXVI
A publication of 1337.ai
A letter arrives shortly

the Cost of Now.

A weekly letter on the price of impulse, the math of restraint, and the portfolio you almost had.

The First Letter · In brief

The Math on a Birkin

It appreciates. So does the S&P 500.

The Hermès Birkin has become part of the economic curriculum. Business-school case study. TikTok thesis. Financial advisor's least-favorite counterargument. "It's an investment," the buyer says, and nobody at the dinner table knows quite how to push back — because the buyer is technically correct.

Birkins do appreciate. The canonical figure, from a 2016 report, claimed 14.2% annually — outpacing both the S&P 500 and gold. The finance-bro internet metabolized this immediately. An asset class was born. A closer look at actual secondary-market data puts the true number closer to 4–6%. Still positive. Roughly half what the S&P has returned over the same period.

So. Let us do the arithmetic…

"If you want an investment, invest. If you want a Birkin, buy the Birkin.
What the math will not permit is both."
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Forthcoming · A queue of reckonings
  1. The Wedding — a $60,000 question No. 02 · next Thursday
  2. The Second Home you should not buy No. 03
  3. The Lease, and the cruelty of its math No. 04
  4. The Sneaker Shelf, a lesson in dopamine No. 05
  5. The Renovation that was a retirement No. 06
  6. The Engagement Ring, in two acts No. 07
From the editors

We are not here to tell you what to buy. We are here to tell you what it costs — the number printed on the tag being, almost always, the smallest part of the number.

Every letter takes a single purchase, compounds the dollars you would have otherwise invested, and renders the difference. With precision, and a trace of cruelty.

Spend anyway, if you like. Spend deliberately.

— The Editors
The Companion Instrument

For the math on your own temptation,

buyorsp.com