How does everyone manage funds for their hobbies? Do you have an amount you set aside from each pay period? Only use bonuses or extra income? I’ve been
purchasing stuff when I find it if I have the extra money at the time but I want to create a plan to get consistent with my funds toward this hobby. Thanks!
I’m an advocate of save money before you buy cards. That way you’re prepared as the opportunities come along.
12 Likes
It really depends on your financial situation and what you’re collecting,etc… There’s no one right way to do this.
For me personally, I know I’m most likely not going to go after PSA 10 on the bigger cards, so money isn’t really a problem. However, I do agree it’s wise to have some money aside for some deals you might find. Sometimes you run across sellers that have a couple cards you want, but they want to get rid of their entire collection. If you play your cards right, you can get your wants for free by selling and trading the rest, but you need the money up front to pay for the whole thing.
There’s been a few times I’ve missed out on such deals so now I try not to buy every single lot I see at a semi decent price on ebay and I’m more picky about what I buy and how much I pay unless it’s essential to my collection.
As far as budget goes, some have $100/month and others $100k+ so it really varies. Just don’t ever spend more than your disposable income after having paid your bills and such. 
3 Likes
yea ive missed out on a handful of amazing deals…so best to have a vash reserve to use when those opportunities arise.
I regret not having that small amount of money available. I cannot get the cards etc i missed out on for anywhere near the bargain price i was offered just 5 months ago!
one was on my most wanted list but didnt have the 40$ to spare at the time…it sold for over 120$ not long after.
Id go back and make sure i got it if i could ha! it wasnt even expensive…
there are several other examples within the past 6-8 month where if i had the money available…instead of used on somethign else.
You live and learn!
KEEP A CASH RESERVE FOR THOSE RANDOM LUCKY OPPORTUNITIES!!! Doesnt even need to be a lot
2 Likes
I would recommend to have a separate bank account entirely. Your bank can easily split off a second interior checking/savings account to your current one and you can even call it “Pokemon” if you’d like. Ideally a separate credit card as well to easily separate it and tracking it from your personal expenditures. I would recommend a solid reward card something like the citi double cash. 2% cash back on all purchases! That is free money, no reason to not take advantage of it, just never spend more than is in your account. Get a credit limit that is reasonable for you. You can actually call to lower it if you think it is too high.
You set a monthly limit on your collection and have all that money automatically sweep from wherever your paycheck deposits into your Pokemon account. Whether it is $50, $500 or $50,000 per month. You can never spend more money than is in this account. If you go months without buying anything you can save up for larger purchases. Any sales you make from your collection can be diverted into here as well to add to your collection. Or if you find yourself buying a large lot that you only need a few pieces of you can sell the rest and use that money to further your collection as well. This is where I started and I found it was very easy to buy it collections, keep what I wanted and sell the rest often times not only to break even but to actually profit while keeping items as well.
3 Likes
It’s about being disciplined and setting limits. Going into debt over a hobby is not a good thing.
For me personally, I live with my expenses (rent/mortgage, electricity, water, car expenses, living expenses like food, insurance, phones, internet etc) being under 60% of my income.
I then save 15% for emergencies, 10% for savings and 15% for my “wants”.
This system works for me because it means I always have emergency money, that just sits there and collects interest. I also have money for my hobby which is defined, every pay.
1 Like
I’m in quite a fortunate position where I have minimal outgoings. Food, rent, travel expenses are about 10% of my salary. I stash the rest and buy big items if they pop up. Note - not trying to look like I’m mad rich, just in a good position.
Having said that - another trick I employ is never to use my ‘own money’ - I use the money from selling Pokémon stuff to buy more Pokémon stuff. That way I VERY rarely dip into my salary.
3 Likes
Nothing like playing with house money. My best example of this for myself is when I bought a SR plasma blastoise for $40, graded it for $10 and ended up selling it for $650. Nothing like hitting it big off a tiny investment.
Your browser does not support video embedding. Please update your browser.
1 Like
Make a strict budget for yourself. Whether it’s daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. I organize my budget by putting a $100 weekly cap. That does not mean I must or do spend those $100 collectibles. For the most part I end up not buying anything on most weeks so those $100 end up in my savings account. It’s a win win if I do say so myself.
2 Likes
I wanna be rich like you when I grow up;)
I like the idea of having a separate bank account for your hobby, so you can see your play money grow and not worry about taking from your main account.
This gives me more of a reason to try out a different bank that might not suck!
I’ve never been the kind of person that works well with a set budget. If I set $50 bucks aside per month for my hobbies then I’d be over the limit in like 48 hours realistically. A great example of this was my New Years resolution that was broken within 2 full days… I said I’m going to spend less money per month this year, then Amazon put up 3 4K movies for $50 and I was about $150 over my limit because I just had to complete my Harry Potter 4K collection with slipcovers and all. Starting in February (seriously) I am going to try my best to keep it down. Keep my movie buying to under $30 on a good month and $50 on a bad month, one $50 dollar Switch game a month if a new release comes out that I just “have” to have.
I have successfully cut modern TCG product out of my life since October and my wallet has been very happy about that. I’d walk into a Walmart or Target and drop $200 like it was nothing, it had to end.
My main problem is that it REALLY bothers me when I see videos, tweets, posts, etc. of people getting new releases and not being able to be a part of that and enjoy it too. I’m the kind of person who loves expanding my collections and heavily relies on material items and possessions for my happiness, I always have been. It isn’t a good thing which is why I’m trying to get it under control by not doing so many blind buys of games/movies.
I sell stuff on the side on ebay to fund the collections, never use any of my salary.
I know a person like this, not good. Glad you stopped making it rain, it’s for your own good, friend.
2 Likes
I spend X per month, and any more than that has to be from selling current cards. I also have a fund in case a great deal pops up or a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I guess it all depends on your financial situation and your collecting objectives, but as some posters previously stated, the most important thing is to be financially responsible when it comes to collecting and make sure you don’t use money that you will need at a later date.
It’s not that uncommon for collectors to spend thousands of dollars and sometimes years collecting without proper budgeting and end up selling their collection for a fraction of the cost due to some emergency expense because they prioritized the hobby over their personal finances. I will give you a couple of scenarios that I laid out for myself before I started collecting to help me chose how I wanted to go about the hobby.
Scenario 1 - Monthly budget
If you chose to set a steady monthly budget and are not interested in spending a lot of your own time and resources getting the cards you want, I would suggest you keep a realistic buffer for when a truly amazing deal shows up and make sure you don’t compromise future purchases by spending more that you can afford on any given month.
Also, avoid the pitfall of treating your monthly budget as a mandatory expense, so if on a given month you didn’t find any of the cards you’re after at a decent price, don’t rush to spend it before the month ends, instead add the extra funds to your buffer.
It’s just like budgeting for buying a house, if you’ve got $1000 per month for your mortgage and the house costs $100k, you try to follow two main rules. Number one, you keep $10k emergency funds in a savings account should you have an unexpected expense, number two, you don’t overpay your mortgage if it may compromise your ability to meet the $1000 minimum payment in future months and lose the house.
Scenario 2 - Lump sum investment
If you chose this scenario, you will basically commit an initial amount of money to the hobby, and churn it over for profit, using said profit to build your collection without ever touching your initial investment or your own money.
It is important to keep in mind that even though this route saves you a lot of money, it consumes a lot more resources in terms of time and personal commitment.
The goal here will be to scour the internet for underpriced cards and collections, spend time negotiating with your sellers, evaluating, sorting and listing the cards and dealing with your buyers. Research is key if you are to succeed under this scenario. You should be able to identify value cards when you see a bundle and quickly react before someone else takes the carpet from under your feet.
It is extremely important not to overlook card condition as it greatly impacts the price, so if you see what seems to be a near mint Zard among a bundle of battered cards, that Zard is probably going to have a few dents and scratches that may not be showing up in the picture. Conversely, if you see a bundle of cards all looking near mint, it is likely that most of the cards in that bundle will have been kept by someone who cared about condition.
When dealing with large numbers of cards at a time it is easy to get emotionally attached, and you may find yourself trying to hold on to cards that you like so much that you don’t want to sell. This is fine every now and then as long as it doesn’t chip away at your initial investment. But remember, the goal should mainly be to use profits to complete your collection, so holding on to random cards you didn’t plan on collecting in the first place due to emotional attachment will compromise your ability to buy the cards you really want.
Personaly, even though I have a comfortable financial situation, I went with scenario 2. Although it requires a lot of time and commitment, it allows me to develop a wide set of (business) skills that go beyond the hobby as well as fast track my knowledge of each set as I spend hours on end looking at cards and doing price research.
6 Likes
I didn’t read the rest of the comments, but I suggest you open a new bank account, so you separate your Hobby Money from your Everyday money. Transfer your monthly budget at the beginning of each month there and don’t use your everyday money for cards, at all. If you buy or sell cards, it should go into that savings account. Try to build up that account for bigger cards
This and Excel sheets are what helped me the most.
1 Like
I have X amount of money per week.
I need to spend Y amount of money on necessities and bills such as rent, food, utilities, savings etc
X-Y=Z
Z is what is allowed to be spent on Pokemon cards, or saved towards more expensive cards in the future.
If you have a credit card then only ever use it for a purchase when you have the money right then and there to instantly pay the balance back. I have a pretty favourable credit rating from doing this since I was 19 years and I have never technically been in debt for more than 48 hours.
Pretty much this. Helps to do a spreadsheet of your bills etc.