For seniors

[cubman1941]

I am 81 soon to be 82. I know my wife could care less about my collection, not only my Cubs and Bears stuff and the other baseball and football stuff I have collected over the years but I still look for vintage stuff (and some non-vintage Cubs stuff). I also know she could care less about my A&W Root Beer mug collection, Mighty Mouse collection and other things but I hang on to this stuff for no reason other than it gives me pleasure to look at it and enjoy the memories of where (when I can remember) I got it. What I have done is to send the collection of stuff I have acquired over the years of the small town in Wisconsin I grew up in to a business owner in that town who is going to add it to his display of memorabilia he has for local people to enjoy. I also have acquired a small batch of stuff from the city I currently live in and am going to give that to the local archives. As for my collection of sports stuff, I have contacted a member of this site and he has agreed to put it all in his auctions when the time comes. I find the pleasure of looking at, finding and acquiring new Cubs stuff far out ways the dollars I would get by selling it all now. I don't need the money so why not continue to get pleasure out of life.

[rand1com]

Unless you have a collection that is worth a lot of money(half a million or more in real value), I would just keep collecting.

However, I would have a way for your loved ones to liquidate the collection upon your death that is pre-planned.

Obviously, high end stuff should go to major auction houses to be sold. Just leave a list of who they should use with contact information.

The problem is that most collectors have a lot of lesser items that have significant cumulative value but is not material for auction houses. This stuff normally just gets given away for a pittance of the true value. You should have a wholesale dealer who buys collections like this and pays a fair price knowing that they have to make money on it and leave that contact for your family.

Most senior collectors still enjoy their collections.

Unless the amount of value would truly change your loved ones lives for the future, I say enjoy it to the grave.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Not a senior here, but I've always seen it this way:

If you still enjoy collecting, you shouldn't stop regardless of age! It is one of the things that likely brings you great joy and fascination. It engages your mind and excites your being. These positive characteristics tend to extend one's life, do they not? You're not dead yet, so why deprive yourself? Chances are that you're leaving many more assets to your loved ones besides the value of your collection, so it's OK to be a bit "selfish" (you're really not being selfish!) and collect away!

As others have noted, it's always good to have a list of trusted people at the ready for your family when the inevitable moment comes, and it's very helpful to catalogue everything, complete with accompanying photos. This is very time consuming, but you'll do it or pay someone else to do it if you're concerned about your family.

If your collection is sizeable, make sure that most of it is always in a state of being easily transported. One thing that I do see as being selfish are collectors who have entire properties crammed full with their stuff, including outbuildings. We see this all the time on the reality TV shows. Leaving your loved ones to contend with acres of your crap is the ultimate act of selfishness. As we've seen, and much to tlake's earlier point, the kids and wives rarely care about anything other than getting rid of the stuff and seeing a pile of cash. Thankfully, cards and autographs tend to take up much less room than what we see on these shows, but be kind to your families and at least make your collections easy to move when the time comes. Other than these points, my advice is collect till you drop!

[Hankphenom]

1) 77 years old, still love hunting for and then looking at and handling my stuff. Why should I cut my love for the hobby short just because I'm getting closer to the end?
2) Over my lifetime, when I needed money I had no trouble selling stuff. When I had money, I loved to buy stuff. If I need money to age more comfortably, I will have no trouble selling stuff.
3) My heirs will have to deal with a bunch of stuff they can turn into cash fairly easily. I wish I had had that problem to deal with when I was their age. I would have jumped into that challenge with a big smile on my face. If I find the time, I will write some stuff down to make that process easier for them, but I'm not sweating it if I don't. They're smart, and will do just fine.
4) Everyone's situation is different. Live long, prosper, and happy collecting (or not!)

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

1) 77 years old, still love hunting for and then looking at and handling my stuff. Why should I cut my love for the hobby short just because I'm getting closer to the end?
2) Over my lifetime, when I needed money I had no trouble selling stuff. When I had money, I loved to buy stuff. If I need money to age more comfortably, I will have no trouble selling stuff.
3) My heirs will have to deal with a bunch of stuff they can turn into cash fairly easily. I wish I had had that problem to deal with when I was their age. I would have jumped into that challenge with a big smile on my face. If I find the time, I will write some stuff down to make that process easier for them, but I'm not sweating it if I don't. They're smart, and will do just fine.
4) Everyone's situation is different. Live long, prosper, and happy collecting (or not!)

These are the sorts of things I would love to hear from everybody whose age qualifies them as fitting in this category. I hate to see passion and enthusiasm taper off, die, or be tossed aside just to make sure family members get even more money than they might if forced to do some selling on their own (with the aforementioned guidance provided before the person passed). This applies to anything that brings a person joy, is generally rooted in goodness and causes no harm to others.

[steve B]

Almost 60, like a couple weeks almost.

I'm still collecting, and have collected lots of different stuff over the years starting when I was probably around 5.
My kids are getting old enough at 13 and 11 that I'm getting a good idea of their interests. Neither seems to be all that into collecting anything.

So I'm gradually starting to figure out what should go and what should go later or not at all. One project is writing up the better stuff so they can know at least what it is. Plus the things that were special to me that I hope they want because of that.

It's not at all easy for a lot of stuff.

[gonefishin]

Jim here, 71, I've been collecting just about my entire life. Much more over the last 15 - 20 years.

Thankfully I have a daughter that enjoys cards and collecting. Although she lives on the East Coast and me on the West Coast, we still facetime a couple of times a week and discuss cards, do listings on ebay, and interact. Several years ago I shipped and delivered all my collection from 1970 - current, and I kept the 69 and earlier, which I continue to upgrade and work on completing the sets. When I'm gone she will inherit all of the collection which she can do with as she pleases and I don't worry about it. She knows the approximate value of most the cards and is savvy enough not to be taken advantage of.

Collecting keeps me busy in my retirement while my wife works on crafts, etc. When the joy and passion are gone, so will be my sports collection.