Taking money out of retirement funds to purchase cards

[theshowandme]

This is such an insane concept to me

[Exhibitman]

Well, with every stock index down substantially this year, maybe not so insane...

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Well, with every stock index down substantially this year, maybe not so insane...

My cards have done better than my stocks!! And I have mostly Apple and Amazon...
.

[sb1]

Having done well in both cards and the stock market over the last 30 years, I came to the conclusion when looking at my daughter's brokerage account which we opened when she was 16, that if I had invested every nickel in Apple we would be almost 2x's ahead.

[G1911]

I can't wait to see the screen caps of people's closed 401K accounts as they pull it out, take that massive tax hit, and put it all into baseball cards. The people who think this makes sense have had several weeks to put their money where their advocacy is

[G1911]

Originally Posted by theshowandme

This is such an insane concept to me

It seems like an insane concept, because it is

[rats60]

Originally Posted by G1911

It seems like an insane concept, because it is

Losing money in the stock market is better than making money with baseball cards?

[G1911]

Originally Posted by rats60

Losing money in the stock market is better than making money with baseball cards?

The vast majority of 401K accounts make money, not a loss. It's really, really, really hard to put your money into a 401K for many years and produce a net loss. It takes serious mismanagement and stacking horrible decisions to do so. The tax structure has been gone over.

But if you believe a 401K or an IRA is bad and pulling money out of retirement accounts to YOLO on cardboard is wisdom, do it. I eagerly await the screen caps of people putting their money where there mouth is and closing their retirement accounts, taking that massive tax hit, and spending it all on baseball cards. Surely they will come any minute now to show us doubters and actually do it.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by G1911

The vast majority of 401K accounts make money, not a loss. It's really, really, really hard to put your money into a 401K for many years and produce a net loss. It takes serious mismanagement and stacking horrible decisions to do so. The tax structure has been gone over.

But if you believe a 401K or an IRA is bad and pulling money out of retirement accounts to YOLO on cardboard is wisdom, do it. I eagerly await the screen caps of people putting their money where there mouth is and closing their retirement accounts, taking that massive tax hit, and spending it all on baseball cards. Surely they will come any minute now to show us doubters and actually do it.

You have lost ~20% in the market this year. There is no guarantee that it is going up anytime soon. Many experts think it is going down more as the economy gets worse.

Yes, the tax structure has been gone over. There are ways to take money out, depending on the type of retirement account, without penalties. If none of these fit the individual needs, then it probably isn't wise.

This thread was started because the OP heard people were doing it, but we don't know the specifics. I doubt they are coming here to post because most are negative about cards as an investment. Most of my retirement is already in my collection and I am way ahead of where I would have been if I had maxed out retirement account, so I am already good.

[Republicaninmass]

I just cant imagine getting to retirement and needing funds from cards. The value is Pretty much a wild card until you book a profit. Your 500k jordan can be 180k a year later. The auction ends 2 days after a massive crash in stocks or crypto. Anything could happen even to the old blue chip cards.


Same with a retirement account in volatile stocks. Only is a profit when you sell.

This is why most financial advisors say to scale back risk as you get closer to retirement, or start taking dividends per month.

Personally, a very small allotment in cards is probably fine, but no more than 10% at retirement. This is coming from someone who used my 401k shortly before the financial crisis to buy signed cards, and sold 1 month ago. I can't say I timed the market, but I am now able to deploy back into retirement when the stock market appears to be cooling off and for some odd reason cards are still hot.


If i was a YOLO FOMO type, and had decades before I needed the funds, it may have been different. However, with 1 yr CDS approaching a 5% return with 0 risk, I cant hold cards as possibly appreciating assets.

[Johnny630]

I feel that inflation has peaked and will be coming down substantially over the next several months and year along with US equities (S&P, Dow&Nadaq) rallying now through the end of the year and well into next year. All this talk about retirement accounts being down 20-25% so far this year was a great time for me to add a higher percentage in. Looking forward to the future in my retirement account along with the cards :-). All is looking good to me.

[carlsonjok]

Originally Posted by rats60

You have lost ~20% in the market this year. There is no guarantee that it is going up anytime soon. Many experts think it is going down more as the economy gets worse.

Unless you are a year away from retirement, what your retirement account is doing now is irrelevant. And, if you are a year away from retirement, you shouldn't be so heavily invested in equities that you took anywhere near the full 20% hit.

But, to state what ought to be obvious, there is a huge difference between stocks and cards as investments. Stock represents fractional ownership in the underlying company and, thus, a claim on the cash flows of the company by way of dividends. Unless you are investing in SPACs, you are investing in companies that sell goods and services and, ideally, make money. Cards don't do any of that. Maybe you make a huge profit when you sell it or maybe you start the next in a long line of "someone got a great deal on that" threads. But, as long as you hold the card, it is no different than that 5-pound bag of sugar in your pantry that you pull out once a year to make Christmas cookies.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by carlsonjok

Stock represents fractional ownership in the underlying company and, thus, a claim on the cash flows of the company by way of dividends. Unless you are investing in SPACs, you are investing in companies that sell goods and services and, ideally, make money. Cards don't do any of that. Maybe you make a huge profit when you sell it or maybe you start the next in a long line of "someone got a great deal on that" threads. But, as long as you hold the card, it is no different than that 5-pound bag of sugar in your pantry that you pull out once a year to make Christmas cookies.

i disagree, Jeff. That's the fiction Wall Street sells. Common stock gives the owner nothing real unless he holds a sufficient % of the issue to demand a board seat. Otherwise, Joe Investor owning 100 shares of Megabig Corp. doesn't hold a claim on jacksquat. Most companies do not pay dividends and the ones that do can terminate them at will. It is basically a bet on increased price, same as a card. The real owners of these companies are their creditors. if the company goes belly up the shareholders are the last to be paid, and usually get nothing for their shares. The only difference between most stocks and cards is that entry and exit are a lot easier with stocks. Now, with all of the different venues for card sales, exiting has never been easier. It still costs a lot more than a stock trade, relatively speaking, and takes longer, but that is consistent with any hard asset investment.