FRUIT ORCHARDS
Average annual return: 14.4% since 1991
Manulife Financial's Boston-based unit Hancock Agricultural Investment Group (HAIG) manages $1.04 billion (U.S.) of cropland for clients, 60% of that dedicated to tree and vine products such as almonds, apples and cranberries. Orchard returns are negatively correlated to stocks and bonds, and are a hedge on inflation, says HAIG president Jeffrey Conrad. They also delivered a 21% return last year. Not all fruits and nuts are created equal. Conrad avoids perishables like cantaloupes and peaches; he prefers crops that require less labour and have robust export demand, like almonds. Cranberries are hot. Conrad has had a harder time with Florida oranges and lemons, due to stiff competition from Brazil and Mexico. Unfortunately, the minimum $50-million investment excludes most of us. If you want a taste of this success, it's available in supermarkets. -SEAN SILCOFF
VINTAGE GUITARS
Average annual return: 27.7% since 1991
You don't need to be a rock star to invest in vintage guitars, but it may help if you're paid like one. London's Anchorage Capital Partners is raising money for a financial, er, instrument that will invest $100 million (U.S.) in vintage axes (it has raised $30 million so far and still needs a lead investor). The Guitar Fund will buy and trade instruments featured in the Vintage Guitar Magazine index of 42 classic models, which has an average annual return of 27.7% over 18 years-though it was down 7% in 2008. It will also invest in banjos and mandolins. "Wealth managers need to spread out their long-term holdings into new, innovative asset classes to better diversify risk," says the fund's managing director, Tommy Byrne. "We believe that vintage guitars in a disciplined and properly run fund is just such an asset class." The best part? Investors will be able to borrow the guitars, as long as they get insurance so the fund managers have nothing to fret about. -STEVE LADURANTAYESUBWAY TOKENS
Average annual return: 6.5% since 1974
Torontonians who regularly use the city's transit system are all too familiar with its shortcomings: subway cars packed like sardine tins; streetcars that break down; surly unions that paralyze the city by going on strike. If only you could make money from all this inefficiency. You can, thanks to the humble subway token, a dime-sized piece of currency that rises steadily in value. In 1974, they cost 25 cents apiece. Today, they're $2.25 if you buy them in bulk. That's an increase of about 6.5% a year, easily beating inflation, which averaged 4.3% over the period. One wealthy Bay Street investor says he keeps a hoard of them and is buying more. He calls the tokens a source of "guaranteed return, based on government mismanagement." (And they're tax-free, too.) Fares will keep going up. What's the risk-that city hall will suddenly figure out how to make the trains run on time? -DEREK DECLOET