192: Buy Shares of High End Art with Masterworks CEO Scott Lynn
Invest Like a Boss
Sam Marks Johnny FD Derek Spartz
4.8 • 518 Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2021
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Masterworks CEO Scott Lynn returns to Invest Like a Boss after appearing on the show for Episode 146 in June 2020. A lot has changed since then and Masterworks has grown tremendously. Scott talks with Derek to give an overview of the market and how the platform has performed since. Then Sam joins in with Derek to discuss investing in art and possible disruptions (Digital art, NFTs, etc) coming to the market.
Scott Lynn is the Founder and CEO of Masterworks.io. He Founded Masterworks in 2017 after realizing that art had better risk-adjusted returns than other asset classes, but the only way to invest is if someone has millions of dollars to buy a painting, or tens of millions of dollars to build a portfolio.
Scott has been an active collector of contemporary art for more than fifteen years and has built an internationally-recognized collection of Abstract Expressionism that has included works by Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and more. In addition to Masterworks, Mr. Lynn serves on the board of v2 ventures (Adparlor, Giant Media, Reachmobi, Amply, and Sellozo), Payability, and the Brooklyn Rail (a non-profit publication in the art industry).
Listen to ILAB 192 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.
Where we are:
- Johnny FD – Ukraine / IG @johnnyfdj
- Sam Marks – Andora/ IG @imsammarks
- Derek Spartz - Venice Beach / IG @DerekRadio
Support Invest Like a Boss: Join our Patreon
Discussed:
Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:
- ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
- Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)
- Betterment – Get up to 1 year managed free
- Wealthfront – Get your first $15,000 managed free
- PeerStreet – Get a 1% yield bump on your first loan
*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.
Time Stamps:
- 06:16 – How has the art market been affected by covid?
- 08:15 – How much Assets does Masterworks hold, and how many investors?
- 09:15 – What’s the average amount that investors invest in?
- 10:01 – How many paintings does an investor hold?
- 10:56 – How has the market changed for you now you have become the biggest buyer in the world?
- 12:28 – Are there any living artists that are increasing in value that your research team believe may outperform the deceased artists?
- 16:51 – Have artists been affected by “Cancel Culture”?
- 19:09 – Where are the art pieces stored?
- 20:05 – What type of insurance do you hold on these paintings?
- 20:46 – What is blue chip art?
- 21:19 – Has there been talk of investing in blue-chip art as something similar to an index fund?
- 22:30 – Are they certain artists you can highly expect to consistently rise in value?
- 25:27 – How has art been a better performing asset than the S&P 500?
- 30:13 – How does the secondary market work?
- 31:28 – Do you see any day traders getting involved trying to get into the market?
- 32:27 – What type of fees does Masterworks take on each piece of art?
- 32:51 – How does the NFT’s compare to the physical art market?
- 35:13 – Can you explain how copyrights work as it relates to the physical painting and the digital copies?
- 38:37 – Patreon Question: How many pieces of art have Masterworks purchased and what have been the returns to date?
- 40:00 – Patreon Question: What’s the minimum amount to invest in Masterworks?
- 42:17 – Patreon Question: Do you have to be an accredited investor?
- 43:07 – Patreon Question: Do you have to be a US citizen to invest?
- 44:22 – What would you invest in personally and why?
- 46:44 – Sam and Derek review
If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here!
Copyright 2021. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Invest Like a Boss podcast. |
| 0:02.8 | I'm Sam Marks. |
| 0:03.6 | And I'm Johnny FD. |
| 0:04.6 | We're self-made entrepreneurs who invest our own money and use modern technology to invest like a boss. |
| 0:09.0 | Join us each week for exclusive interviews with our network of modern investors, business owners, and multimillionaires to discover new ways to invest our hard-earned cash. |
| 0:19.7 | Welcome back, bosses. This is Sam Marks. I'm joined here with Derek in California. Actually, not here, Derek. I'm used to us being together most recently in the Ukraine. And I feel like we're together because we're always on video. But actually, I'm a whole continent apart. I'm sitting in in Andorra right now. |
| 0:38.9 | See, this is the thing. You guys don't tell me anything. As far as I knew, I thought you were still |
| 0:42.9 | in Barcelona. What brought you to do, Andorra? I'm running short on my days to be in the Schengen area |
| 0:48.8 | in the EU. So quick, funny story is I need to be in Spain for a wedding in late September. |
| 0:56.8 | I also have some friends and family coming over. |
| 0:58.8 | But I'm almost up on my 90 days. |
| 1:01.9 | So I booked a trip actually with previous guests, Kevin Shea, to go to Iceland this week. |
| 1:08.7 | And as I was getting up at 5 in the morning to catch my flight to Iceland, I just happened to check, to confirm that it's outside of the Schengen area, which I had believed it was. And it turns out it wasn't. It's out of the EU, but it's in the Schengen area. So I had this whole trip plan to drive around Iceland with Kevin. And the of I'm like I can't go so I just |
| 1:29.2 | canceled I didn't I didn't get any money back or anything just laid it off and then I took a bus to |
| 1:34.5 | Andorra it was two and a half hours in Barcelona and I'm hanging out here and what looks like |
| 1:39.2 | Switzerland and about to go for some fondue after this it's so funny because you you and Johnny both keep trying to convince me to move out of the U.S., |
| 1:48.0 | but I'll give you one thing. |
| 1:50.1 | I don't have to deal with any of that. |
| 1:54.5 | Whenever my visas issued for Spain after three years, I won't have to do with this either. |
| 1:59.7 | But for now, it's kind of a little game |
| 2:01.1 | that I'm enjoying playing. All right. Well, as long as you're enjoying it, we're going to do a |
| 2:06.5 | really quick intro here before we talk to our guests. But Sam, give us a really quick update on |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sam Marks Johnny FD Derek Spartz, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Sam Marks Johnny FD Derek Spartz and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

