But are they base set or numbered chrome rookie masks?

Exactly!!!

I much rather be card poor and stock rich then card rich and stock poor.

It’s all a fairytale

I agree with all your sentiments. But please understand that for the most part Net54 members represent the old school perspective in cards and life in general.

Everything that is happening with the modern card market is counterintuitive to traditional investments. It's a new generation. Actually several generations removed from Net54 members in some cases :rolleyes:
Just roll with it and enjoy the viewing party.

I disagree. We are trying to deal with a non-economic root problem here using economic remedies. Too many unknowns to jump in just yet. Better off waiting until the virus wanes a bit then slowly work back in. Don't be a hero trying to pick the bottom, better off losing 10% on the upside getting in a bit later than to lose 50% more on the down side.

Timing the market is largely a myth. It's a fool's errand for 99 percent of the people who try it. If you've got the expendable cash, buy now. If you've got money in the market, let it ride. I think you'll find that opinion being the predominant one from any financial adviser. Pulling your money will only mean you reap no benefit when the market turns (which it inevitably will). And in almost every scenario you'll be buying new stocks with old money at higher costs than what you previously owned. Which means you end up spending more money to own less stock.

I didn't say anything about pulling your money I only mentioned my opinion about buying now. Good luck to you.

My seat of the pants opinion is .....I agree that except for extraordinary circumstances, where cash is needed for something else, this isn't the time to sell. It is too volatile. Pick a good company/stock/fund to invest in, with good long term fundamentals in place and stick to the course. At least that is my philosophy at this juncture :).

and yes, I do think it effects card prices, at least somewhat.

If we're assuming history repeats itself...
 

...then everyone should sell now at the relative top of the market and put every dollar into the best old baseball cards and memorabilia they can find. Disclaimer: I am probably the worst investment advisor on the planet, never owned a stock or bond, always preferred to have cash and other things I could see and touch. I have also never lost a minute's sleep over it and lived quite comfortably.

Hank you must be from the pre war era. I don’t blame you for your philosophy. Stick to your beliefs and live your best life.

Which war? I've lived through far too many of them. Born in April '46, leading edge Boomer. Dad was discharged from the Army Air Corps at the end of WWII, you do the math. Thanks, Martin, and all good wishes to you, too. I've just always done what I felt was right for me and those in my circle, no philosophy, really. Not long ago I mentioned at a party that I'd never owned a cell phone and had a young guy literally implore me not to go there. I realize most people can't do without one, and it's not like I'm anti-tech, I love things like FB and Net54, I just don't want them around and beckoning to me everywhere I go.

Don’t know many people buying high dollar baseball cards this morning?

The official reply from Smart Alecks Anonymous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdbpmeUODME

Funny I dont many people SELLING either. Guess they will post tonight once losses set in.


HA!

On the other hand, there's going to be a LOT of cash floating around after all the selling and no good place to put it. If a lot of good stuff starts coming out at softer prices, there will be temptation for the actual collectors out there to act on the opportunity to pick stuff up. In general, however, your point is well taken and I do anticipate a freezing up of this market along with many others. I remember setting up at the Reading show in September '08 the weekend of the financial meltdown and there was literally no buying or selling going on, probably the strangest show I ever did from a business standpoint, everyone just sitting on their hands not knowing what was going to happen next.

Martin, you sound like you were born five minutes ago, in the modern shiny junk era - which is fitting. I'm sure you don't even have a philosophy yet, how could you? Don't stick to any juvenile beliefs, because as you mature and get wiser, your views will undoubtedly change. This you'll learn. I'd add more youngster, but I'm getting tired and it's starting to get hard to see the monitor, plus your young mind is probably already drifting to video games, taking photos of your food, social media complaining/whining and learning the latest cool slang word to impress your "peeps" :p

It's interesting Gary Vee has been pushing baseball cards as an investment pretty hard. I am happy to report he's bullish on shiny and seems to care little about mid grade reward cards.

I think baseball cards are just like any other collectible - you have rare items that will always have a bid and you have some "momentum" type cards that will lose a lot of money when the buying pool is trimmed. People that have big money into cards (for the most part) are usually not affected by wild market swings. The real issue will be the over-leveraged collections that need liquidity.

I also think we've been a bit lucky in terms of not seeing that many drawdowns over the years. They happen. You save some cash, deploy what you can, and the collection should grow over time. If you're using discretionary spending wisely any discount in cards should be well received.

What market volatility? As of Jan 12th the PWCC 100 Index is up 290% since Jan 2008. :rolleyes::D

Who are the ones actually buying these cards at record numbers?

I’m not buying it, neither the cards or the whole premise, are you?

Who is selling stocks at record lows? Just doesnt make sense

You need to watch the King of Queens episode where they buy the stock. The 1st day it goes up. They are excited. Next day goes down a little. Next day, down a little more. So they then panic and think we are going to lose it all, so they think better to sell now and get something. They sell, then it goes up. They buy back in.

Moral of the story is just let it sit there. But there are people out there who panic, or people close to retirement counting on it, but if you got 10-20-30 years til retirement, ignore it.

Hey I've stopped drinking Corona beer, I don't want to catch that virus.

Wha? Eleven years ago the Dow was at 8,500, now it's 24,000.

No worries. At the rate it's dropping it will be back to 8500 by a week from Thursday, Friday tops. Gas will also be cheap. :rolleyes:

Not that we can go anywhere due to the plague...

They better get this crap sorted out by July. I have tickets for Green Day at Dodgers Stadium and I need my fix.

I DO see some selling? I'm seeing some quality cards on BST and elsewhere for kinda reasonable prices.

Hi Brent, My words were of support and agreement of doing things with a personal perspective. I'm not about online bullying or pushing my beliefs onto others.

Thanks for the comment.

Martin.

Thank goodness I have more than just stocks. I have baseball cards...whew! Diversify they say.

Lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Has Anyone Heard about the Status is this Years National due to the Coronavirus?

Highly unlikely you will be hearing anything about the national 5 months prior to the event.

Coronavirus vs. traveling to AC is a push as far as I am concerned...

Instant classic.

Yup... If this doesn't subside well before July, it may just be the lowest attended National of all-time...

Dreadful location
Horrible access
Bad restaurants and dirty hotels
Coronavirus threat
Struggling economy- possible recession by then
Airplanes/hotels/shared confines not appealing
Tons of bodies crammed indoors, all under one roof
Sharing and handling of cards, touching cases, exchanging money, etc.

The rigid and frugal people who run this convention will never cancel it. But I could easily see it being the worst-attended, least exciting one ever.

Agree....all the big money sales are through online auction houses
IMO The National Has Been Show and Tell for the Past Several Years since 2014......how many people bring 50k plus to shows?

Pretty sad when you're looking forward to Cleveland.

At this point PWCC may be renting out cots so that people can sleep in the Vault with their cards.

Well if it isn't doom and gloom over the PSA scandal, its coronavirus fears, recession etc.

Probably a guess. But arent their more people on the nyc subway EVERYDAY then the total amount of people at the national over 5 days? Gra ted hygiene maybe a question for the latter.


Sell your cards, the end is nigh

Yeah, the subways and other mass public transportation have got to be lots worse...

But it's the combination of the horrible location, travel fears, people conglomerating from all over the country, economic threats, and coronavirus worries all bundled together that could make for a lackluster National.

Just my personal prediction.... I hope those who actually go have a blast! :cool:

Every National in AC gets shit on by 80% of the board. De riguer. No one is going. Then the show has a great turn out. Really inconvenient. It's like an hour drive from Philadelphia. Or a little over 2.5 hours from NYC. No good restaurants? Comical. Crime ridden? Not really, but obviously has problems. Less than 10 homicides a year. No, it's not basically next door to an airport like Chicago National is. No one will go and it will be crowded as hell, just like last time.

How's the commute for West Coasters?

I would like to know what this experience is like. As i'm considering a visit to this years national in Atlantic City. The Casino resort i'm looking at has rates of $296 and $396 a night for that weekend.

5+ hour flight to Philadelphia, 1+ hour drive to AC when I went last time from Seattle. The travel time is really the only reason I'm not attending this year for the first time in a long time.

It's not flying to Chicago. Sure there are plenty of options with 1 flight connection into Philly. Not that I want to get on any airplane currently.

The Chicago experience is extraordinarily convenient for many many people. Obviously. And if someone says I'm not going because it's inconvenient for me, that's a subjective call. But when people start posting things like "there are no good restaurants" or you can't leave your hotel its so dangerous . . . well, they obviously have no clue. (As far as the food goes, you will not find any of that horrible Chicago deep dish pizza crap, if that's what you are looking for.)

Agreed, food in AC is fine, and it's as safe as any other place more or less, for me it's really about no major airport, should be a prerequisite for hosting a National.

Coronavirus - 4,300 dead

WWII - 75 million dead

The World seemed to recover fine from that.

Take advantage of the over-reactors. Now is the time.

I'm buying up all the Gregg Jefferies rookie cards I can find. Soon, I will be in the money!!!!!!!

You forgot some stuff. I get 2 hours to get to LAX (versus half an hour to Burbank) plus another 2 hours to get into the airport, check in and clear security and reach my gate, plus 5-6 hours to get there at least (weather, you see; haven't made a summer trip to the East Coast on time in years...last AC show I flew to we were diverted to Buffalo for 8 hours to wait out a thunderstorm), plus an hour to get my bag and my car, plus 1-2 hours to drive to AC. Then a hour to tear apart my room looking for the bedbugs (ask Silverman about his Caesar's bedbug experience if you don't believe me). Yeah...hard pass. All that assumes that a fat 55 year old asthmatic slob like me isn't more or less grounded due to the virus.

Assuming this stupid-ass plague is in hand by then and I can even hop a plane, I'm probably gonna go see if there are any card shows in Kona.

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...e/IMG_0195.JPG

If air travel is still a no-no, I guess I'll just have to make do with a week on the beaches in Malibu

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit.../caligirls.jpg

Hang loose, brothers...

Hoping those 175 Rashaan Salaam rookies I bought off my uncle will spike soon

Still have my box of Steve Balboni, Kevin Maas, and Joe Charboneau...the stuff dreams are made of.