New collector, and thoroughly enjoying your pieces of advice.
From my personal, short-lived experience, it’s easy to get lost in the heat of the moment and exceed budget, or else, feeling that I became a collector too late - Prices are at an all time high, Japanese is not a bargain anymore -and speaking Japanese is not such an advantage as well, except for modern stuff, and a somewhat motivated non-speaker can get great deals on websites through middlemen or package forwarders -, everything is getting graded, and the list goes on. 
But I guess most people must have surely felt the same before as well, so all is good?
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Collect what you like, focus on your goals, having fun, and tuning out all the noise.
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get a time machine, it’s too late
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My advice would be to explore Pokemon more than just the TCG. Play the games, watch the anime, and it will give you more appreciation for the cards you dont like as well as even more for the ones you love.
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Also get non tcg items, its fun and addicting.
Oh yeah, also Rayquaza the goat, you should join us sometime.
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Number of Pokémon cards printed each year
- 2024: 12 billion cards
- 2023: 9.7 billion cards
- 2022: 9.1 billion cards
- 2021: 3.7 billion cards
- 2020: 3.7 billion cards
Don’t think are “exclusive rare” cards in those hundred dollar pack some people want to sell now.
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This x1000. If you’re collecting set cards, don’t overpay and be patient and wait for a copy you’re happy with. There are (probably) hundreds if not thousands of them in the grade that you want and another will be along shortly (obvious exceptions of course).
Also, as others have mentioned, take your time and enjoy it. The hunt/chase/goal is half the fun.
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Do it for the love of Pokémon, not the love of money.
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I won’t reiterate the already fantastic points other people have previously said so I’ll mention something else not as important.
Networking is quite important once you get into the swing of things. This helps you connect with others who share your interests and that you can learn from their experiences. Being around like minded people can help motivate you, as long as they’re a positive influence.
This forum is an excellent example as a positive influence, I’d hope. Knowledgeable and friendly members to surround yourself with will help in many ways I couldn’t possibly list as it would too long to write. However, on the other side of that we have WhatNot and its users.
Let’s just say if you are talking to anyone within the Pokemon collecting space and they mention a lot of “Bro, hype, stonk, invest and 
emoji, take that as a red flag and to best avoid.
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100% agreed!
Watching the anime and movies provides so much depth to the world of Pokemon, including unique information and key personality traits about species that you may or may not instantly click with from aesthetics or game traits alone. There are so many Pokemon that I found an appreciation for because of their portrayal in the anime and movies.
I am having a difficult time explaining my thoughts eloquently on this final point, but I’ll try my best: Seeing Pokemon as full-bodied characters with personalities, thoughts, feelings, struggles, and redemption arcs allows you to know them in ways that you otherwise couldn’t. It shocks me that many collectors give up this opportunity when they love everything about a species or generation, but I understand that the anime’s or movies’ impact on each person will be different.
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Lately I advice them to do a Pokedex collection iso “I want them all”
That way you learn on the go.
Trying to explain them “collect them all” is expensive and a very long term goal.
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Have expendable income from a stable job to afford what you want to collect
(this is the cheat code when collecting). -
Read and research the release of sets and promos. Understand why the cards are rare or not.
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Expand your enjoyment past collecting the cards. For me persoanlly, I watch the anime and play the mainline series games.
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Great topic! Already a ton of great responses to take into consideration.
- Don’t take information you hear from “influencers” as gospel. When starting (or restarting) collecting it’s hard to discern who knows what they’re talking about and it’s easy to be persuaded. Just because someone has slick editing, high production value, and a lot of followers doesn’t mean you should listen to what they say. If they’ve been creating content for any amount of time, a good sanity check is to go back to there oldest videos to verify if any of their previous claims have come true.
- Ignore the hype. Start slow and formulate your own opinions. There’s a lot of noise in Pokemon these days. When I restarted collecting I made the mistake of purchasing cards I didn’t like because the massess said they were going to go up in value and I thought I would be able to sell them to fund the purchase of cards I do like. They haven’t gone up in value…I still don’t like them…
- Buy once, cry once. Once you’ve formulated your opinion and you are sure of what you want don’t settle for anything less than what you will be happy owning. You’ll just ended up selling it down the road to buy what you wanted in the first place.
- Never go into debt/spend outside your means. At the end of the day it’s just a piece of cardboard. I wish this point didn’t have to be said but the amount of people I see fall into this trap is unfortunate.
- Take Breaks. You don’t have to eat sleep and breathe Pokemon collecting if you don’t want to and/or enjoy it. You can always come back.
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If after looking through the posted image(s), item description, seller feedback, or whatever else is immediately available to you through the listing, you are still not comfortable enough to make the purchase - just move on.
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Don’t spend over $1,000 on any one card until you’ve been collecting for at least a year.
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I went from top 20 most expensive cards to rayquaza within a month, so I can confirm.
Won’t repeat all the previously excellent points, but I’ll add one that I don’t think has been discussed a lot yet draws from a lot of the good things already said.
Get to know yourself as a collector. Why are you collecting cards? What motivates you to keep going? What do you have the most fun doing? What excites you about the hobby? This is different for everyone, so I think a lot of the advice of “just buy singles” or “don’t do it for money,” while absolutely valid, might miss out on why some people enjoy collecting. If you enjoy ripping packs to get hits and getting a single card in the mail just doesn’t feel the same for you, then packs are the way to go. If you enjoy tracking your collection value and finding deals so you can maximize financial gains, power to you. I guess this point comes down to don’t listen to what everyone else says you should do, take time to figure out what you like.
Buy modern packs and rip them. Try flipping some cards. Get a hot chase card. Buy an underappreciated vintage card you think has great art. It’ll take time to find what motivates you. but when you do, that will allow you to develop the focus you’ll need to be successful.
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dont pay 3k for moonbreon 
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+1^
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