When markets wobble, Gen Z doesn’t: they’re betting big on alternative assets. Dubbed the ‘soon-to-be wealthiest generation,’ Gen Z is growing its net worth while mistrusting traditional markets—making collectibles, like sneakers and sports memorabilia, the coveted investment darlings of their generation.
These assets serve not only as steady investments in a time of unknowns, but also point to a wider undertow—They are finding ways to catalog very niche, and often insignificant moments in time. The thing that gives those moments value is their personal connection to it, nostalgia.
Personal Myth as Investment
Historically, one place that we can see personal myth influencing investment in collectible pieces is in the fashion world. For example, Louis Vuitton is a luxury fashion house that has seen the artistic achievements of playmakers like Virgil Abloh and Marc Jacobs, as well as capitalized on collaborations with artists like Jeff Koons and Yayoi Kusama and moment-making brands like Supreme and Comme Des Garçons.
These “genius” figures have represented particular moments in the zeitgeist—allowing those who are enthusiastic about their work to engage with and invest in it. Unlike many fashion houses, Louis Vuitton has embraced the value of a figurehead, and used that influence to steer the creative direction of their brand and those who choose to purchase it.
The current genius guiding the brand is Pharrell Williams, best known for his musical career. In 2023, Williams introduced his first collection as Men’s Creative Director at Louis Vuitton. His website biography describes him as “a visionary whose creative universes expand from music to art, and to fashion.” The luxury brand views their creatives as visionaries, rather than geniuses in the mediums where they most reside (such as Williams’ music).
Although personal myth has accompanied high net worth individuals since the days of John Jacob Astor and John D. Rockefeller, the digital world has created a particular clout around public figures’ memorabilia, regardless of their respective industries.
Fame in one cultural endeavor serves as a jumping-off point, and as a figure becomes better-known for their contributions in multiple realms, the other projects they’ve worked on appear to appreciate in value.
Take, for example, a pair of the Nike Air Force 1s designed by famed late Louis Vuitton artistic director Virgil Abloh, currently listed for $90,000 USD on Sotheby’s website. While the sneakers are a luxury item from the fashion house, they are perhaps more greatly impacted by “The Virgil Effect” than the actual valuation of the good. The Virgil Effect, or the ecstatic influence of the designer, served as such a cultural moment that fans swarmed outside his brand Off-White’s 2018 Paris Fashion Week shows just to catch a glimpse of the famed designer. Pictures from the day resemble a landmark concert like Taylor Swift’s 2024 Eras Tour, with seas of viewers pulling out their phones to snap photos and videos.
However, where millennials have focused on fashion hype, Gen Z may take alternative assets to a whole new level—with trendiness and digital hype motivating price tags just as much as expected appreciation of value. A 2024 Bank of America Survey of Wealthy Americans found that investors aged 43 and under ranked real estate investments, crypto and digital assets, private equity, and personal company/brand as areas with the most significant opportunity for growth. Those 44 and up ranked more traditional investment opportunities higher, such as U.S. stocks, real estate investments, and emerging market equities.
Enthusiasm for alternative assets, paired with the digital experience, is shaping the investment decisions of young investors.
Collectibles Serve as Inflation Hedges
According to a 2014 Deloitte report on Arts, collectibles, and wealth management, many high-net-worth individuals intentionally choose arts investments as inflation hedges. Inflation hedges are investments designed to protect against the decreasing purchasing power of a currency—typically through rising prices or inflation. When the market is unstable, investing in alternative assets could be a safer bet–they are expected to either maintain their current value or appreciate.
Additionally, younger investors tend to have less trust in the markets. Bank of America’s 2024 Survey of Wealthy Americans found that 72% of younger investors (aged 21-43) are skeptical of traditional investments, like stocks and bonds. Both the rising influence of inflation and the general skepticism of Gen Z may lead them to invest in alternative assets.
According to that same report, alternative investments have “shown low correlation with traditional asset classes,” meaning that they stand up against inflation and can help to diversify a portfolio that might overwise be influenced by market ebbs and flows. When traditional asset classes gain or lose value, alternative investments are unlikely to be affected.
The term ‘alternative assets’ encompasses many types of assets: private equity or venture capital, hedge funds, and private credit, but it can also include collectibles–anything from luxury watches to handbags to pop culture merchandise to NFTs.
Gen Z Sets Some Financial Advice From Social Media
Along with Gen Z’s mistrust in traditional investments, they also turn to alternative sources of investment advice. Because of the prevalence of digital culture and online information, Gen Z has the opportunity to be well-informed about their financial decisions before even speaking to a professional–although they still do. Nearly a quarter of Gen Z engages with financial advisers or planners, but many also turn to social media. 15% of Gen Z indicated they look to social media for financial advice. They’re almost five times more likely to do so than those 41 and over.
“Finfluencers,” or financial influencers, had an estimated market size of $104 billion as of 2022, making up just a portion of the total content creator economy, which continues to expand. Not only is there a potential career in influencing (with YouTuber serving as Gen Alpha’s most aspirational career, with TikTok Creator at #2), but there is also the opportunity to pursue a niche content topic, such as financial influencing.
This hyperspecificity, combined with the notion that anyone can become a content creator at any point, has made branding an important skillset and even a necessity for young people. It is possible the hyperawareness of the self, curated through branding and online personas, has even made an impact on the assets Gen Z chooses to invest in, with the idea of personal mythology and cultural influence setting not only an estimated price on an item, but also adding an emotional value to each investment.
Collecting the Cultural Zeitgeist
So what turns an asset from merely a clout-chasing expensive trend to a thoughtful investment? In the world of auction houses, storytelling can play a big impact on the decisions that younger collectors make. Although Gen Z is, on one hand, part of a generation that’s used to viewing items online, placing Buy Now orders, and receiving items the next day, they’re also paying attention to meaning-making, especially when it comes to collectibles.
Ian Ferreyra de Bone, Managing Director overseeing the Books, Science, Pop Culture, and Real Estate departments globally for Sotheby’s, told Worth that the opportunity to place yourself into a larger, cultural story can be a captivating motivator for Sotheby’s collectors.
“You’re not buying something necessarily [..] just for the weight of gold that’s in the watch. You’re buying it for the craftsmanship for whoever previously owned it, like the unique marks. And all of these other things. There’s a lot of education in our content that we put out and storytelling there that a lot of times people start just by being interested in the stories, and then they start to see that they can actually actively participate,” He explained.
Alternative assets are something that can simultaneously reference your personal mythology and large cultural moments that you might have watched from a distance, but not actually been a part of, for example, a basketball used in the 2017 NBA finals. By owning a small piece of the zeitgeist, you get closer to the action.
Ferreyra de Bone emphasized, “There are moments that culturally, especially with social media and traditional media and everything else, start to reverberate. [..] It could have been that you love this one movie because it meant something. It was the movie you saw on your 1st date with the person that you got married to, and so that particular movie matters to you individually, a lot. And it may matter to somebody else individually, a lot.”
With just those two individual experiences, competition begins.
“It takes two bidders to create a market,” explained Ferreyra de Bone.
Lower Barriers to Entry Appeal to Younger Investors
The opportunities for Gen Z to create micro-markets continue to grow, with the opportunity to invest in alternative assets at a ground level. Gen Z started investing in capital markets during their college years at twice the rate of millennials. The ability to invest beginning at lower rates has likely expedited this process.
Although Gen Z is on-track to become the wealthiest generation, they are still in their teens or twenties, and likely not to have as high of a net worth as those who are older. But there are several ways that Gen Z is investing in collectibles with a lower barrier to entry.
One way is through fractionalization, which divides assets into smaller parts, making it easier to invest and allowing more flexibility for one’s financial portfolio. Fractionalization is empowered by fintech like Robinhood, an online stock trading platform, and Konvi, an online platform for owning portions of alternative assets, like fine wines, watches, and real estate.
Another option for investors looking to get started in alternative assets is simply to look for items with lower price tags. When it comes to collectibles, auction house items often begin in the hundreds of dollars—and those price tags, like much of Gen Z’s world, can be found online.
Nostalgia May Inspire Investment
One team of researchers found that nostalgia can serve as a signal of social connection, which can make people more likely to spend than those who aren’t feeling nostalgic.
Combined with a logical opportunity, the psychological inclination to spend money could encourage a young high net worth individual to make the jump into alternative assets.
Transforming Messi’s Memory into an NFT
Another luxury international auction house, Christie’s, has created a more literal interpretation of owning a collective memory.
In July 2025, Christie’s hosted a partnership between soccer star Lionel Messi and artist Refik Anadol, highlighting Messi’s renowned header goal in the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final. The cultural moment was transformed into an “immersive, AI-driven artwork that merges match data, biometric signals and emotional memory to redefine the boundaries of art, technology and sport.”
The piece consisted of nine AI algorithms, including one that was emotional and another that recognized biometric face and body gestures. In a promotional video for the partnership, Anadol said, “This is the art of going back in time and space. It’s the moment of rewiring our minds and truly reconstructing the memory.”
The online auction fetched $1.86 million USD, with all proceeds donated to nonprofits, including Inter Miami CF Foundation’s global partnership with UNICEF.
From Memory to Market
The future of investment may lie in personal experience, myth, and memory. With innovative AI tech like that used to transform Messi’s goal into an asset, combined with the generational enthusiasm around collectibles, investors can choose ultra-personal pieces: not simply one of a kind, but pieces so ultra-specific they seem impossible. From simply owning a pair of sneakers designed by Virgil Abloh or a first-edition Spider-Man comic book, investors may now have their choice of memories and significant moments from the cultural collective.
With the advances of AI and NFTs, along with the hyperspeed through which genAI can turn ideas into reality, there may be a larger place for intangible collectibles in the future.
