Best hobby advice you've received.

[ALR-bishop]

Don’t believe everything you hear on chat board

[Kzoo]

Buy the best example you can afford.

[Pat R]

Don't believe anything you read or hear and only half of what you see.

[philliesfan]

This was advice I gave and not received.

I was a weekend warrier back in the day. A boy about 14 years old and his father approached me and asked if this was a good deal another dealer offered. The boy would have gotten complete Topps sets from 1977 to about 1983 and a 1963 Fleer set. He would have given up a Goudy Ruth card autographed. To me, the card and autograph looked authentic. I guess it did to the other dealer also.
I told him absolutely not. I told him if he wanted complete sets, he could build them as they were plentiful back then and the 1963 would have taken a little more effort. I really urged him to keep the card.
I do not know what happened but I sure hope he took my advice.

Bob

[dio]

buy vintage, mantle, hold and not sell

Don't worry about overpaying at the moment, you'll regret not spending more in a few years

[jingram058]

Don't try going into the 52 Topps set cold. Unless you have bottomless pockets, some valuable trade bait, or inherited a fortune, it's a huge set and you'll never get The Mick, and others whose cards will set you back a fortune. Get into 53 Bowman color instead; it's only 160 cards and very doable (fellow collector I made a huge trade with).

[Bliggity]

Lots of good advice for set collectors in here, but the best advice I received about set collecting (which unfortunately came too late for me with some sets) is to always buy the highest-$ cards first. If you start with commons and lower-mid HOFers first, by the time you get around to the Cobb or Wagner, it will have doubled in price, and either (a) you're never going to finish the set, or (b) you're going to settle for a lower-condition card just to complete, and you'll have an unbalanced set you won't be happy with.

I am 2/3 done with a T205 set in PSA 3 and have most of the HOFers, but I didn't get a Cobb (or Young or WaJo) while I could, and now it's out of reach except in 1/A grades. Same experience with '34 Goudey and the Gehrigs. And N28. And N162. (See a pattern?)

Conversely, I picked up a '53 Bowman Mantle a couple years ago, and it made building the rest of the set seem very reasonable. The next set I'm planning to build has a Ruth that is still just under $1K, so that will definitely be my first purchase. Suppose I better get on that.

[kailes2872]

Collect what you like. That way, if it all goes to hell and the market collapses, you still have what you like.

If you want to invest, buy a mutual fund. It offers more liquidity and less transaction costs.

You didn't pay too much, you just bought too soon.