I think the next 10-20 years the vintage card market will be very healthy. As mentioned earlier, in the 70's there was a huge increase in vintage card collectors which resulted in increased prices based on simple supply and demand principles. As that generation, including myself, dies off (tried to come up with a nicer way of saying that, but ...) there may not be an equal number of people taking their place, which could result in a flattening or even decrease in prices. However, I think the hobby will still go on and be relatively strong as long as Baseball is popular, and looking at attendance figures I do not think it is going away anytime soon.
So if you are 20 and just beginning to enter the hobby, I would not advise buying cards as an investment to fund your retirement. Treat it as a hobby and by the time you retire you may be able to pick up some nicer cards relatively cheap, at least by today's standards.
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