While most major art collectors say the best advice is simply to buy what you love, and the ROI will happen daily, purchasing art can be quite lucrative, especially given the current market conditions.

With that in mind, Richard Polsky’s recent advice on ArtNet tells us what not to do – buying mediocre paintings rather instead of great prints or drawings, accepting minor discounts (10 percent or less) from galleries, choosing works of unusually large scale, and purchasing a recently deceased artist’s work –  all rules of thumb that make sense from an investment standpoint.

However, Polsky’s recommendation that buying atypical work is “another sucker bet,” is a bit harder to digest. While it may be true that “when the time comes to sell, you will come to despise your ‘inspired’ purchase” because it’s more difficult to unload, it doesn’t mean the decision was any less inspired. After all, it only takes one person who shares your vision. And on a much larger scale, the Whitney Museum of American Art was founded on a private collection of blue chip artists’ lesser known pieces, though we can’t all expect to carry that kind of cache.

Making money on the art market is perfectly reasonable if one thinks about the investment as long term – ten to twenty years being the gold standard. Polsky advises buying the program (a good gallerist like Paula Cooper, Barbara Gladstone, or David Zwirner choose high-quality art across the board). Other areas to consider are artists’ estate, new release prints and works from an artist who is switching galleries. On a more obvious note, try to collect pieces before an artist is involved in a retrospective – comprehensive exhibitions not only present the full spectrum of artistic development but instill a kind of nostalgia, even for the weaker works.

And again, it’s worth remembering that the art world represents a rare opportunity to combine your passions for collecting with an eye on investment and business acumen, something truly worth appreciating.