I’m curious to hear people’s thoughts on this as I’ve been seeing some people dropping crazy numbers for cards.
I use a 15% rule to make purchases. Let me clarify: I will make a purchase no larger than 15% of my current funds. To roll this back as an example and why I made this rule in the first place, it works like this:
Years ago, I had the opportunity to purchase a SNAP Gyarados for $2000 USD. In order to justify the purchase, I would need around $12,000 in my bank. I was a student back then with little money. I had funds available to make the purchase but would have had very little left and didn’t feel like I could justify endangering my well-being for a card. So I passed it up.
Growing up poor has made me view money and collecting differently than I imagine it has for other people. So when I see people buying cards that are 4 to 5 figures, I wonder how other people justify the purchase.
So what systems or rules of purchase do you use, if any? If you’re making a risky and large purchase, how do you consider the pros and cons?
Because in the end, we’re all collectors of cardboard and pretty colors, so how do others justify their purchases for high-end cards?
“The money doesn’t count the same if it comes from selling other cards” has been my somewhat illogical but rather common mindset ; separate card selling profit from regular savings.
When I make a significant purchase for my collection (not just Pokemon cards), I literally practice the mental exercise of imagining the money burning, and ask myself, do I need that money for something else in my present or future, or my family’s present or future?
So, if you can set fire to $x amount and it won’t create a significant negative effect to your present… or future… quality of life, it’s an ok purchase.
Making any big purchase comes down to an assumption of a degree of risk that you’re comfortable with, that hopefully won’t cause detrimental effects. And there’s lots of risk in life. When you buy a house, you’re assuming risk. When you buy a car, you assume risk that the engine won’t blow up in a week. There might not always be a specific threshold of monetary expense. In most cases a car is a large chunk of savings and budget (often well above 15%). But you adjust your risk as you go based upon what’s right for you at the time.
Based on your description you certainly made the right choice for you:)
Im a college student myself and currently I still live with my parents. I don’t have any expenses, so what money I make working I spend on my hobbies. If I wasn’t looking to buy expensive cards, then I wouldn’t be working because I am fortunate enough to not have to.
I almost always stick within a budget unless I feel like it is a once in a true blue moon type purchase and I feel very confident that the item has a good risk reward scenario involved for me. That being said I would never put in more than 10 percent of my net worth in any collectible no matter what, which is a lot higher than what I generally budget and spend on collectibles. I try to spend more around the 1-5 percent mark, depending on the amount of good deals I can find.
I do my best to keep enough cash handy for those true blue moon scenarios so I can hopefully pick up more cards like a snap Gyarados in the future.
I am extremely frugal when it comes to depreciating assets (such as my car). However, I have a relatively high risk appetite when it comes to Pokemon/Yugioh cards specifically. I really buy into the idea of generational spending power vs how low the market cap is at the moment. Maybe these factors have somewhat changed in the past few months, but it’s still negligible in the long run IMO. I don’t spend out of my means (no credit card balances), but I also don’t mind having a significant portion of my net worth in cardboard since I’m young, I have a stable income, and I could bounce back financially if anything does happen.
I don’t set a budget and it’s worked out well for me. Basically my rule is that if a card comes up that I really want and I can spend the money and still have enough left over for bills/life expenses, I’ll do it. As a (perpetual) student, I do not have a ton of money and I’m sure if a financial adviser heard the amount of money I spend on cards in relation to my overall income, they would likely have a heart attack.
But, I know what I’m doing. I’ve been in the hobby for years and I’m not going to drop money on something that is high-risk to drop in value. I’m not buying cases of sealed product to open and I’m not buying in to modern sets that can still be reprinted (looking at you, Hidden Fates). For me, financially smart collecting is much less about the percentage of money I spend on cards vs save and more about what the risk potential is down the road. To answer your question, I usually justify large purchases by thinking that if something does go horribly wrong in my life, I can sell my cards relatively quickly for (worst-case scenario) not much less than I paid to buy them.
It’s all about personal situation and experiences, I don’t think my approach would work for a lot people. Some people are comfortable with more risk, and occasionally get rewarded for taking that on. Also, my cost limit of a catastrophic occurrence is fairly low - I don’t own property, my car is worth probably less than $5k, and I have good health insurance as does my family.
money burns holes in my pockets. I justify large purchases with cognitive dissonance and more mental blocks. I think this is a good question as it applies to other parts of life when it comes to saving vs spending.
“Will this purchase have any notable impact on my current and future life plans?”
If the answer to that question is no, then I feel justified making purchases and viewing it as an alternative asset to park my money in compared to other financial assets.
With that said, I wouldn’t be putting money into Pokémon if it did not give me great joy to own these cards.
To be clear, if my entire collection went up in flames tomorrow, I would be totally fine financially - just devastated to lose the cards I love.
I justify it based on how quickly I can sell the card and get money back. If I buy a 3000$ card, but I can resell it in less than 24hrs for 2700$, then the risk is really only 300$. Couple that with the growth (hopefully lol) of the cards value, and it makes large purchases much less scary.
I am a college student, who lives away from home so I don’t have too much change. I justify my big purchases usually by selling at least some of the stuff in my collection. I also consider if the money spent will be/is necessary or not. I usually put thought into how it will affect me down the line. So if I made a big purchase at 5k$ or something how impactful would those 5k$ be to me in 2-5 years in the future (usually I reckon that some small sum like 5k$ isn’t going to ruin me in the future). If you enjoy collecting as a hobby I would say fuck it and spend money. Money isn’t everything and as long as you get by I wouldn’t worry too much.
Thousands of dollars in and I still haven’t figured that out yet! But Covid definitely doesn’t help me justify anything hobby related right now that’s for sure…
I just pay bills and rent. Stock my fridge with food make sure I’m not putting myself in debt. My credit card is actually a debit card. I’m spending my own money. No loans etc. I also try to live a humble life. I’ve spent maybe 30k or so at this point. I try not to keep track. But I happen to love building my collection. It brings me a lot of happiness. Especially when I finish a collection goal of whatever era I’m working on. Money comes and goes. I’m also glad I’m caught up to modern now. Spending just a few hundred or less for the cards from each new set won’t hurt my budget. If I had my childhood collection or kept up thru the years I wouldn’t have had to spend nearly as much. So that’s my own fault for leaving the hobby as a teenager.
I’m like this as well, granted on a smaller scale since I’m pretty new to all this. If I see an opportunity to make a few bucks here and there, I’ll take it and feel more justified to pay up for things in my own collection. I think I differ from a lot of people on here, however, in the fact that a lot of my collecting interest is tied into my personal thoughts on the future value of a card, and my flawed thinking that whatever I buy I can sell in a week and at least get my money back. I guess that’s the finance in me.
I don’t really ‘justify’ it – I’m more of an impulse buyer. That said, I absolutely never spend money I don’t have (i.e., I don’t buy cards on credit). As some others on this thread are, I’m also a student (or kind of – I just graduated, but will be a student again soon lol). But I also have fortunate enough life circumstances that I don’t have any debt or financial stressors. So I basically just buy what I like, within my means. I think that as long as your collecting goals are correctly adjusted to your personal financial circumstances, you won’t have to ‘justify’ any purchases.
tl;dr for me is basically don’t put myself in a position where a purchase could cause negative financial ramifictions for my family/life. Fortunately this doesn’t really apply to me anymore, but it’s an important rule for anyone buying non essential items.
I reguarly see people fireselling items across all my hobbies to get money for rent and other essential bills and expenses. I have made literally hundreds of thousands of dollars buying from these people, don’t be that person.
I only buy for my personal collection which I do not intend to sell, so I only buy it is an amount of money that I feel comfortable never getting back.
If you are financially well off , you have a lot more disposable income so that makes the decision a lot easier. Also it helps thinking of it as some sort of investment as well. You spend money on cigarette’s / booze / hookers - once it is consumed , that money is gone. If your collection consists of good conditioned wotc cards , chances are high you will break even or even sell with profit if you have to liquidate your collection a few months / years down the lane.
What I did in college is buy a lot of nice cool stuff for good prices but my money management was always off. Had to liquidate positions to pay for my dorm room or other bills and whatnot so yeah dont do that lol.