What's your estate plan ?

[BradH]

I'm 42 years old and I sold off about 90% of my collection in 2004 (all the duplicates, low-end stuff and 1980s-90s junk wax). Since then I have just focused on finishing my pre-war sets and a few high-end sets from the 1950s-70s.

At the same time that I sold off the bulk of my collection, I began keeping detailed records of every purchase I've made - cost of the item, date purchased and where it was purchased from (auction house, eBay, individual, etc).

I will leave it all to my wife and kids. The kids are all still under 10 and two of them have already demonstrated a great interest in cards (my 7-year-old is working on a 1971-72 Topps basketball set - see attached photo of him marking off his checklist at a card show last weekend when he acquired five more cards from the set!).

The detailed record keeping that I'm doing now is really intended to help my wife in the event that I'm not around long enough to pass it on to the kids or sell it all myself (if they're not interested in it as adults). I've also written down the names and contact information of a few trustworthy friends in the industry to assist her in selling it all if needed, so I guess that's my "estate plan."