Made a long ranty thread about “investing” in Pokemon and financial responsibility a couple of months ago & am trying not to get sucked back into the blackhole. Plus, giving financial advice online is often futile as some of the E4 veterans have pointed out before
@thevenusaurgarden , I think most people posting here mean “I own this much total money across stock market, cash, real estate, alternative assets, collectibles, etc, and my Pokemon collection happens to be this much % of it (largely due to recent rises)”, not “I’ve invested half my income into Pokemon instead of traditional avenues to make the most money out of my cards”.
@qwachansey I seeee yeah just been reading through the thread. Crazy how circumstantial it is for some. When I see the word “invest” my fedora does a 720 and flies off
Ah yeah Buckna I remember your diligent commenting in that thread. Almost put Dblast to shame. It might be entirely possible that someone can be enthusiastic about the state of the market of PTCG without endorsing it as a vehicle for one’s life savings. ‘Investing’ =/= ‘a market’.
Me being ‘triggered’ was more about poking fun at myself rather than actually being annoyed by anything on an online forum full of strangers, though judging by your combative response I’d hazard a guess I’m not the one that’s triggered after all.
@buckna I’m not missing your point at all, you’re ignoring me poking fun at myself. The whole ‘I’m triggered’ comment was directed at my own tendency to get overly preachy about finances and investing.
I don’t give a rat’s ass what other people do with their money (as so I shouldn’t, which you pointed out), but God damn if people are giving shit advice about “investing in Pokemon” then you can be sure I’m gonna counter it on the same platforms it’s getting diarrhea’d onto. It’s not much different to me claiming Charmander is rarer than Charizard, then you laying out a bunch of factual information as to why that isn’t the case. Anyway I apologise for derailing the thread, moving on…
I agree Buckna. I mean, people are literally investing in toilet paper right now. The word “investment” should not result in the chaos it generates around here. I collect, and I invest. And I keep going.
I try to split my collection into two categories - personal and investment.
My personal collection consists of cards that I’m not planning on ever having to sell, and I don’t track the current value of anything in that category. I started the collection off with an initial seed amount and then I try to stick to a monthly budget of new money going into the pot. Like I said, I don’t track the current value, but the cost basis of the collection would be roughly equivalent to 1% of my current net worth. The actual value is likely to be somewhere in that same range, since I started collecting this year and missed out on the opportunity for huge returns.
The investment collection consists of sealed product and some graded cards. Basically, items that I don’t have much of an emotional connection to, but feel that they should be able to maintain their value over time. The detachment here is key, since I want to make sure I remove emotion from the equation if/when I need to sell. Right now this is sitting at about 1% as well. I have about 5% of my NW in other “high risk” investments - bitcoin, gambling on individual stocks in robinhood - and will likely be shifting the bulk of those funds into Pokémon over time.
Probably about 55% rn. I don’t have my own apartment/house and have a lease-car from work, so most of my money is in my collections, of which Pokémon (Pikachu and FA Supporters in particular) is by far the highest. I think about 70% would be in all my collections combined, 25% cash on the bank, and 5% for everything else (PC, mobile phone, tablet, furniture in my room, books, etc.)
Age is a big factor here. If you’re young and have a networth of like $50k and half of it is in Pokemon, it’s different than being close to retirement and have 50% of a 7 figures networth in crypto or collectibles.
Personally I try and keep it below 10 percent for my personal comfort level, as I am not a pokemon business, but that has become super difficult due to the price spikes:P I really don’t want to sell anymore, and I don’t fell comfortable buying more stock in this environment, which is generally where I put the overwhelming majority of my savings. I tend to believe in not holding a lot of cash as long as your spending is super low and you have some money to cover emergencies so you don’t have to sell stock in a downturn, but in this environment I would not fault anyone for having more cash than normal and definitely get why young people in this hobby would have like 80-90 percent of their net worth in pokemon at the moment. However, I do think if that describes you it is important to consider selling at least some of your positions and putting them into more traditional investing avenues, particularly if you are not in a high paying field, or if you are not a pokemon seller, flipper. I think it is very risky to assume the prices will continue going up over time and that you will achieve anywhere near the return on investment you could find in the stock market. But anything is possible and to each their own! Enjoyable to hear what other people think, it is always eye opening for me.
There is no right way to collect Pokemon but I am simply expressing my feelings and frustrations.
In my opinion, there’s been a lot of “inorganic” activity in Pokemon. There has been an influx of people who see Pokemon as a cash cow. I understand many people want items that retain value but I don’t want this hobby to be where everything we buy is based on value. Sometimes we need to treat a hobby as a hobby.
You can always buy raw cards in good condition if that’s your cup of tea. Most cards are fairly cheap in raw condition compared to their graded counterparts.
The good thing about this hobby is that there’s something out there for every kind of collector. Either one motivated by money or one motivated by nostalgia and pure love.
@jacobm9 Hey I’m curious to hear why you mention you don’t recommend buying in this environment. Yes some cards might be slightly overpriced but there is plenty of cards still relatively affordable. Not going to mention which ones or go into detail. Not everything is out of reach for even a brand new collector on a budget. That’s just my thoughts to each their own tho.
I have been buying raw cards instead of PSA cards because I like flipping through a binder. My frustration stems on the fact some people buy cards solely based on value. That isn’t a healthy way to get into a hobby. When people see a hobby as an investment it kind of destroys the meaning of collection (to me at least).