hey guys, so I am a very much addict at this point and I’m pretty much living on ebay, tcgplayer, and troll and toad at this point. So, I was looking at good way to budget collect so my fiancé wont leave me and becone homeless. All jokes aside watching nostalgia nomics most recent video. I realized you can buy 99.9% XY cards psa 9 for around 100 bucks and complete. Sets fairly quickly. So, my goal next year is limit myself to 400 a month to pokemon to working on buying up for my collection. Thoughts and opinions?
Crown Zenith. Even my PSA 10s I’m posting aren’t carrying a huge premium. Wether you want raw or graded still seems cheap
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The only person who will know what is a reasonable budget for discretionary purchases is you. As long as you are actively monitoring your budget and setting aside some sort of savings in addition to fixed costs you should be fine. Hopefully you have some type of emergency fund set aside as well…unexpected costs come up all the time.
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Yes, I mean I haven’t spent my life savings but many of us in the hobby have had the eyes are bigger then our wallets and over spend.
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Vending or Vs. Top tier art on almost all regular cards and cheap as heck in NM or PSA 9.
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In my opinion, these five questions are important to ask yourself:
- Do you have an emergency fund?
- Do you have a 401(k), pension, or another retirement account that you’re actively contributing to?
- Do you own property?
- Are you in debt (including student loans)?
- Are you taking care of your health/well-being?
I firmly believe that Pokemon can and should be enjoyed at all economic levels. Finding that level and how it relates to your overall portfolio is crucial.
Regarding your original question, the best solution may be to not buy anything at all. You could enjoy what you have already accumulated or sell off pieces to raise funds for new goals.
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I second the VS recommendation. AMAZING set and is still flying under the radar somehow. Aside from the holo’s I’ve been able to get almost a complete set for $20-50 per card for PSA 10s. You could probably get them for next to nothing for PSA 9s or mint raw cards if you want to do a binder. Some of the best artwork in the hobby in my opinion.
I’d also recommend species collecting if you haven’t tried it. Still chipping away at my Gyarados master set and it’s been a lot of fun.
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Hey. Not sure if you’re into Japanese and/or vintage but there’s some good buying options right now. Japanese Base Set, jungle & fossil holos in PSA 9 are going for roughly between $25 - $90 (except starter trio). English & Japanese Neo Genesis and Discovery holos are in that price range too (except Lugia). Even certain 1st Edition Neo Genesis holos are going for just under $100. Hope this helps.
Raw Japanese vintage like Cardass or Vending are reasonably priced and unique. Modern as well but depends what it is obviously. Lastly an artist binder can be rewarding especially when you’re picking up commons.
Celebrations. Scarlet Violet is pretty doable. Pogo is cheap
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I would say be careful of collecting something just because it’s cheap, rather than something you’re genuinely interested in it. I see it as just slowing down your main goals rather than saving money.
With that said… Double Crisis and Detective Pikachu are two budget sets that I really like, they’re both very unique sets with strong identities and set cohesion, that can probably be put together for less than $100 each if you deal hunt.
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Came to say VS set but was beaten to it already.
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Considering you posted a thread 9 days ago about “collecting being great for your mental health” and another thread in January again about addiction, I would either step back from the hobby for a while or get some professional help. No one can say what is a healthy amount to spend without knowing all of your finances but your mental flip flopping is concerning.
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I used to be really bad about just monitoring eBay and other sites and just getting anything that caught my eye/was a great deal. This of course isn’t healthy and lead to a lot of purchases I regret and should not have gone through with. What worked for me, was to focus my collection efforts. I focused entirely on building my Greninja master set, and then towards the PSA Set Registry for Greninja. While I still spend a good amount, between grading cards and getting better copies to grade, it is dramatically less than what I would have eventually spent while just trying to grab anything I saw.
I don’t know it this will work for you, but personally, it has been the best move for me and has invigorated by passion for Pokemon Cards as I was on the edge of burnout when I decided to make the shift. I still buy non-Greninja stuff here and there, but its not the main focus whenever I find myself on eBay/TCGPlayer.
My brother in christ you need therapy, not Pokemon cards.
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Buying something because it’s cheap or expensive is not a wise move
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I think there’s a lot of good opportunity still in vintage Japanese sets/cards. Aside from that, most Modern stuff is going to be really affordable. I also still think you can find a lot of great pre-2020 stuff in general, both from the XY and S&M era. I particularly like Japanese XY for the silver borders.
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Gambling addiction is no joke, I’ve seen your other posts here and I’m concerned for you.
I strongly suggest stepping away from the hobby, and finding a therapist who specializes in addiction. Just beacuse it can’t kill you like a drug addiction can doesn’t make it any less serious.
Please take care of yourself, I wish you all the luck in the world.
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To be blunt from reading other posts you got a 2nd job to help pay for pokemon cards so im going to assume your takehome is 40-70k
You should be spending $40 a month not $400
You spending like you take home 200k+ a year imo
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Shining legends is a great binder set!
It has some more valuable cards but in reality they can not compare to the prices of recent sets. An example is you can still buy a secret rare Mewtwo GX (Mewtube) NM for 100 or under 100$ and that is the most expensive card in the set!!
I’ve just recently grabbed my last pieces of my set and I’m excited to share it once they’ve arrived!!
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