It's pretty clear that anyone who buys a brand new boutique bass as an investment is deluded. They literally shed a third to a half of their value when they leave the shop. Vintage instruments are different of course.
However, there is a clear group of dudes who churn through high end basses because they can and they don't give a stuff about the investment side of things. You can see it more clearly on Talkbass where obsession over particular holy grail basses waxes and wanes with time. Intensity of chatter about brands (or should I say Marques ) like Celinder, Wal, Ritter rises and falls. Characteristic of this sort of thing is an obsession with detail like the figuring in laminate tops, pickups, preamp tweaking etc etc
This group of players/collectors includes people who are extremely good and some who can barely play a note. I think people take the piss out of the latter and some of that piss taking is envy-based. (Of course some of it is because people find three quarter length shorts, beer bellies, high fiving and bad slapping amusing )
But to state that AC, F basses, Ritter, Fodera etc etc are just collected by venture capitalists and accountants who can't play a note is a generalisation IMO