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"Forever" stamps poor 10-year investment, reports Leslie Norins, publisher, on Analizir.com
[April 05, 2017]

"Forever" stamps poor 10-year investment, reports Leslie Norins, publisher, on Analizir.com


NAPLES, Fla., April 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- "Forever" postage stamps just celebrated their tenth anniversary.  If you had bought $1,000 worth in 2007, and held them these ten years, they would be worth 19.5 percent more today—but your money would have increased to a greater extent if, instead, you had bought stocks, gold, or Treasury notes, according to an analysis by Dr. Leslie Norins, reported on Analizir.com.

As a publisher who could use stamps over many years, he wondered what the investment outcome would have been if he had purchased a batch when they were first issued.  They were then 41 cents, and are now 49 cents.

Dr. Norins emphasizes the U.S. Postal service marketed "Forever" stamps only for their convenience, and has never recommended hem as an investment. 



He found that over the decade stocks (Dow Jones industrial average) rose the most, 94.4 percent.  Gold led for many years, but slipped to second recently, rising 84.6 percent.  The ten-year Treasury note, considered conservative, even stodgy, was third, returning 59.4 percent—not bad for very low risk.

The U.S. average price of houses, not a liquid investment like the other ones, went up an astonishing 263 percent  (Q2 2006-Q2 2016 most recent data available)


But Dr. Norins found a bright side to the calculations.  The consumer price index (CPI) over the ten years rose about 15 percent.  So the 19.5% increase of the Forever stamps was only a bit more.  He feels the Post Office should be commended for keeping the price increase of the stamps so small when prices of other assets were increasing greatly.

Dr. Leslie Norins is a 40-year veteran publisher of medical newsletters.  Analizir.com is an independent website for analysis and commentary, and is a unit of Medvostat LLC.  

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/forever-stamps-poor-10-year-investment-reports-leslie-norins-publisher-on-analizircom-300434138.html

SOURCE Dr. Leslie Norins


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