I agree-- on the whole-- but I think it also depends on who "people" are, in context. There ARE people who can afford to buy half of Kansas or a couple of Picassos as a store of value... personally, I happen to be a rare stamp collector, and I have often found that old rare stamps are a good store of value when the economy heads south. And they can be acquired in small "units" so a "moderately broke" person can get in. Where the value of collectibles matters to me is that they have both an "intrinsic" value, as well as an "expert" value... that is, I can add to the value of my holding through having expertise others don't have.