Hi all!
Got back into collecting with my nephews a while ago and now I’m looking at going back and completing sets of my childhood (I’m a Gen1/Gen 2 kinda guy) and I’m looking at some high ticket items for me. Does anyone have any tips to completing sets? I don’t want to fomo into some purchases and make mistakes.
Get FOMO for high end rarity.
But for set cards, I honestly am super cheap so when prices make me FOMO (Modern or WOTC) I just go to different era like D&P or Ex era and spend some money on great and affordable cards.
In the current market there’s no real reason for FOMO. It’s a buyer’s market. You don’t need to overextend your budget, because if you miss out on an item, there’ll surely be another buy option soon enough. *Especially* for the classic (English) vintage set cards that you seem to be interested in.
Of course, popular and/or scarce cards will still have their price, but you shouldn’t have to worry that this price doubles or triples over night like we experienced in 2020/21.
Getting the most expensive goals out of the way first is a common way to ease your mind of potential price jumps.
A saying I’ve heard from those here I’ve taken to heart is “There is always another set card” so I wouldn’t FOMO too hard about them. I will recommend getting the more expensive cards first as its always nice to get those out of the way quickly.
My general advice is if you can to buy the rarest/highest demand cards for a given set sooner than later but also at a price you are comfortable with. Take your time with it all if you can. I’ve been building up a Shadowless binder set since last summer and I just now got around to buying the Charizard that fell within my budget/conditional preferences. I probably could have bought it sooner, but again the prices were just a little too high for what I wanted as a binder copy last year at this time. Now I feel more comfortable buying it at this price range that we’ve been seeing.
What sets/cards specifically are you trying to collect from Gen 1/Gen 2? That could allow us to provide further more intricate advice also.
I’m looking at Southern Islands in Japanese PSA 10 copies. Very specific but that was the one set I always wanted but never had
When I started the hobby back up a couple years ago, Southern Islands was one of the sets I bought as a complete sealed set and is a set I don’t think about letting go. Personally, I feel like having the sealed product was good enough to not want more–but that’s just me of course.
I can understand wanting the complete/partial PSA 10 set as it’s amazing in its own right. But some advice I would suggest (blah blah disclaimers) is get your favorite PSA 10 holo and the sealed. Both will hold value and if you decide it’s too much, no big deal. As you feel more comfortable, you can go from there. Again, just my advice that I would tell my past self
Thanks for the advice! Didn’t think of sealed!
No need to FOMO these days. I have been seeing many discounted cards that are stuck in sellers inventory so dont be affraid to send lower offers and if they dont accept, just move on. There will always be another WOTC set card!
What also helps me with battling FOMO is reading threads from 4-5 years ago where people were thinking exactly the same. You can learn that the fear has been here since forever and there are still (and always will be, at least within our lifespan) thousands and thousands of these cards availiable.
If you look for example at old postcards, the rarity is just incomparable. Some of them are older than 120 years and they are still around. Rarity in Pokémon sets (not the cards or the hobby, just the rarity) is a mass-produced joke honestly, unless you go after the trophy cards of course. So just relax and enjoy the journey, there will always be the card you want 
Take out the Fear in FoMo.
To specifically answer the question, how I avoid FOMO is to keep a list of the things I want. Then refer back to that each time I go to buy anything substantial, and I’m not acting out of fear, but reason. If the other things on that list are more enticing, then I skip it. BUT make sure that list is actually the top say 3-5 things you really want, so that it’s not just a justification for anything. 
I recently picked up an unsealed, but NM+ complete southern/tropical islands set myself. Definitely a good decision, but I had some challengers on that list as well.
I liked the advice that @zubat mentioned. If something is out of your price range, there are certainly alternatives and other things to purchase that can still fulfill some of your collecting goals. Personally, I have a TON of collecting goals, so if some are super unreachable right now, at least I have some that are achievable. Buying the most expensive stuff first is also solid advice. Southern Islands cards are super cool, S tier cards
Get a feeling for the going rate of your favorite cards ! If a raw card is more expensive than a PSA 8 you can just skip it.
Don’t bet the farm, but I’ll tell you that I personally have FOMO of missing this dip/recession and am buying like crazy. I made a couple mistakes in 2020 and 2021 as I am sure everyone did. But the last few years provided so much invaluable data on the potential, avg age of investor, supply runs, print quality, grading companies etc that I feel like missing this recession is the greatest mistake. Obviously if you have personal circumstances preventing you from buying then it is important to take care of those, but if fear is the only thing stopping you, then get out there and buy some cardboard
*not financial advice lol, I’m but a wee wailmer, you’d need to contact the wailords and kyogres out there
Agree. A lot of people I find have become ‘experts’ on sealed boxes lately because they’ve continued upward and have held value quite well even since 2020/2021, while WOTC-era singles/products have more or less crashed across the board and people have become very bearish on them in comparison. However, just a year ago I remember people begging for lower prices and whining about Logan Paul ruining the hobby, etc due to the massive price increases in vintage products. Now everything is on sale and people are still worried things are just going to free fall lower for the next while.
I think now though is the time to be buying if possible because everyone is afraid to buy due to rising costs and other unknowns. How much more correction do we need? Some cards are down 60, 70, 80 percent from highs. That is serious correction in any financial market. Eventually though this market will turn, and it’s not like the stock markets or cryptos have been that much better, my collectibles have honestly shielded me from a lot of the fallout so far compared to previous market drops in my other assets I own.
Anyway, no need to go all in, but myself I am buying at least once a week lately or making a good sized purchase monthly as I’m quite comfortable with the market prices since the start of year. This will be a rough year, but I think good years are ahead of us. Just need to be patient and stay the course.
Gold stars and ex’s not going the wrong way. Very interested to see where they’re at in a year.
Boxes are definitely in the hands of the serious investors now. I have been trying to find one to add to my collection for the past few months and just can’t at a reasonable price. Singles are very attainable right now though
FOMO the trophy cards. Have patience for set cards.
One can never become an expert from successes alone. We need failures, even just failure to act. Very good points. To address “buying like crazy” I decided I am buying too much and need to just take a second. Too many deals, but there will be more, I believe. I’ll come back in a few months, except for one specific thing on auto-search.
Someone once said something like this somewhere (vague enough for you? 
)
“My life has been full of great tragedies, most of which never happened.” It’s rarely as bad as we imagine.
You mentioned sets, i wouldnt fomo on set cards…there’s tons and tons of availability (I’ve been slowly building my PSA10 1st Edition Wotc sets for years and years now, there’s always chances and if you miss one, a new one will show up. Just relax and dont get pissed.
Set wise i’d go for the best condition you can afford (if graded, PSA10/9…).
Trophy wise the situation is way different; but you didnt mention these so i wont jump into these topic.