[Exhibitman]

Matt, I am not trying to be condescending; what I am saying is that if concerns over investment returns make this hobby stressful for someone, that person should either find a way to make it fun again or invest in something more stable than cards. For me, it was going into low grade cards from the postwar era. I am comfortable spending $500 on 100-200 raw cards; I put 'em in an album and enjoy thumbing through them, and I pretty much know that the 'collection' will sell for close to what I paid for it even in bad times: I watched the activity at shows during the recession and the one reliable inventory to have was collector grade, modestly priced stuff. I found that I am not comfortable buying a very expensive single card and then wondering whether I made a prudent purchase, so I rarely do so.

It isn't about being in the hobby for the 'right' reasons (I don't care why someone is a card collector), it is about considering whether the hobby is stressing out the hobbyist because of the money. If that's where a collector is, he should do himself a favor and bail, because this isn't really a stable investment: the cost to exit runs about 13%-20% of the gross sale price, it may take months to even get a large collection to market, and prices are fairly sensitive to general economic conditions, especially for niche collecting.

I'm planning on using my collection as my part time business when (if) I retire. I think it would a fun change of pace. But I have no illusions that my cards will allow me to retire.