Day job/budgeting for cards

[abothebear]

Here is a few bits from my experience getting back into it over the last 3 years:

On the Money Side-
Set a budget that is reasonable.
Stick to it.
Skimp on a month or two to build a budget surplus that will free you up if that moment comes when you've got to have a card out of your usual budget range.
Don't get into any card that you can't get out of with minimal loss. At the same time, if you are buying cards you love, that value should also be considered. There are a few cards I have that I would still love even if they became worthless overnight.

On the Card Side-
Take your time to figure out what your focus is. Since you can't get them all, what would you be most eager to get? It takes a while, when you have a smaller budget, and even when you don't, to make progress on a particular strategy and it is easy to lose interest in that strategy, and add a second, and third, and fourth focus. And pretty soon you don't really have a focus anymore.

[smrtn240]

Originally Posted by abothebear

Here is a few bits from my experience getting back into it over the last 3 years:

On the Money Side-
Set a budget that is reasonable.
Stick to it.
Skimp on a month or two to build a budget surplus that will free you up if that moment comes when you've got to have a card out of your usual budget range.
Don't get into any card that you can't get out of with minimal loss. At the same time, if you are buying cards you love, that value should also be considered. There are a few cards I have that I would still love even if they became worthless overnight.

On the Card Side-
Take your time to figure out what your focus is. Since you can't get them all, what would you be most eager to get? It takes a while, when you have a smaller budget, and even when you don't, to make progress on a particular strategy and it is easy to lose interest in that strategy, and add a second, and third, and fourth focus. And pretty soon you don't really have a focus anymore.

Thanks for the advice everyone... this pretty much sums up what I think happened, I lost focus. Hate to say it but what brought me back in to collecting was when I was laid off from my job and started buying higher end $500+ cards to flip and make a few bucks to pay some bills. I quickly got that warm feeling back(you all know what I'm talking about I'm sure) from owning such cards and found myself getting attached to them again. I need to re-focus and learn to budget better now I guess. Thanks all.. You are a great bunch!

[steve B]

Lots of good advice.

Collecting to me is something where taking the long view is workable. It's one thing to have a decent size budget and focus on one set aiming to finish it in a particular time. It's much more challenging to look at cards overall and collect a broader range assuming you might never finish most sets.

Heading for 50, I wish I'd bought more cards when I was 20. 30 years from now there will probably be at least a few people with the same thought. But if I'd bought more cards I'd have missed out on some stuff that's more important in the long run, like ski trips with my friends. (Next year we'll be taking a camping trip 30 years after the one we took in 83, and 93, Skipped in 03 since the camping area had some serious crime problems.)
Going into any sort of debt fora collection is pretty silly unless you look at it as a thing you'll sell that's a sure thing (If I found a Wagner for 50,000 I'd take the loan, but not for most normal stuff)

Collecting without a big budget comes down to knowledge and luck. Knowing you've found a good deal when you see it makes a big difference

Steve B