Selling this cardboard is wrapped with emotion, so it’s difficult to want to make a call without any concrete numbers.
I’d look at FI number, any goals you have, and compare to what you’d net from the sales.
I’m in a similar boat as you both as a collector and in life. I’m missing a single high value card for my Eevee collection but otherwise I’m up to date on everything. If I sold anything, I’m probably thanking the collection as a whole for serving me and then selling it all save for one or two un-let-go-able pieces
Imagine if we collected Yugioh, Mtg (outside of abu, 4 horsemen), labubu, beanie babies, plushes, pogs, literally any other collectible as old as pokemon. It would not provide this opportunity. The choice is entirely personal, but I said this in another thread, people facing the decision to sell anything for 1M puts you in a position that less than 1% of the world will experience.
The emotion is the hardest part. What helps is there can be an emotional transfer from cards to family or another purpose. Personally I still look at cards I sold fondly, but differently. I know if I had them today I would do the same thing, because they aren’t the simple pieces of nostalgia they were when I bought them, and the reasons for selling are more important than my nostalgia.
Lastly, even if 1M doesn’t make someone retire, it allows you to better control the pace of your life. While your pokemon identity provides purpose, financial security is with you everyday, in everything you do, where your pokemon identity is not.
14 Likes
I think a lot of the pain stems from “choosing” the right thing and then either collecting the wrong cards or selling too early. Kind of like hitting 5 out of 6 numbers on a lottery ticket or selling BTC early. You are right, but I acknowledge that it feels unfair to have been a collector so early and then a.) not get to profit massively and b.) not get to continue collecting because the hobby has been priced out from “investors”, who don’t even feel like real fans.
It’s definitely a first world type problem, just sucks to see cards that we’ve all owned as our genuine favorites become unobtainable. And while yes objectively making some money is better than the cards going to 0, I think the personal connection to the hobby is what hurts more than something like stock speculation. Like I used to get clowned for buying cards and then grading them lol
1 Like
what if we dont do anything else?
5 Likes
I have complete WOTC holo sets so I can really relate to the all-or-nothing perspective.
I don’t agree that you have an obligation to sell or keep for your family. It’s your collection so your choice. Unless you are somehow choosing worse outcomes for them by not doing so. Then you should really evaluate your choices lol
5 Likes
I think we gotta keep in mind that the current highest sale may not be the most accurate number to base decisions off of.
And also life is impermanent. Lots of talk of leaving stuff for the kids but it’s not just cards you leave behind. People acquire so much stuff throughout their lives and then it’s on their children to dispose of them. Ironic to say on this forum, but consume less, experience more. You can’t take anything with you.
6 Likes
Your kid doesn’t care about your cards. They care about you and how you are as a father. If you can liquidate parts of your collection to allow yourself to be financially free, you can work less and spend more time with your kid and build lasting memories for them. That’s far more valuable than handing them a bunch of cards when they are 18.
4 Likes
I agree with the others who say to sell some of them and keep the ones you like the most. The hobby is in a crazy place right now, and it’s possible that your cards won’t ever hit current prices again. As you said yourself, it’s possible that they may be worth significantly less 15-20 years from now and you end up regretting not selling them before.
Judging by the high values you’re talking about, your Mew cards are all high grade slabs, right? If so, why don’t you just buy lower grades or raw versions of the cards you’re selling? That way, you can still have all the same cards but also keep a lot of the money.
2 Likes
As the youngest person here (and the closest to a kid), I can say this:
Serving your kids and wife is and always will be first. Providing for your family even a little bit will carry so much more weight than any card (including rayquaza). Its one of the very few things I would do in a heartbeat, including selling Rayquaza cards.
Family comes first, and no one should be telling you otherwise.
2 Likes
As someone who will be inheriting a good chunk of land from my parents my perspective is to definitely sell. I can’t imagine my parents having that much money in riskier investments and not selling for my sake.
However, if your kids will already be set from a more conventional inheritance then I don’t think it matters as much. For example, I know I’ll be inheriting my grandmas stamp/coin/bill collection and fully expect it to be worth little. And if my grandma told me that years ago it was actually worth a lot but she didn’t sell it would be a funny story. But that’s because in my family the collections are just for fun and not worth much and the real money is in land.
1 Like