Sports Calendar

There are considerations, though, when trying to make money from the road less travelled. “The value of esoteric investments is generally dependent on limited supply and fluctuating demand which is generally influenced by fashion,” warned Andy Gadd, head of research at independent financial adviser Lighthouse.

“Authenticity can be very important to the values of coins, stamps, art and fine wine. They often cost money to keep and many are unregulated. It’s certainly a case of buyer beware.”

MUSIC RIGHTS AND FILMS

Horlick’s Bramdean Alternatives, a Guernsey-based fund of alternatives fund, plans to spend $13.5m (£6.8m) on buying the rights to music in up to 200 independent films over a three-year period. It will receive royalties every time the films air and cashflows are expected to mature in three years. The fund will then own a library of saleable rights, worth three-and-a-half times the purchase price, based on “very conservative assumptions”. “The beauty of this is that it doesn’t have anything to do with the stock market or the bonds market — it doesn’t matter what happens in the outside world,” said Horlick.

Meanwhile, the Footprint investment fund, launched in August last year, operates as a “boutique bank”, providing finance for different stages of a film’s development. It has a minimum investment of £50,000 and an annual management charge of 3.25%.

It receives a negotiated rate of interest on the loans as well as a small kickback from box-office profits. With bridging-loan fees of 4%-7% per month, investors could stand to net an annualised 84% return regardless of box-office success.

“Films tend to buck the trend in times of recession,” said founder and chief executive Lisa Lambert. “People always want entertainment and, when times are tough, people do like to escape a little.”

DEATH FUTURES

For those who can handle a large dose of reality, what about buying into “death futures”? It might sound morbid, but funds that invest in the life-insurance policies of ill or elderly people are producing average annual returns of some 10%.

The EEA Life Settlements fund, domiciled in Guernsey, buys the life policies of Americans with a life expectancy of two years or less, while the Assured fund invests in the policies of elderly US citizens, typically aged between 75 and 85.

The funds buy the policies for a cash lump sum — which policyholders can spend while they are still alive — and continue to pay the premiums. They then net the full payout upon death.

Mark Hindle, investment director of the Cayman-based Assured fund, said: “Rates of investment are little short of astonishing, but . . . where else are you going to get a steady, 10%-plus, year-on-year in today’s market?”

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