‘Once upon a time I thought my beanie baby collection would pay for college. I was wrong. So so wrong,’ reads a comment on Imgur, posted in response to a photograph of a Beanie Baby book from 1997, showing how much these toys were supposed to be worth 10 years later. The book predicted returns of $400 for a $5 investment (that’s £277 and £3.47 at today’s rates).
Unfortunately for beanie investors, it turns out they weren’t such a great investment after all.
At the time of writing, Libearty and Lizzie the Lizzard – the two beanie babies featured in the photo – were available on eBay for little more than their original purchase price.
Proof indeed that investments can go down as well as up.