Backstory:
Grew up through the 90’s Pokémon craze, got back casually collecting in 2016 and really started to ramp up during 2020. My overall collection focus has shifted quite a few times. Initially starting with SWSH sealed, base unlimited holos, Munch , Masaki, Grand Party, Corocoro, PCL etc.
Throughout my years collecting, I’ve never really gotten into 1st edition base. During 2020-2021, I thought I was always going to priced out…and now with all the attention on modern, I feel like this is a good opportunity to start that yellow boarder road
Goal:
Is a PSA 8 set of the 1st edition holos (Charizard I have internally compromised already to be a 7.
Problem:
As shown in my previous collecting habits. I tend to bounce around and lose focus over periods of time. While I have a good paying professional job and house, I sometimes struggle long term saving (discretionary spending wise…not like paying bills or retirement).
My goal right now is to focus on the PSA 7 Charizard. How do you all go about saving up for something. Do you try to liquidate some of your collection? Move a set amount to a checking account etc?
I am guessing most of these have gone up since you purchased them. Are there any from this list that you could sell to fund your new goal? I’d be looking at cards/items you don’t highly enjoy and liquidate those. I wouldn’t pull from your savings account or underfund retirement accounts to use for cards.
If I need to save then I quit buying unless it is something that is hyper specific to my collection goal that I have tracked pricing on and know that I will get it under market. My budget for cards isnt so strict that I cant bend it and essentially thats a Tomorrow-Me problem, not a Today-Me problem.
Ultimately, I try to limit my spending to only be about my collection goals. Almost all sealed product is essentially a ripoff at this point but Im not going to turn my nose up at 50% clearance product. Singles can make sense but I only buy modern sealed if the art is literally irresistible and even then only if I have it in my budget. Even that really nice $5 card today would mean I cant bid on that moderately priced deck tomorrow… but if it was severely underpriced… well… there’s always room in the budget somewhere.
Disclaimer: This is not financial advice, this is degenerate advice.
Yeah definitely…I’ve been fortunate to get all my sealed product below “Pokemon MSRP”…and the singles have appreciated as well.
I’ve been debating on whether to sell some of my collection to help jump start the fund. I have around 12ish copies of Pikachu with Grey felt hat in PSA 10…and believe the $500-550 range is really good.
I dont have trouble contributing to my retirement or paying my bills. When I state that I have trouble keeping long term savings goals…I’m strictly talking about discretionary income/collection dollars…thankfully lol.
I consider myself a budget collector (meaning a set monthly budget for cards and do not cross beyond it) and if I have to obtain a card which is beyond that months budget then I need to save up, which means several months on end for some prize cards.
I think the biggest hurdle for me was deviating from my collection goals. When I was getting priced out on few promos I realized that I was spending too many on cards which do not contribute to what my goals are. What helped me was going though all that I have in my collection, like every binder and trying to remember why I wanted to collect Japanese promos. I sat with all of my binders and realized that promos really seem to bring fulfillment for me on this journey as compared to any other cards. So I dedicated to spend 100% of my budget on just buying the cards which will progress my collection goals.
Ofcourse this approach is not for everyone but it really helped me personally because not only I was able to complete one of my biggest goals, I also got a lot more patient, focused, disciplined. I really had to find ways to save more efficiently and put a lot of legwork to find good deals on the cards. Also helped me learn to accept the fact that I will not be able to buy everything even if I can save a lot.
This also means sacrificing on other things like card condition (it does not bother me as much as it used to), grading your cards (helps with resale value), having a binder full of cheap but gorgeous alternate artworks etc. I personally think, if you are not selling or consolidating your current collection you just have to go cold turkey and stick to it.
I guess thinking a little more about my collection spending. The reason why I feel it may be scattered is because I hate passing up on a “deal” or a good priced card in the moment.
I think that’s a lot of my downfall on trying to save up.
The overall goal of 1st edition set though will keep me focused and gives me something that’ll be obtainable.
I think you’ve answered your question right here. Sell portions of your collection that are not actively contributing to your goal. These promos are hot right now and the $4,000-$6,000ish that you’ll net after fees will cut a large chunk out of that 1st Ed Base Charizard premium.
I have sold and will continue to sell portions of my collection to fund rarer or costly purchases. It’s just the reality of living with a limited budget. My advice is to always sell what you can purchase just as easily in the future.
Chasing deals that stray you further from your goals will only serve to push you farther behind. This is a tough pill to swallow for those of us who love a good deal!
A random YouTubers video sparked with me with a great goal to achieve and probably will help me stay focused on personal collection goals.
One 360 card binder, one page, 40 pokemon. Used this website to help pick my top 40 Favorite Pokémon Picker
Created a photo album and spreadsheet of my favorite 360 cards I am going to go for. I feel it’ll give me the greatest satisfaction overall combining my favorite pokemon and their arts but also will include cards from all eras and art from my favorite artists.
My only concern now is there are cards within the 360 that are over €600 and I don’t know how to approach buying items of that value as I’ve never spent more than €350 on any single card
I honestly think this has a lot of truth to it. While its nice to get deals, it definitely has pushed some goals I have further down the line.
I have to get better at that. The deals I feel like will grow my overall collection value…but derail what I really want to collect.
I feel that! The €600 threshold can be a hard point to get over. (If you want to get to that point)…I found that once you break the ice on the pricing threshold…the next purchase/threshold gets easier to have that internal debate with.
Every year, I get an interest free loan from my bank that I take out for various things. Most of the time I put it into my investments (not Pokemon), but other times I’ve used it for other financing purposes. My credit has been building ever year doing this, and I slowly pay it back over the course of the year, which is why I justify taking out the loan annually.
One year, I took a large chunk of it to put towards my 1st Ed Charizard, the rest I put into other investments or expenses. Over time, my other investment actually grew enough or more that the Charizard is now paid for essentially. Based off sales data, I can say that Charizard has held or increased in value as well. But, I was more concerned with just getting it in my collection to finally say I own one and it completed a bigger collecting goal.
I’m not sure if I would advise this to most people, but proper deployment of leverage/credit with anything you do can be a powerful tool, it just has to be planned out responsibly and with some longer term goals in mind. In the end, you have to find what works well for you.
My approach is to try to avoid buying anything that hasn’t been written down as a collection goal in my notes app for at least a few months. I’m constantly revising that note, but it helps me stay pretty focused. It also helps me avoid the temptation of buying cards that are “deals” but aren’t a real collecting focus. I still try to stay agile and snatch scarcer stuff up on occasion when I can’t help it, but selling is so much more time consuming than buying and I’d just rather avoid owning anything I’ll want to sell in the short term.
1st Ed Base was the first set I started with when I got back into collecting, and it sounds like we have somewhat similar collections. I just bought it up slowly instead of starting or finishing with any particular card. I bought it as a binder set, so just bought cards that meet my personal standards for condition instead of focusing on the numerical grades.
It’s probably not a bad idea to start with the charizard, but you might want to consider buying others first and just setting aside some cash and buying a nice one when the opportunity comes up. I don’t think the card is a candidate for another exponential price increase. I think the market on 1st Ed Base charizard is quite established and geared up towards slow movement rather than volatility. Take your time and buy a copy you like, while accumulating the cheaper cards from the set in a condition you’re happy with.
