AP Interviews "S" on the CGC Action Comics #1 6.0

[Silver Surfer]

 

If you love it now at 7000, youll go bonkers when its at 5500 VERY shortly

now that is a scary thought

Indeed it is scary but I'm thinking that if it goes to 5500 then perhaps it would be a perfect time to convert cash and jump back into the market. The ride up from the depths good be a profitable one and your probably won't get the same appreciation with comics bought in todays wacky market.

[supapimp]

hence why the price of gold is over 1K per OZ.

[The Black Hand ®]

I would have phrased the investment potential differently than Stephen did. I do believe the investment value is in the comic book itself rather than simply because the stock market is a poor investment. I view the book as standing on its own from an investment standpoint whether the market is doing well or poorly. IMHO.

 

Mark;

 

Yes, definitely an azz backwards way of pointing out the investment value for an Action #1.

 

I actually thought his rationale underscored the potential investment value of the stock market right now. After all, it's a lot better to buy the Dow now at 7,000 points as opposed to buying it last year at 14,000 points.

 

I disagree with your point of view. People already know the significance of Action #1. Having someone on TV pump and hype the book is what people would normally expect. But these are not normal times.

 

People outside the hobby are looking to put money into something with some stability. Playing on the fear of the stock market is a perfect way to do that. And with good reason. Yes, the stock market has gone way down. Problem is that very few people feel that it going to rebound anytime soon.

 

In case anyone is unaware, it is scary out there.

 

The problem is that once you get people jumping in only to hide their money, when they jump out you get a large void...and what we are left with is another stock market.

 

The hobby (for the majority) has simply been about enjoying the books and pursuing books for the sake of the books AND investment.

 

Once you get major investors in simply for the sake of investing you will introduce an instability that has not been in the hobby since it's inception and this may be the reason all other hobbies have had their flucuations.

 

Personally I'd rather keep the investors out.

 

 

You and me both. I've been priced out of the market, for the most part, because of investors and my penny-pinching old guy ways. if I was in my 30's I'd play a bit riskier but now that I'm in my dotage, I'm playimg it safe.

[KirbyJack]

We can welcome all the investors! We'll just treat 'em like the 90's speculators. We'll sell 'em Rob Liefeld books and pogs.

 

Let's convince them that Walter Lantz is the Babe Ruth of sequential art.

[Flash105]

Ignorant Investors=Speculation

Speculation leads to a bubble

 

Tulips, Autos, Railroads, Oil, Gold, Technology, and Housing. History is littered with the remains of speculators.

 

Slow and steady is my motto. Now.... if this PR, much like the death of Cap brought me back, leads to new collectors, that is a totally different matter.

[delekkerste]

People outside the hobby are looking to put money into something with some stability.

 

I know an asset that has held its value, has virtually no risk, has earned a small positive return, and gets more valuable just about every day both in this country and overseas. It's called CASH.

 

Do you guys realize that T-bills have outperformed just about everything, including gold and silver, over the past 12 months? And that the U.S. dollar has appreciated to multi-year (multi-decade in some cases) highs against almost every currency during that time?

 

This fascination that people have with "hard assets" (and I should note that most things we would call "hard assets", like real estate, fine art and commodities, have tanked/crashed along with everything else), at a time of extreme deflation, when credit is imploding and the velocity of money has slowed to a trickle (hard to get inflation no matter how much money you print under those circumstances), and when people should be concerned first and foremost about safety of principal, is just to me.

 

The above aside, I wish my good friends at ComicConnect and Metropolis the very best in this auction and hope that this lot does very well both for them and the hobby.

[selegue]

We can welcome all the investors! We'll just treat 'em like the 90's speculators. We'll sell 'em Rob Liefeld books and pogs.

 

Let's convince them that Walter Lantz is the Babe Ruth of sequential art.

 

Perfect timing. I've got to laugh because I just excitedly posted my new Four Color 21 in a couple of threads. Here's another chance!

 

 

If anyone wants to invest in it, IPO is next Tuesday. Get in line!

 

Jack

 

 

 

[nearmint]

"hard assets", like real estate, fine art and commodities, have tanked/crashed along with everything else

 

We had our house appraised last week for a re-fi that we're doing. We were concerned that its value may have "crashed", but the appraisal came back just 7% less than our last appraisal 3 years ago.

[Silver Surfer]

Cash is great but most people with portfolio's that were prodominantly held in "Bluechip" stocks company penson plans, etc saw their portfolios shrink dramatically so making a 2%-3% return on "cash" in the last 12 months is hardly comforting. Sure you have to diversify but not too many people saw the implosion of the credit markets coming otherwise we would have all been in 100% cash or a year ago.

[Silver Surfer]

"hard assets", like real estate, fine art and commodities, have tanked/crashed along with everything else

 

We had our house appraised last week for a re-fi that we're doing. We were concerned that its value may have "crashed", but the appraisal came back just 7% less than our last appraisal 3 years ago.

 

Consider your self one of the few, the proud and the lucky! The rest of California is probably closer to 40% down. I recently saw a artcile that 8 of the top 10 worst hit cities in the U.S. were in California.

[nearmint]

"hard assets", like real estate, fine art and commodities, have tanked/crashed along with everything else

 

We had our house appraised last week for a re-fi that we're doing. We were concerned that its value may have "crashed", but the appraisal came back just 7% less than our last appraisal 3 years ago.

 

Consider your self one of the few, the proud and the lucky!

 

Beach property seems to be somewhat insulated from the real estate crash.

[Crowzilla]

We had our house appraised last week for a re-fi that we're doing. We were concerned that its value may have "crashed", but the appraisal came back just 7% less than our last appraisal 3 years ago.

 

That's almost like an increase in today's market.

But for beach property to be down 7% instead of up 10-12% in three years shows how rough it's been.

 

[delekkerste]

Cash is great but most people with portfolio's that were prodominantly held in "Bluechip" stocks company penson plans, etc saw their portfolios shrink dramatically so making a 2%-3% return on "cash" in the last 12 months is hardly comforting. Sure you have to diversify but not too many people saw the implosion of the credit markets coming otherwise we would have all been in 100% cash or a year ago.

 

I'm not talking about hindsight - what's wrong with holding cash *right now*? Why do people need to "hide" or "park" or "store" their money in gold, silver, comic books, art or whatever else is being touted as a "safe haven" when you can sleep just fine at night holding cash? I'm ecstatic to be making sub-1% returns at a time when everything else is either crashing and/or violently gyrating up and down. Now is the time to be focusing on return *of* capital, not return *on* capital. You make hay when the sun is shining, not when it's pitch black outside.

 

Somehow people have deluded themselves into believing that their money "needs" to be invested in something at a time when cash is a great alternative.

[supapimp]

We had our house appraised last week for a re-fi that we're doing. We were concerned that its value may have "crashed", but the appraisal came back just 7% less than our last appraisal 3 years ago.

 

That's almost like an increase in today's market.

But for beach property to be down 7% instead of up 10-12% in three years shows how rough it's been.

 

the average home prices in SF, CA has gone up.

[delekkerste]

Not according to the Case-Shiller Index for SF.

[supapimp]

i'm not talking about the mansions in Pac Whites.

[adamstrange]

Cash is great but most people with portfolio's that were prodominantly held in "Bluechip" stocks company penson plans, etc saw their portfolios shrink dramatically so making a 2%-3% return on "cash" in the last 12 months is hardly comforting. Sure you have to diversify but not too many people saw the implosion of the credit markets coming otherwise we would have all been in 100% cash or a year ago.

 

I'm not talking about hindsight - what's wrong with holding cash *right now*? Why do people need to "hide" or "park" or "store" their money in gold, silver, comic books, art or whatever else is being touted as a "safe haven" when you can sleep just fine at night holding cash? I'm ecstatic to be making sub-1% returns at a time when everything else is either crashing and/or violently gyrating up and down. Now is the time to be focusing on return *of* capital, not return *on* capital. You make hay when the sun is shining, not when it's pitch black outside.

 

Somehow people have deluded themselves into believing that their money "needs" to be invested in something at a time when cash is a great alternative.

 

I think you already know the answer. The government can destroy the value of cash through inflation and is often tempted to do that in order to paper over deficits. While deflation can crush the value of hard assets, there is less temptation for the government to do that when the majority of the voters have significant debt.

[sfcityduck]

Only four zip codes in SF have shown increases in housing price. They are affluent neighborhoods: Cole Valley, Noe Valley, Russian Hill and Lake Street.

[delekkerste]

I think you already know the answer. The government can destroy the value of cash through inflation and is often tempted to do that in order to paper over deficits. While deflation can crush the value of hard assets, there is less temptation for the government to do that when the majority of the voters have significant debt.

 

That may happen...eventually. But fears of this happening in the near-term are misguided. It is wholly inaccurate to believe the government can just create inflation out of thin air at a time when the velocity of money has crashed and credit is imploding - otherwise Japan would have gotten out of their deflation long ago.

[G.A.tor]

Only four zip codes in SF have shown increases in housing price. They are affluent neighborhoods: Cole Valley, Noe Valley, Russian Hill and Lake Street.

I am going to look at a 3 story beach house tomorrow morning (1 block from gulf of mexico)... in 2005 this house was built and sold for $580K... it is a bank short sell with accepted price of $260K... talk about WOW