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Key Takeaways
- About 10% of Americans say luxury handbags could fund their retirement, according to TIAA’s new survey.
- Some designer bags, like Hermès Birkins, have significantly climbed in value—but that’s the exception, not the rule.
- Experts say handbags can have resale potential, but they’re not a reliable plan for retirement income.
About 10% of Americans say their best shot at funding retirement might come from either winning the lottery or investing in luxury handbags, according to a new TIAA survey. It sounds like a punchline—until you realize the gut punch behind it.
Dig into the data in this and other recent surveys, and the finances many Americans are facing look bleak. Almost two-thirds of Americans think retiring “on time” is a fantasy, 30% aren’t confident they can cover basic expenses as they get older, and one in five isn’t saving for retirement at all.
Why Luxury Handbag Investing Matters
When 10% of Americans cite lottery tickets or luxury handbags as viable retirement strategies, it may signal that traditional retirement nest egg-building paths feel broken or inaccessible. This isn’t really about bags—it’s about how many Americans are losing faith in the financial systems that were supposed to secure their futures.
What the TIAA Stat Really Says
The TIAA survey highlights a sense of hopelessness that’s shaping the way Americans are approaching retirement today. A Goldman Sachs study out last week showed just how impossible the system now feels to many savers: 40% of working Americans say they live paycheck to paycheck, and almost three-quarters of those say everyday costs make saving for retirement almost impossible.
Even higher earners aren’t immune—about four in 10 people making more than $300,000 say they’re still living paycheck to paycheck, thanks to rising debt and lifestyle creep that erodes savings. Add in what Goldman Sachs calls the “financial vortex” of the mid-2020s economy—the voraciousness of housing, healthcare, and caregiving in eating up record shares of income—and the dream of a stable retirement starts to look more like a luxury than even a handbag crafted from Togo leather by an artisan in France.
“Americans clearly want peace of mind in retirement, but the reality is that too many people either aren’t saving enough or aren’t confident in their ability to plan,” TIAA’s Kourtney Gibson said in a statement.
Only Certain Bags Outperform the S&P 500
As investment ideas go, betting your future on a certain luxe good isn’t the worst thing you could pick up from TikTok. Some luxury handbags, particularly the Hermès Birkin and the Hermès Kelly, have outpaced the stock market over entire decades. One analysis found their value rose about 14% annually between 1980 and 2015, faster than the S&P 500’s average return (representing how the stock market broadly did) over the same period.
Still, not all bags are star performers. Though handbags were the best-performing collectible in the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index in 2024, they only had a 2.8% gain. That didn’t keep pace with inflation that year, which was 2.9%. Investing in a broad S&P 500 index fund would have gotten you more than eight times the gain, at 23.3%.
Because even if you win the “Hermès game”—the opaque, almost mythical process where only certain customers with long purchase histories get offered the opportunity to buy a coveted bag—you still need to be right about which style, size, material, and color will gain in value.
The Hermès Sellier Birkin, for example, emerged as 2024’s “standout investment piece,” according to a report from ReBag, with a 250% value retention. That means a Sellier Birkin bought at the retail price could resell for two and a half times its original price. But resale prices vary, down to Walmart’s (WMT) viral knock-off, which fans have dubbed the “Wirkin.”
Warning
Luxury resale platforms take up to 40% in commissions, so even if your bag holds value, profits can vanish fast. Resale demand can shift quickly. Plus, some bags aren’t that liquid. That is, unlike stocks you can sell in seconds, handbags can sit unsold for months—not ideal if you need the cash quickly.
The Bottom Line
The broader takeaway from TIAA’s survey isn’t that some Americans think handbags can replace savings—it’s that the retirement math feels so broken that people are considering it.
If you can swing a $12,000 handbag and want to tell yourself (or your partner who just saw the receipt) it’s an “investment,” go ahead—just don’t skip contributing to your 401(k) to do it. A few rare bags may significantly rise in value, but most won’t beat a diversified portfolio, and none will send you a guaranteed check every month in retirement.
