The graph below illustrates the expenditure in US dollars of investment in funds of four categories, property, gold, fine art, and company shares – in 6 year, starting in 1988.
Overall, the investment values in all four categories of funds have risen within this period. The highest growth record was for the company shares that started from approximately $50 million in the year 1988 and reached over $400 million by the year 2014. Fine art investments were steadily on the rise, moving upward from $20 million to approximately $200 million.
In 1988, while there were 50 million dollars invested in property and company shares, about 75 million was spent on fine art, and 100 million was invested in gold. From 1988 to 2006, there was a fluctuation in the funds for fine art, while the amount of money increased slightly on property. Though having the lowest figure in 1988, the investment in company shares saw a sharp rise to the value of approximately 225 million dollars in 2006, being the highest figure among the four categories surveyed. The money spent on gold underwent a fluctuation between 1988 and 1998 before surging to the value of 195 million dollars in 2006.
In the next period of six years, gold became the most invested asset, which had its peak at 450 millions of dollars before it fell, followed by fine art with its continued increase from 100 to about 325 millions of dollars. In contrast, the value of company shares and property only increased more or less than 50 million dollars since 2006.