Preparing Your Collection For Your Death

[Leon]

Originally Posted by joeadcock

Leon

Yours is the only one I read that seems to link their card collection as an investement tool.
I dont believe my wife would say a lot about it, but I dont believe she would feel good about my collection being part of our investments.

But that is based on her lack of knowledge on this hobby and its potential.

My only problem is will this hobby(as investment) hold out in the long run. Will it continue to grow? I believe parts of it will like T206, Old Judges, Hall of Famers.

For those who collect for the enjoyment only(which is probably a majority), who cares?

My wife understands my passion and has confidence in my evaluations of the issues concerning them being part of our investments. I absolutely don't recommend it for anyone else. I am comfortable with it but then too I had a straight commission sales job for over 20 yrs and have run a few business, so I am somewhat of a risk taker to start with. It's all about calculated risks to me. I would rather have cards I can enjoy as part of our nest egg than all of it in stocks, cd's etc...To each their own.

[ALR-bishop]

Old, albeit often otherwise worthless, stock and bond certificates can be collectible too . Maybe more so in the future with the ascendance of paperless portfilios

[Tomman1961]

I was hit with cancer-stage 3 at age 47. I am now 52 and cancer free. Doctors at Sloan Kettering in NYC say "cured". But I had to tell my wife to sell it through an auction house. No guilt. Take the mobey and run. I would say $50,000 is about right. cards, Yearbook, Autographs, Everything. I should update the inventory better. She knows the difference between a Diamond Star and a Goudey and Playball. But I really should inventory everything. She may not know I have a run of Street and Smiths from about 1960-present. She knows the auction houses I trust. My son has no interest, but when I'm gone, maybe he wants it. That would be fine too. I just lost my Dad 10 days ago. He was a coin collector. The family has no idea what it is worth, and I never posed the question to him.

[Theo_450]

It seems like a good idea to designate the cards as a family member's "inheritance" in your will (and leave instructions, contacts, estimates), rather than sell them before you die. I think the inheritance taxes would be far less than capital gains tax.

[pawpawdiv9]

Question to those that are married:
My g-ma passed away a few months ago, and well her will ;i guess is trash- in thinking everything she owned goes to her spouse (my g-pa).
Family was expecting the outcome to be the other way around with g-pa surving cancer from Pearl Harbor and other wars for many years, what a turn around it had been.
Well, it seems that some things that were said privately years before the death, well never happened and now the property and belongings in N.Y. may head into a different direction.

So what i am saying is...even tho you want some things a certain way and done. How can you make sure it does?

This topic has got me thinking very hard..i will be 37 this year and not being married, i am close to my family. I do have a 7 yr old nephew, but hasnt shown no interest in sports.
It got me thinking about life insurance and what policys. I received a letter from Allstate quoting a 250k policy for like 17$/month...seems very good. At least its something. All i have is a 75k accident death dismemberment. Beginning to think i wanna leave the family something to be better situated in my passing. Any suggestions????

[calvindog]

You should get life insurance while you're still young. A level 30 year term policy is cheap and you never know when or if you'll get married and have dependents. The longer you wait to get a policy, the more expensive it is.

[thescooper]

I collect non sports but my collection has been willed to 2 members of the chat board. The 50's and up to one member, the earlier stuff to another member, they can do what they want with it. it is not about the money I invested it is the pure joy that it created for me, no amount of money could give my wife that much joy.
my collection is worth $100,000 plus!

[terjung]

Originally Posted by calvindog

You should get life insurance while you're still young. A level 30 year term policy is cheap and you never know when or if you'll get married and have dependents. The longer you wait to get a policy, the more expensive it is.

+1

Great advice.