How do you mentally adjust on pricing?

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by obcbobd

Of course you are not $60K ahead, unless you sell. If I bought a card for $1k in 1998 and its worth $30k now, I don't really have $29K to spend, and I shouldn't really unless my financial situation warrants it, meaning I have $29k in discretionary savings. Because my fear is that while someone like me might have paid $1k for a card in 1998, I think now, many (most?) people buying a card for $30k are doing it more as an investment believing that in five years they can sell it for $50k. Not that they value owning the card for $30k.

I'm not sure this can go on forever.

Whether or not people like to think of their collections in terms of money, they are a store of wealth. Money goes in and eventually money will come out (if you don't sell, and your kids don't sell, your grandkids will.)

Of course you can't hold a card and spend its appreciation too, that's why I say Assuming your income and overall finances support it... And the value of your collection will fluctuate with the market, so while the money you put into it remains fixed, the paper profit will increase or decrease over time.

My point is that if you can afford to put new money in, and if you can maintain a plus valuation, then you're doing well, and should be able to go on adding to the collection even when prices seem too high. Paying high prices hurts if you think it's money you are losing or wasting, but putting more money into an already profitable collection shouldn't have negativity associated with it (again, assuming your financial situation is strong.)

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Mark17

Whether or not people like to think of their collections in terms of money, they are a store of wealth. Money goes in and eventually money will come out (if you don't sell, and your kids don't sell, your grandkids will.)

Of course you can't hold a card and spend its appreciation too, that's why I say Assuming your income and overall finances support it... And the value of your collection will fluctuate with the market, so while the money you put into it remains fixed, the paper profit will increase or decrease over time.

My point is that if you can afford to put new money in, and if you can maintain a plus valuation, then you're doing well, and should be able to go on adding to the collection even when prices seem too high. Paying high prices hurts if you think it's money you are losing or wasting, but putting more money into an already profitable collection shouldn't have negativity associated with it (again, assuming your financial situation is strong.)

I think the finance types call it "dollar cost averaging".

The 'these aren't worth squat, really" mantra is as stale as 1985's bread. Cards have been an asset class for decades. The odds of them going to zero are negligible. What the Chicken Little types (and I am one of them) are saying is that the current price escalation is unsustainable and will be corrected, and we are reluctant to buy now and hold for 5-10 years after market corrects just to get back to the same place. I am playing an intermediate game. I plan to start unwinding my collection when I retire, as something to do that will generate some cash flow/income and be fun and interesting. That may not be for another 10-20 years. I buy with that in mind, which is why I am sitting out most of this now.