And how much does that Cobb cost??

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Fresh off the wires:

"For the year, the Dow fell 0.62 percent, while the S&P 500 rose 3.0 percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.37 percent."

Not to use the "I" word, but my card portfolio outran the rest of it by an amazing margin. Guess I won't have to justify the cards I bought this year to my financial planner...er, wife.

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Posted By: Wesley

That might be true Adam, but my financial planner/wife is still not buying it.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

But I now have the statistics to back up my buy and hold (and enjoy) strategy: "You see, honey, if I'd sold all those E cards last summer and put the money into stocks, I'd have barely broken even."

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Posted By: scott brockelman

Adam,

while the numbers you provide from the markets are correct. imagine if you were in mutual funds or etf's of energy sectors, latin america, japan or a few others, 40% gains for the year. which is probably what collectors of tough E cards, T cards, 19th century scarce issues or rare type cards, BUT, what about the people that bought F-G t205, 206 or 207 commons or various other commodity cards, which are in large numbers and quite frankly are not appreciating. a low grade t206 still sells for $3-5 bucks.

my thinking is that folks who buy baseball cards for "investment" better buy the right ones, just like picking stocks or mutual funds, best to buy quality.

lest you think i am kidding, i can't tell you the number of people i have met at cards shows that were amassing low grade goudey's and t cards for their kids education or some other convoluted retirement get rich package.

i believe that that the majority of the board are either pretty astute about buying the proper pieces for appreciation or are buying strictly for fun and enjoyment regardless of loss, so everyone will be fine. but there are quite a few collectors out there that will be saddened to learn that 10 years from now, their cards are worth about what they paid for them. HOWEVER, that could also happen on the top end of the card market as well, either no appreciation or even declines in value.

While i know Adam was stating this in jest, there are those that would read this as a blanket statement that baseball cards are a better investment than Wall Street. i would hope than sound minds would know that you can't replace a solid retirement investment program with a baseball card portfolio. sometimes i marvel at the price i get for a card that i may have bought 5-10 years ago, but then realize that i better had made that much gain or it would have been a crappy investment, although that was not why i bought it in the 1st place. people don'r realize how fast $1 will grow with componding. baseball cards "have" to show a solid gain to be part of an investment portfolio, but don't have to gain a dime in a collection for them to appreciate or be appreciated.

just my random thoughts

Scott

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Posted By: Richard

If we worry about the return on our cards, then we just have to pick wiser. Card picking and stock picking. Due your DD and invest wisely. That's the way you get your 40% returns. Google me that!

But I just collect what I like, overpay and end up losing the 40%. Ha!

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Posted By: jay behrens

Scott, where are these $3-5 t-cards? I would love to get beat up t-cards in the price range, but haven't seen those prices in well over a year. About the only time you can find a t206 common for $5 or less is if the card is literally torn in half. It seems that $10 per card is becoming the norm for t206s not matter how brutal the card is.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

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Posted By: scott brockelman

Jay,

while i may have been a bit low, it seems there is an endless supply of P-F t206 commons on ebay for much less than $10, mabe $6-10 is a better range. but there are 2 different groups that but them, the collector who is working on completing a set in any grade and the person who truely believes that in 5-10 years they will be worth a fortune, probably the same guy who buys stuff from the shop at home networks.

Scott

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

I figure there is no appreciative value to something that's going to be BURIED with me. Holy crap, I better let people know that I don't want to be cremated, if they do they better take the cards out of my pockets...

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Posted By: jay behrens

hey now, I've never bought anything from HSN and never plan to

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

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Posted By: scott brockelman

not the latter!

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Don't count on going down with the ship. To paraphrase what the late Richard Pryor said in his great eulogy routine, to the diamond-wearing pimp who had died: "If you think we gonna bury you with all them cards, you got another thing coming!"

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Posted By: Dave

I've made so much money on my cards this year. My wife looks at the numbers and agrees that the value has gone up by about 40%. But, where is the cash? I've spent and spent, and never sold.

Yes, the value is there, but the difference between a collection and an investment is what's happening here. One you sell.

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Posted By: Brian C Daniels

the Four base hits Kelly letter of 2001

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Posted By: Joe P.

Wives May be Reading this Thread!

Run for the hills boy's, he's blown your cover.

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Posted By: leon

That was literally 300 shares of Microsoft and 5k.....I think I did ok...

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Posted By: warshawlaw

"imagine if you were in mutual funds or etf's of energy sectors, latin america, japan or a few others"

If I knew what was going to happen, to hell with stocks, I'd have bet the farm on the Sox for the series.

I don't feel half bad for the year: a friend of mine shorted Google to the tune of an $80,000 loss...

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Posted By: joe brennan

Stock in the company I work for rose from $4.00 a share to $33.00 a share in 5 years. I'd say they out performed most if not all stocks and even most cards. I rolled my 401K over when I came to work for them 9 years ago and put 50% of it in company stock. Needless to say I am quite please with the investment.

A scared man can't gamble and a jealous man can't work.