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Collecting comics and real life...

Started by Sir Ped of Ro,

28 posts in this topic

Sir Ped of Ro

Sir Ped of Ro

Posted
Posted

to everyone

 

Every once in a while we see board members selling their collections due to special/unexpected situations in their personal life.

A new born baby, planning on buying a house, a divorce, a wedding, etc... every one of them can have a major impact in our hobby. But several of these situations can be "pretictable" (or planned at some point), which can help one figuring how to overcome these periods.

 

My question is: do you (on your collecting goals) tend to think/prepare for such events to prevent on selling your comics?

 

From my side, i've stopped buying (major buyings) it's been some time already (almost 2 years), since we were planning on having a baby on a near future...

I guess the fact that i have a collection that i love and have been spending the last few years reading and re-reading what i have amased also helped me out. The frenzy of buying started cooling down after some nice buyings and the savings have been on a healthy rise.

 

what about from your side?

 

regards

 

ps- oh yeah, and we'll be expecting a very special delivery around june!!! :cloud9:

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Mac Man

Mac Man

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Congrat's on the child!

 

Regarding your question, we have seperate savings set aside to cover stork deliveries in the future so there will be no financial surprises on that end. We also have an emergency fund that we've been working on which currently is earning interest but whose main purpose is to prevent us from being in an "Oh !" financial situation. Any money that is spent on my comics comes from my monthly allowance (or the following month's if I'm borrowing ahead like right now :grin: ) so I'm as likely to sell stuff out there as my wife is likely to sell her J.Crew clothes which she buys with her spending money- let's just say I have 1 closet, she has 3. Go figure.

 

Aaaaaanyhow, I think talking to a financial advisor early on in the game (many banks provide this service for free) and learning how to budget and save can go a long way to protecting your collection from situations like this. Just my 2c

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blutobc

blutobc

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Congratulations, Ped!!!

 

 

:applause: :applause: :applause:

 

 

Dittos on the Congrats !!!!

 

For your question on planning future events.......

It all depends on where you are in your collection/age/financial status.

 

I've previously sold my collections twice in life(marriage and 1st child).

Both times it was worth it to part with the books.

 

The first time was a heart breaker as I lived with the loss of years of comic collecting. I was in my 20s and didn't plan ahead for future expenses

 

Started over from scratch and wound up doing the same thing again 7 years later.

However, the collection wasn't that special that time around so it really didn't matter.

 

The 3rd time around and the collection is better than the 1st two combined.

Simply because my income has increased with age...and with a more discerning

eye toward the material bought.

 

Kudos to anyone who can manage their collection along with their overall life, but for me

it has been something that only involves "extra" money and I don't fret to much when I have to sell.

 

But as far as long term planning...I have a couple of questions.

Can you plan the following with alot of certainly.

Marriage

- will she like/tolerate my hobby

- can I continue to fund the hobby with the new marriage expenses(What? she expects to be clothed and fed too lol)

 

Children

- Uh, some things are planned and some aren't. Kind of falls into the hit or miss category. Beware rainy days and sundays...they don't always get you down. doh!

 

Health

- Stuff happens. Injury, illness, extended family illnesses.

 

Bottom line - if you can plan for long term comic collecting expenses, then you probably are already

so highly organized that you won't have to sell anyway. 2c

 

 

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Mac Man

Mac Man

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"Bottom line - if you can plan for long term comic collecting expenses, then you probably are already so highly organized that you won't have to sell anyway."

 

 

Blutobc-- you can call me anal, I won't be offended! :grin: My whole family knows it and my better half is even worse! lol

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Hawkman

Hawkman

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i don't sell mess. i don't sacrifice anything else to buy comics either. i put money away. i pay bills. i buy what i can not only afford, but what i can easily afford. too many people live out of touch with their means. i did that when i was a teen. i don't do that any more.

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blutobc

blutobc

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"Bottom line - if you can plan for long term comic collecting expenses, then you probably are already so highly organized that you won't have to sell anyway."

 

 

Blutobc-- you can call me anal, I won't be offended! :grin: My whole family knows it and my better half is even worse! lol

 

Hi Anal....I'm Packrat. Nice to meet you. :hi:lol

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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i put money away. i pay bills. i buy what i can not only afford, but what i can easily afford. too many people live out of touch with their means.

 

:applause:

 

My sentiments exactly. Our family has lived under our means for years, pay for virtually everything in cash (including cars) have no real debt, and other than a couple of hundred a check for "fun money", everything else is socked away. Everything I put into comics is pure gravy and it would never, ever affect me financially.

 

My wife loves watching that whacky "Til Debt Do Us Part" TV show, which is really like a horror movie from a financial POV. Just crazy stuff out there.

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moonlite

moonlite

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another plan is to buy low-grade stuff you want to read and have and then never worry about selling it because either:

 

A) you won't find anyone wanting it or

 

B) you won't get enough for it to make a difference.

 

 

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Raphael

Raphael

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congratulations :)

 

for myself, if there ever came the situation where i for some reason had to sell my comics, there's stuff that i could and could not part with. i definately wouldn't ever sell everything.

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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another plan is to buy low-grade stuff you want to read and have and then never worry about selling it

 

That's one idea, but I think it really comes down to why you buy comic books. Just for the books, or do financial motives come into play?

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