Retail therapy has changed a lot in the past year. The splurge has been replaced by the investment with the bag of the moment being released by the bag to last a lifetime. But is a handbag really a good investment? Lesley M. M. Blume of The Big Money crunches the numbers when it comes purchasing with an eye toward selling later. When it comes to jewelry, unless you are talking about highly collectible pieces or rare stones that possess certain qualities of color and size, you probably aren't going to be able to sell for what you purchased for in a retail store.

And what about the Holy Grail of investment purses, the Hermes Birkin bag? We've seen Birkins make big numbers at auctions and they are hot sellers at consignment stores. Victoria Beckham reportedly owns more than 100 of the hard-to-obtain bags. And the recent book "Bringing Home The Birkin" tells the story of a man who made a living obtaining the hard-to-get bags and then selling them to customers interesting in jumping the famous waiting list.

Blume says that if you bought a bag, one of the more modest models, for around $7,000 in 2007 you could likely resell it at a resale boutique for around $8,300 but you would then have to pay a cut to the shop leaving you with about $6,000. The article doesn't mention that you could sell the way "Bringing Home the Birkin" author Michael Tonello did and put your bag on up for sale online. Tonello used eBay which charges a smaller percentage. You could also try Portero.com but they take a whopping 30 percent of your haul so you'd have to mark up accordingly.

Other bags sell well in some places especially if the bag is vintage and rare but usually nothing beats a Birkin. Calling the bag an investment may be a bit of a stretch since you'd still be better off socking that money away somewhere where it would earn modest and stable interest but the article does make a good point for value. In the long run, whether you are looking with an eye toward resale or not, it is perhaps better to buy one more expensive and high quality item than several of lesser value. This viewpoint provides a bit of retooling the shopping strategy. The quick retail fix, the "must-have-it-now" era has been replaced by mulling, considering, evaluating and then finally purchasing.

Investors in the Donald-Trump-branded Baja Mexico project have sued Trump now that the project has folded. I'd been expecting this since November when we wrote about the troubles for the Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico and received comments from burned investors. The project was not being built by Trump but he lent his name to the project and condo buyers say they invested based on the value of that name. Those who bought into the project have lost all their invested money, a reported total of $32 million on units that ranged in price from the mid $300,000s to over $2 million. No one seems to be sure exactly where the money went. CBS News has an interview with Ivanka Trump who says she is sorry for those people that lost money but that she and her father are "in the same boat" in terms of being taken in by the developers. Ivanka is named in the lawsuit along with her father and her brother, Donald Trump Jr. as well as the project's developers, Irongate Development, its partner company Punta Bandera Investors USA, and its real estate brokers S&P Destination Properties.

This isn't the first time Trump's selling of his well-recognized name has gotten him in trouble. Last June, condo buyers filed a lawsuit against the developers of the Trump Towers complex in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. for using the Trump name to attract buyers. That project is also not being developed by Trump and per the terms of the agreement Trump's name can only be used temporarily and could be changed once the buildings are completed. Based on this information and a fear that the condos will be worth less without the Trump brand, buyers sought cancel sales contracts worth over $100 million and to have around $20 million in deposits returned. Donald Trump was not named in the suit.

Trump has put his name on everything from vodka to office furniture but lawsuits like these as well as the troubles that have befallen his Trump-branded Atlantic City casino empire are eroding that name's prestige.

They say diamonds are a girl's best friend but are they a good investment too? Investors in gold often thrive in an uncertain market and now a new fund is set to offer access to physical diamonds as a form of secure investment. The KPR diamond fund is betting on the price appreciation of high-quality colorless diamonds. The fund is part of KPR Fund and launches on March 2 2009 with a minimum investment of $250,000. As Wealth Bulletin reports, Investors can also purchase stones on selected diamond sales by the fund at a wholesale price. This isn't the first fund of its kind, Russian investment group Alfa Capital also recently launched a diamond investment fund. Unlike gold, diamond prices have been falling recently. Whereas gold prices are relatively uniform, diamond prices depend on the size and quality of the stone. While the big ticket rare stones have continued to hold their value, countries that export polished stones around the world have seen their numbers tumble.

A major piece of Hawaiian real estate has hit the market. The owners of Hana Ranch, a 4,500-acre property on Maui have listed it for $65 million. The Honolulu Star Bulletin recently reported that Hana Ranch Partners LLC, the majority shareholder of which is a part of the Getty Trust, has been looking for foreign buyers from Asia, Europe and Canada. The partners, which also include San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, have been searching for a buyer for more than a year. Hana Ranch Partners purchased the property as an investment in 2001 for about $25 million and wants to find conservationists to preserve the rural nature of Hana. A conservation easement agreement with the Maui Coastal Land Trust saves 41 oceanfront acres from development and designates 100 acres of the land for affordable housing. So far the property hasn't been marketed for residential development. The listing is here.

When I began writing for Luxist back in 2004 one of the first things I did was pick up a copy of the Robb Report, the magazine for the ultra-rich is one of the standard sources for information on the luxury market. Now the magazine has its own stock index, the Claymore /Robb Report Global Luxury Index ROB. CNN Money reports that Claymore Securities launched an exchange-traded fund on Monday based on an index created by CurtCo Robb Media, publisher of the Robb Report.

The financial reasoning behind this is that companies catering to the luxury market may be a safer bet because spending by the rich is less affected by gas prices or mortgage rates, things that may throw off other consumers. And with luxury spending on the rise in countries like Russia, China and India many of these companies are looking at continue growth. The 42-stock portfolio includes many brands you might expect such as Porsche, BMW, and LVMH.

This follows the news that came out last month that Dominion Group had launched the Chic investment fund which cover 61 designer names and 2,300 brands such as Stella McCartney and Ralph Lauren. After all, if you are going to buy the luxury brands, why not also invest in the companies that make them?

There are entire books written on the subject of what makes real estate a good investment, so we won't go into that here. Instead, we will simply give you an example of exactly how good it can be.

Seven years ago, 10 large, but run-down and abandoned, homes on Hampstead Road, North Benwell, Newcastle were put on the market for 50p. The area was a bit on the unsavory side (to say the least) at the time, but with a deal sweetened by a £26,000 grant, young families were moved in in no time at all. Today, the homes are all valued at over £145,000 ($280,000) - a 290,000% increase! With three stories, large and spacious rooms and up to five bedrooms per unit, it only seems like the value in the properties will be going up for the families who are staying, but you have to admit that those who are selling up now have done pretty well!

The US Mint is aiming to target both collectors and investors with their newest release: a 24-karat gold coin. It contains one ounce of 99.99% pure gold and is cast as a tribute to the popular buffalo-head nickel that was in circulation during the 1930s. The coin will be minted as a $50 piece, though it will be worth, and sold, for more. Two versions of the coin will be available: a bullion coin for investors, which will be sold to authorized buyers for coin shops, banks and other financial institutions, and a proof coin, aimed at collections. The proof coin has a higher quality strike and finer finish, both of which will add to the physical appeal of the coin over simply the gold it is made of. 300,000 proof coins will be made and sold at an initial price of $875 per coin.

Interested buyers can purchase the proof coins beginning Thursday by going to the US Mint's website.