If my blessings continue, here's my thumbnail.
1) work until I'm 70...I'm 60 now and love my career.
2) From 70-75 focus on selling my collection through a combination of direct sales, auction houses etc. Then kick back.
3) I'll probably keep the 1970s cards because they are not a huge percentage of the value and are what I collected as a kid. This would allow me to continue to putz around and go to cards shows to pick up regionals and test issues that fit the profile. It is also a well defined chunk I can sell at some point in the future and my family can sell if I am not around.
4) Pick one nice card for each of my two kids to keep to remember me by...probably $500-$1000 cards...something that the kids would associate with me but also have meaning to them.
5) I don't know what I'll do with the money. I am somewhere between saving it (because that's what I've always done), buying a property at the beach if it is close to that amount, or making a significant contribution to our local free clinic to expand their services.
6) If health becomes an issue, I'll probably call one of my friends who owns an auction house and work something out. I don't have a collection to rival a lot of you guys, but it would be good enough to keep an auction house or two fairly busy.
7) I have said this many times before, so please be patient with me if it's a repeat. I love my kids more than life itself, but I would never give them my collection, no matter how interested they would appear to be. I believe the real value of the collection is in the pursuit of the items in your collection and the friends you make along the way. How could I rob them of that?
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