Net54 age distribution

[BicycleSpokes]

Dear all,

I am curious to try and loosely quantify the age distribution among pre-war collectors, and I figure Net 54 members would be a good sample. If you don't mind, please take a minute and place a vote for your age group above!

I am especially interested if we collectively resemble e.g. a "youthful", "mature", or "post-mature" distribution, which will become more clear when the distribution curve begins to take shape.

Comments, opinions, and discussion on the likely effect of the pre-war collector age distribution on future demand (and hence prices!) are most welcome.

Thanks for voting.

Cheers,
David

[ullmandds]

i see frank and ted have not responded yet!!!

[GoldenAge50s]

Me & 2 others have now!

[Jobu]

I have been thinking of posting this exact thing for a few weeks.

[Leon]

We have had these polls over the years and it's always fun to see a new one. Our average age used to be about 44 yrs old, last poll I think I figured it to be around 42 yrs old. Seems about right.... It's always good to see the "younger than 40yr old guys" collecting pre-war and vintage. Most know but I just turned 53 (not that it matters).

[packs]

29 here. Clinging to the "20s" range as long as I can.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by Leon

We have had these polls over the years and it's always fun to see a new one. Our average age used to be about 44 yrs old, last poll I think I figured it to be around 42 yrs old. Seems about right.... It's always good to see the "younger than 40yr old guys" collecting pre-war and vintage. Most know but I just turned 53 (not that it matters).

A huge +!. It is tremendous for me to see that nearly 62% of all who responded by the time of this post were in their 40's or younger! Technically, I'm 66 (how in the world did THAT happen?), but that's really just my disguise. Inside, I remain 27! On the other hand, having been doing this since about 1989 often lends perspective and the experience necessary to spot trends.

Way to go guys,

Larry

[Sean1125]

22

[Nappy1525]

Proud to be one of the few under 20

[irv]

I'll be 55 next May and fully retired in July.

[BruceinGa]

Since I'll turn 70 this coming September I'm able to play senior softball on the best 70+ Major Plus softball team in the nation! Still loving it!

[frankbmd]

I support the original ages in this poll. Bob Dylan is with me in this effort as I listen to him sing “Forever Young”. In my case most would consider forever old more appropriate, but at least for the time being I sort of like the “forever” part.

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

I support the original ages in this poll. Bob Dylan is with me in this effort as I listen to him sing “Forever Young”. In my case most would consider forever old more appropriate, but at least for the time being I sort of like the “forever” part.

I quoted Dylan's "My Back Pages" at post #34. Coping with aging is a recurrent theme in his music. And I am dealing with it myself.

[esd10]

I'm 37 but somedays fell like I'm 60

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

Interesting as it plays into the longevity of the hobby. I was trying to convince my brother to invest in a card the other day and his argument was that baseball card collecting will die out with this generation as the popularity of the sport fades over time and cedes fans to Football, Basketball, Soccer etc. I of course told him to jump in a lake, that young fans will continue to find the hobby and the finite nature of the cards creates a real supply and demand marketplace.

Originally Posted by BicycleSpokes

Dear all,

I am curious to try and loosely quantify the age distribution among pre-war collectors, and I figure Net 54 members would be a good sample. If you don't mind, please take a minute and place a vote for your age group above!

I am especially interested if we collectively resemble e.g. a "youthful", "mature", or "post-mature" distribution, which will become more clear when the distribution curve begins to take shape.

Comments, opinions, and discussion on the likely effect of the pre-war collector age distribution on future demand (and hence prices!) are most welcome.

Thanks for voting.

Cheers,
David

[Kawika]

Fourteen years old trapped in a sixty-four year old body.

[BicycleSpokes]

Originally Posted by ajjohnsonsoxfan

Interesting as it plays into the longevity of the hobby.

I totally agree, and gaining some insight on this issue is actually my main motivation behind the poll.

After a 24 hour sampling period has passed, I will report some statistics about the distribution...

[JollyElm]

Keep in mind that it might be tough for folks in the last 3 or 4 categories to understand how to use their computers, so their numbers may end up being lower than reality.

[EvilKing00]

turned 40 6 months ago

[BicycleSpokes]

Thank you all so much for the great voter turnout!

After an "official" 24 hour sampling period, here are some results for the Net54 age distribution poll:

Total population sampled: 289
mean age: 45.4 years
median age: 44.5 years
standard deviation: 11.6 years
skewness: 0.132

For the mean and other statistics, I just assumed a mean value for each age group i.e. 14.5, 24.5, 34.5, etc.. While not perfect, this is easier than compiling the nearly 300 values by hand! (and also gets to within a few years of the mean values Leon mentioned previously in the thread, as a gut check.)

More than the mean, I am personally actually most interested in the skewness, which is a measure of how asymmetric the distribution is about the mean. The slightly positive skewness means that the distribution is actually "leftward leaning" compared to a perfectly symmetric normal distribution i.e. leaning towards the younger population (e.g. the 30s outweigh the 50s; also the "most likely" median age is less than the mean). I was actually expecting the opposite, so this is a pleasant surprise. This in particular would seem to point to a rather healthy, possibly growing, active Net54 population. In fact, given that many potential collectors won't have much disposable income until around say 30 (at least I know I didn't), this may create an artificial lower age barrier to entering the hobby, hence the leftward lean might be even more pronounced than indicated by the raw statistics (I am only speculating here). On the other hand, as many of you noted, the online sampling might also skew young compared to the pre-war collecting population as a whole. In any event, a graph of the 24-hour sampling results is attached as a JPEG file, in case anybody is interested.

If it doesn't annoy you guys too much, I would like to repeat this "census survey" at approximately annual periods, and continually add the new yearly results onto the chart below. I don't expect much difference year to year necessarily, but over say 5 or 10 years, I am curious if any noticeable and consistent drifts can be observed. (Sorry, I am an engineer / scientist, and just like doing these sorts of things! Also, anybody who has actual expertise in statistics, polling, etc. is very welcome to weight in!)

Thank you all again for participating (the poll remains open).

Cheers,
David

[T206.org]

33 going on 16 here

[ethicsprof]

40 folks in their 60s!!!
I feel better already.

all the best,
barry

[barrysloate]

62 and counting.

[darin2200]

When are we doing the weight poll, maybe using BMI to account for height?

I'm guessing sorting sports cards doesn't keep us very lean.

hehehehe. J\K

[gregr2]

I'm in the same bracket I was 4 years ago and have 3 years till I hit the next one.

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by darin2200

When are we doing the weight poll, maybe using BMI to account for height?

I'm guessing sorting sports cards doesn't keep us very lean.

hehehehe. J\K

That is too good - Please start that one - BMI poll!!

[CurtisFlood]

70. Heading toward obsolescence.

[jchcollins]

I'll be 42 in Feb. Collecting has had several phases:

* Ages 9 - 14: Intro and pretty much hardcore. Bought new wax constantly with any money I had, and got into vintage.

* Ages 15 - 20: Gee collecting cards sure is nerdy. Everything sat in boxes and on shelves at mom and dad's while I did high school, college, and attempted to be cool and get girls.

* Age 21: Holy crap you can buy old baseball cards in online auctions! Spent my last year in college being a total nerd again, participating in random auctions that don't even exist anymore, and found eBay for the first time.

* Ages 22 - 24: Dabbled, but not much. Was busy getting engaged and married.

* Ages 26 - 28: Grad school. No time for baseball cards.

* Ages 29 - 32: Kids being born. What's sleep? Baseball, what's that?

* Roughly 32 -37: Probably should pay attention to this CAREER...

* Age 38: Dammit, this has to stop. You love baseball and cards too much. Joined Net54 and have been back fairly active (if not totally consistent with a collecting focus...) ever since.

[h2oya311]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

I'll be 42 in Feb. Collecting has had several phases:

* Ages 9 - 14: Intro and pretty much hardcore. Bought new wax constantly with any money I had, and got into vintage.

* Ages 15 - 20: Gee collecting cards sure is nerdy. Everything sat in boxes and on shelves at mom and dad's while I did high school, college, and attempted to be cool and get girls.

* Age 21: Holy crap you can buy old baseball cards in online auctions! Spent my last year in college being a total nerd again, participating in random auctions that don't even exist anymore, and found eBay for the first time.

* Ages 22 - 24: Dabbled, but not much. Was busy getting engaged and married.

* Ages 26 - 28: Grad school. No time for baseball cards.

* Age 38: Dammit, this has to stop. You love baseball and cards too much. Joined Net54 and have been back fairly active (if not totally consistent with a collecting focus...) ever since.

what happened from 28-38??

[topcat61]

I actually started collecting vintage (1886-1960) when I was 15 when the 1994 Baseball Strike happened. I think I only got my drivers license so I could go to card shows.

[svtPONY95]

57 and still love the hobby.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[ls7plus]

At present, it appears that about 63% of our members are in their 40's or younger, which bodes quite well for the future of our hobby and its' continued growth.

Happy holidays,

Larry