@jkanly has a pretty good strategy, not gonna lie hahah. I’m actually just an impulse spender like @zorloth, but I have a target list so I impulsively buy to fill the spots in my collection.
I just spend on what I like with the money that I’ve earned. However, it’s been 3 years since I’ve graduated and started my first job, and I only spend on TCGs and on my significant other.
I don’t like spending on other things, although I drink wine mostly since it’s got the most bang for your buck in terms of alcohol % per dollar (I think, don’t kill me if I’m wrong lol)
I can’t justify it yet/have yet to make a high-end purchase. There’s always something I want more than a pokemon card when it comes to higher end pricetags. My guess is that the more disposable income you end up having access to, the less it will matter because there will be enough disposible income to go around for a wider range of your wants.
For me, its a pretty easy formula i follow: Spend only excess funds AFTER bills, cost of living, future goals savings, regular savings, and investments.
Since starting this has been the backbone of how i go about making purchases. Sometimes there have been moments where id change my mind on something i was holding (lots of hidden fates cards) and then i made the choices to sell some to make way for larger items due to not wanting to dip into other funds, but i feel thats just the nature of the beast. Id classify my “selling” as more “trading”, and then from there i just keep on keeping on in the collecting game.
Little short story on spending beyond means: there was a moment in time where i was heavily engaged in ill behaviors due to addiction to where I would spend every last cent I owned to essentially hurt myself both mentally and physically. That period of my life was probably some of the darkest times ever for me, but through it ive learned so much about money management and the value of a dollar and just how important these things are to ones well being. I havent been close to that realm in years now, but i do see how easily a hobby such as this could slip one down a similar path if not mindful of their lifes choices. So with that, id just advise all my collector friends to always be smart about their choices, because you never do know how a few spontaneous spur of the moment “wants” can turn into a long term crippling path to destruction.
For the last few years I have not put any money into the hobby. The only exception is 400-500 in grading fees once per year. All funds are from sales, so it’s important I keep buying and selling constantly. Occasionally I take on a bit of debt to make a purchase in order to flip for cash, but I keep my primary banking out of it and any debt taken is always payed back. This keeps my buying in check and limited grading forces me to keep cards in a stockpile, which has worked out very nicely in the past couple years. I have several different charizards that I could have graded 2 years ago, but my rule forced me to save them and only grade a couple at a time, so i have more to still grade yet.
I drop the max amount I can for things I want, and thn I manage to survive till I’m good again. Still I only purchased a single big card in my entire life, the rest is just trading
I’m noticing what you said as basically a trend in this thread: If it won’t create a negative impact on my general well-being, purchase the card.
That mindset covers a lot of ground for a lot of people depending where people run on the spectrum for finances.
A large part of why I made this thread was due to your recent WTB thread and not being able to comprehend how people make purchases like these. $70k is a little over 2 years my salary, so even spending $15k on a card feels like a gross negligence on my side if I were to make such a purchase. However, I recognize that we’re not all in the same financial boat and have no idea how much people make here to make the purchases they do. I imagine if I were making close to 6 figures, $15k wouldn’t seem bad at all. And if I saved, $70k could be accomplished in a matter of a few years if I made that kind of money.
I’m also recognizing from this thread that people have different priorities in life and I respect that highly. Outside of basic needs, I guess there’s only a few things that I prioritize more than Pokemon collecting: Finishing a few of my tattoos, travel, and building up an actual savings.
I appreciate this thread. To be honest, I’ve been growing more cynical this past year about collecting and have made some knee-jerk replies or responses because of it. Lately this forum has felt pretty alienating when all I seem to hear is an increasingly amount of praise for graded cards and “investments” when I recognize that those two things negatively impact me as a raw card collector who can’t afford to make too many big purchases. I don’t remember such high emphasis 5 years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame people for investing or getting cards graded, it makes sense to do so - I just see the focus of those two slowly and eventually phasing out collectors like myself from the hobby. As graded cards continue to be the norm for collecting and selling along with investors sitting on swaths of collections en masse like gold bricks, there will come a time when low-end collectors will be priced out of the hobby or pigeon-holed into collecting unpopular sets or reprints. It can be wicked discouraging.
However, this discussion’s helped me create a more positive mindset on what I actually care about in life when it comes to my finances and recognizing that I’m just at a very different point than some other collectors who are able to make larger purchases.
So after reading all the responses here, I took time to flip open my binder and really look through my collection. It’s a collection I’ve amassed over the course of 20 years. Sure, it’s less than 200 cards, and sure, I’ve made some mistakes along the way. But when I started this journey, I had zero expectations that I would get every card that I wanted. I was an 11 year old kid who just wanted to see how many red and blue dragons I could acquire in English & Japanese and see how far the journey would take me. And in that time, I’ve had at least one card from every set that I can give credit to a member on here for helping me obtain. In that time, I’ve made friendships, connections, and memories from joining this community that I could never -and would never - replace.
Long story short, I guess I’m just feeling grateful.
TL;DR: Take care of your needs first and buy when it doesn’t negatively impact your well being. I made this thread because I lacked the perspective on how people make big purchases. I’ve also felt cynical about collecting this past year due to feeling alienated as a raw and low-end collector who can’t relate to all the graded/investment talks that have increased the past few years. This discussion has helped me flip that script. Took an hour to spend with my collection and appreciate where my journey has led me. Be grateful for what you have as much as possible, not for what you think you’re missing.
I’m sharing this graph to illustrate and heavily underscore the idea that people earn only a finite amount of money before they die, and that that amount is usually between 1 and 3 million USD. How will the finite amount of money I earn be allocated? Will I have the option to retire before 50? Pay for my children’s private school? Will I care for my parents in aging as they cared for me in growing? How much money will I need for all this? What are my priorities, and what do I want to have the power to do with my life? These questions meet a hard reality. Facing my reality has taken years and is still an ongoing process, and acting appropriately to that reality has required me to apply myself in years of hard work. I have dedicated my 20’s to this type of soul searching and now I feel that I’m coming out the other side with the end result being that ALL my decisions, including financial decisions, flow naturally from me and there’s no stress or doubt involved.
Thank you for attending my coming of age ted talk.
I buy undervalued cards and grade them so that I can then trade them for the things I actually want in my personal collection. That, or I’d be able to fund the purchase for a (relatively low) initial cost.
Doing this also means that I get to grade some of the cards I want in my personal collection myself, which makes them that much cooler in my eyes!
That being said- if the deal of a lifetime comes up, I do not pass on it even if it means spending over 50% of my current free cash, because as @fourthstartcg mentioned… there’s something to be said about having been in the hobby long enough to know when a given purchase doesn’t carry significant risk (if any at all).
