How much money do you need to make to spend
 

How much money do you need to make a year to spend 40k on a baseball card?

Comfortably? Probably $400 to $500 K at the very least. I don't and never did have that sort of income such that I could casually drop $40 K on a whim for a "hobby" trinket. That's why it's beaters or otherwise low grade, raw cards for me.

Just take a second mortgage and buy it. Cards only go up up and away!

A different perspective
 

I think not only your income but your stage in life and your net worth plus other obligations ( mortgage? Children? Aging relatives who may need help?) determine the answer . Plus some things are much more speculative than others and hence more volatile. So it’s not something you can put a “one number fits all” answer to….. for example, if you’re 90 years old , single, with all kids secure financially….and have 2 million in the bank…. buy away!!!

At least $7

If you are managing wealth assets (presumably for retirement), it would not be unreasonable to put 5-10% in collectables. So your nest egg would have to be $400-800K. If you were starting from scratch, the income would have to be $400-800K plus your annual nut.

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41k

Wait for the next pandemic and use some PPP $.

Probably depends on how many sacrifices you’re willing to make. Since lifestyles also vary quite dramatically, we probably need to assume that you’re living an average middle-class lifestyle that’s not in a high cost city on the coasts.

If you’re willing to make some modest sacrifices, then I’m going to guess that you probably need to be in the $300k range. Naturally, if you’re willing to save up a little at a time, then you could definitely make it work with less. Or if you’re willing to make a lot of sacrifices, then you could probably go lower, maybe even down to $100k, but only if you’re living really frugally and saving for a few years.

And if you’re not willing to sacrifice anything, then you probably won’t ever be able to afford it, at least not until your cardboard purchase is more important than the other stuff that’s chewing up all of your cash.

This is a question only you can answer.

Yea,
Love those " well loved " cards !

It depends. Are we abolishing capitalism?

I purchased a 40k card this year

I make about 90ish a year... I consolidated 6 years back in the hobby and buying selling and trading up into a single card

$40,000.01, after tax.

I don't think there is a correct answer here because there are so many other factors involved. If you already have a collection worth more than $40K, then there's no reason you couldn't sell off items to buy a $40K card. Then your income wouldn't matter. If you don't, then you would figure out whether you could spend $40K based on your bank account and bills. Without know your financial situation and bills, it's impossible to figure out.

I'd say if you CAN afford it AND the card is worth $40K or more, then get it. Don't overpay if you're on the fence as to whether or not you can afford it.

I collect quantity over quality, so I've never spent anywhere near $40K on a card. However, if I really wanted a card for that amount, then I'd just sell $40K in cards. In the end, it wouldn't even really be a financial decision. It would be a preference with my collection.

1952 Mantles are waiting to be sold!

It is not about how much you make as much as how much you spend (within your means), save, and invest over several years.

It is also a personal decision and one that should be thought about over a few days, so it is not impulsive.

I have a better chance of finding out how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop!!

JMHO

A minimum wage job and 2 new credit cards. Good for one year.:D:D:D

That's awesome:)

You'd end up spending a lot more than $40k in that case :eek:

+1

We all have different priorities in life!

🤣

I remember about 15 years ago on this site there was a post asking about what percentage of your net worth should be vintage cards and memorabilia. I don't remember the average answer, but I do remember it was shortly after I sold an antique car and bought a lot of Old Judge cards with the money. I figured out that my net worth at the time of that post was approximately 95% baseball cards. The other 5% was my old everyday car, a small coin collection and whatever money I had in the bank at the time (I had zero debt). I believe the recommended card/memorabilia net worth was somewhere around 10-20% max. I was pretty young at the time, but it worked out great for me long-term. I wouldn't recommend it for others though.

I can spend 40k on a card, with my income, as long as I don't need to eat.

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I bought the Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, DiMaggio, and Mantle cards when I could comfortably afford them and back when they were affordable. Hundreds, not thousands of dollars. Times change, and I can't change with them. I love my beaters, and I wouldn't sell them for anything!

follow up question......do we have to tell our wife?

Only if she will find out anyway. Otherwise, it's just another savvy investment she doesn't have to know about. :D

My wife found out about a 26k card I bought, about 25 yrs ago, by a drunk friend (we were all a bit tipsy) at a company pool party. He yelled (very loudly), hey Leon, did you ever tell Kimmie about that 26k card you bought? I hadn't at that time.
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I sense I'm in the minority on this one, but my wife is usually the one telling me to bid higher, because I tend to be quite conservative and then she's afraid I'll regret it later.

If you can sell it for $60k, how much do you need to make to afford NOT to buy it?

The mindset around $ and value in some of these answers is very limiting.

You should have a minimum gross income of $80K per year, if you want to spend $40K on a baseball card.

A way to re-frame this question is how much do you need to make a year if you want to save/invest $40K a year. A common guideline recommended by financial advisors is the 50/30/20 rule where 50% of your income goes to your needs like essential living expenses including housing, groceries, utilities, and transportation. 30% goes to wants which are discretionary spending such as entertainment, restaurants, and hobbies. 20% goes to savings. If you club together the wants and the savings, then you could put 50% into your investment/hobby, which makes the minimum income you need to be $80K for a $40K baseball card.

What about taxes?

If you have to ask, then it's too much. It's that simple.

Also, where do you live, and is there another source of income (spouse)? $80,000 a yr. isn't much for a single guy living in a major metro these days, but if you live in the sticks and have another contributor, that goes a long way.

Included as part of your essential living expenses 50% share.

Where you live doesn't matter as long as you can put your housing expenses in the 50% of your essential living costs bucket. $80K is total household income as long as your spouse agrees to let you spend her share of the Want and Savings bucket on a $40K baseball card. Good luck there.

As with most any question of this nature (financial) the answer is, it depends.

It’s a nice guideline, until your average tax rate is 55% like mine.

If your average tax rate is 55%, then you can afford to purchase a $40K baseball card. :)

Nicolo, I don't comprehend how your or anyone's "average" tax rate can be 55%. The highest incremental federal income tax rate is 37%. Even with adding the highest incremental state income tax rate, one is at less than 50%. One's average tax rate is going to be less than the highest incremental tax rate.

In reading the threads I see it mentioned that if someone had $40K in cards, they could sell all their cards and then purchase a $40K card.

So... what about realized gains on the cards being sold? Can you "technically" sell $40K in cards and have a realized $20K gain and still purchase the $40K card without other resources? Or is this one of those gray areas?

How many people on this board actually claim realized gains on cards they sell?
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You’re off to a good start. But you’re missing a few bits:

Self employment tax (yep, I’m self employed)
County tax for the homeless
Local tax for preschool for all
Property tax
Bonus Medicare tax

37% for fed plus 10% for state gets you a large way there, even if some of the federal income is taxed at a lower rate. Add in some of these bonus bits and you get over 50% pretty fast.

Luckily, I live in a zero sales tax state, or that could be added to the list to boot.

And if you want to get extra excited, I’ve got phantom income due to being a partner in a partnership. A portion of my share of the partnership’s taxable income gets reinvested back into the business. So I get to pay tax on it, but I get zero cash for that income. So that raises the effective tax rate on my total cash compensation.

This. It doesn’t matter how much you make. It’s all about planning and discipline.

Sounds like you need the new IRS short form.
1 ) How much did you make last year?
2 ) Send it in. :cool:

LOL

And, if you think you are in a 55% tax bracket, you might want to check with a CPA too...

LOL maybe he has very costly real estate taxes and he tossed that in?

Turns out I am a CPA…

One who happens to pay a lot in taxes. Of course, the counterpoint is that I also make a lot. But anytime someone demands that the rich pay more in taxes, I’m inclined to ask them how much more I should be paying above the 55% of my income that I currently pay in taxes. Part of the fun in living in a high tax state (and city and county), and having a lot of ordinary income.

But I’ll try not to let paying all those taxes interfere with driving my Ferrari.

The highest federal tax rate with self-employment is just under 42%. That's nothing to sneeze at, but why are you adding property tax? That's not based on income at all.

If you choose to live in a $3M house... yes, you'll pay a lot... but your income doesn't require it. You could choose to live in a modest house and fill it with baseball cards. :)

How much you make is kind of irrelevant depending on where you’re at in life. I like to think about what % of my net worth I’m comfortable having in cards

That you could.

Luckily, the property tax is less than 1% of my income. So you can leave it out if you prefer. Won’t move the needle very much.

But don’t forget state income tax and local and county income tax. Those add another 14% to your federal tally.

Plus the phantom income is a real kick in the shorts.

I pay a fair bit of taxes too, and it does add up, especially when all my income is from wages and treated less favorably than capital gains or business profits. But if my income ever climbs to the point where I'm taxed over 50%, I'll be grateful from the half-glass-full perspective. It will mean that the marginal utility of my untaxed dollars has decreased.

The people I know with the highest tax bills also have more bedrooms and bathrooms than they need, drive the nicest cars, eat the best food, go on the nicest vacations, and still manage to snag the most desirable collectibles.

They grumble about their money going to other people, but they're doing OK. Hell, I'm doing well enough to buy some luxury cardboard, and my annual salary is just a fraction of their annual bonus.

Nicolo, I see that you include self-employment tax. I may be naive, but I consider the self-employment "tax" to be your required "contribution" toward your eventual Social Security and Medicare benefits, as opposed to an income tax.