Liquidity & Investing vs collecting

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

A real investor would not bother with already vastly appreciated cards but would be looking for the next wave cards so as to maximize returns.

All cards are liquid; the issue is a red herring. The discussion should be liquid at what price. Right now certain cards are flying off the shelf because we are in a mania. Anyone who has collected for a long time has seen it before. Remember E cards? T206 errors? Chasing the tail of a mania is a bad idea. Better question is what cards are still undervalued.

The PSA 10 Jordan discussion is incomplete. The relevant pop is not PSA 10 but is 8-10. Many collectors will simply downgrade rather than chase a ten. There may be a better ROI on a lesser grade card unless you expect the Jordan to go from $30k to $60k. Maybe it will. But maybe the better play is several 8s that have the potential to triple in the same time. If you are an investor. If all you can afford is one Jordan 10 you aren't an investor you are a person trying to sell yourself on a splurge.

Buy what you like and assume you will own it for a while. If you want liquidity and transparency go buy a security and leave the cards to the collectors. Trust me you won't be missed.

Adam has absolutely hit the nail on the head. Buy on the leading, cutting edge, thinking outside the box a bit, and looking for rare, significant AND UNDERVALUED (which really means outside the hobby's current focus). If you're buying on the trailing edge, which is much more expensive and may only offer the illusion of lasting value, you may well find yourself in that last group of lemmings as the herd heads full blast off the cliff. John J. Pittman followed this course of action and put together a $40 million coin collection over his lifetime, never being able to obtain the real "trophy" items (he was a chemical engineer for Eastman Kodak, and died in the '90's).

Best wishes, to Adam and all,

Larry