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Investing in comics?

Started by Guest,

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

I hear lots of people talking about this. Is it possible to make good money investing in comics. I am just a reader and a collector and am looking to make more money than I currently am. Could I make more money investing in comics than say real estate or stocks? Any thoughts or strategies on this? confused.gif

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murph0

murph0

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The way real estate is going right now, not a chance. But I'd guess there's some room to make some money if you're very market savvy. Now might be a fairly good time to buy stuff cheap..b/c I think prices might get hot again when the weather starts to get warm in a few months..but then again who knows..they could do the exact opposite and drop even more..who knows.

 

Brian

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aardvark88

aardvark88

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U can try speculating on Marvels, but don't spec on DCs. Fewer DC collectors/bidders. Problem is if u buy 10 hot Ultimate X-men #1, there will be lots of other specs doing the exact same thing & then looking to sell in 2 months.

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murph0

murph0

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Just purchase a couple 2-3 bedroom houses..they don't necesarily have to be slabs..b/c Arizona doesn't get a lot of rain so you won't have to worry about basement flooding like we do in Iowa. Toss an ad into the newspaper and get it rented out for (I have no idea how strong or weak your particular R.E. market is) but we'll say.. 50 dollars over your monthly payment. smile.gif

However, you may want to look over your market a bit more closely..if you're in an area that employs a lot of people who could be considered relative income, low credit rating..you may be able to bump up your profit margin a bit more b/c the demand could be higher. smile.gif

 

Brian

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FlyingDonut

FlyingDonut

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The short answer - NO.

 

The long answer - probably not, because real estate and stocks are essentially liquid items that have much less of a negative downside. If you are looking at comics as PART of your portfolio, then I'd say by all means, include them, but don't make them your sole investment. Yikes!

 

And if you are "investing" in comics, you need to stay far, far, far away from the "hot fad" books that are all over the place. Investing in comics is not unlike investing in the stock market - buy blue chips and sit on them. If you are looking to "day trade" books, that's one thing, but true investment requires some patience.

 

If you're looking to invest some cash in books - this is what I'd recommend (and I'm sure others have some other thoughts as well).

 

1. Mid- to high-grade Golden Age books, with ONLY recognizable to the average Joe characters. The Spirit, for example, is an exceptionally cool book, but I'll bet if you asked 100 people on the street who the Spirit is, they wouldn't be able to answer. I'd be looking at these titles: Action, Superman, More Fun, Captain America, Marvel Mystery, Pep (22 on ONLY), and Archie. That's pretty much it - the Batman books are just too expensive.

 

2. Higher grade (if you can find them!) DCs from 1955-1962. The demand is building for these, and you can get ahead of the curve. Check out the CGC Census report and look at the difference between graded copies of early Showcase vs. early Spider-Man, for example.

 

3. Higher grade Fantastic Four 1-50 and Journey Into Mystery 83-125. I think that's pretty much it for the Marvel books - everything else has seen its pop already.

 

I'd be looking to sink some money into Golden Age right now, as relative to Silver its pretty cheap...just my two cents.

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murph0

murph0

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Fad books are where you're going to make the most ROI..if you can get the books before the masses start bidding them up. DD 131 is a good example..you could buy raw ones for 30-80 dollars prior to the movie, then after the Summer..suddenly you could sell a CGC 9.4 or better for at least 350 dollars. smile.gif

But I'd still say that Real Estate and/or stocks are a better idea.

 

Brian

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FlyingDonut

FlyingDonut

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True, but that requires you to flip and pay attention. If you're investing in books, I'm pretty sure that buy-and-hold works. But yes, if you're paying attention, flipping fad books works - you just don't want to be the last one at the party.

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murph0

murph0

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I don't know that ASM is completely out of growing room..with great collectors #'s can come great prices.. anyways, I think Avengers #4 might actually be a decent buy..it's a major key that everyone seems to overlook anymore. Also, hard to find books in high grade is a very good idea too..fan favorites like FF 52, Avengers 93, etc..

 

Brian

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FlyingDonut

FlyingDonut

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Avengers 4 is a pretty good call, but I think JIMs have more upside. ASMs are pretty high - and its going to take some stones to get into them now, with more movie hype coming.

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murph0

murph0

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I also forgot to mention..I think now is the time to buy the pricey books..if you can come up with the cash while others can't (due to Christmas time)..you can really get some good deals..but on the flip side of that you don't really want to toss all you've got into one book. So who knows..I still think it's a solid idea to buy some books right now that other people might normally have the money for..but just don't right now. smile.gif

 

Brian

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duncan36

duncan36

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Comics are like any other collectibles, if you have a good eye for quality(i dont mean condition) then in the long run you'll make a good return, and if you have a lot of money and a good eye, you'll be a trendsetter because the dealer grapevine has more ears than the KGB. smile.gif

As far as comics for a commodity type investment where you hoard high grade CGC books because they're great high demand books that will only ever go up, I think thats unwise. Once this type of mentality becomes pervasive in any collectible market, doom is just around the corner.

Look at Ferrari's in the 80's, Beanie Baby's in the 90's, etc.

History is littered with examples of supposedly 'unstoppable' collectables/antiques in which the market suddenly evaporates because the prices just get plain silly.

 

Luckily comics are more robust than many collectibles because comics have nostalgia going for them in a big way. Plus they are truly an artform.

 

The real question about the way comics are being sold today is how circular is the entire comics market, meaning what % of the sales of the big CGC key books is between dealers and how many collectors are actually buying these books at these mega prices. Thats the key to know, and my personal opinion is that the amount of collector interest for many of these books does not warrant the prices we're seeing today as a lot of the pricing is caused by dealer 'hot potato'. Please feel free to correct me anyone.

 

So basically when you read someone selling a Hulk 181 for $2000 and in his description he says : Great CGC copy, this book is basically guaranteed to soar in value, you have to ask yourself if thats the case and its 'Guaranteed' to soar in value why are you selling it! Theres too many people selling them for the phrase ' he's just trimming his stock' to hold any water, they're selling them because they're scared that they'll get stuck with the book when and if the buyers stop buying a 25 year old piece of paper for $2000! An artistic piece of paper but a piece of paper none the less.

 

So at the end of the day in my opinion at least if you love comics its a worthy hobby/investment, if you do some buying and find you have a good eye, great! However, don't get caught up in the tulip bulb type investing on many of the fads and trends. And if you find you're really good at investing/collecting comics then by all means turn it into your full time profession!

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dam60

dam60

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Guys, I know a little bit about real estate and the stock market so let me share some of my thoughts and observations:

 

1 - Real Estate

Most people make money in real estate because (to use easy math) they buy a $1mm investment property with 10% down that they then immediately rent out to tenants, the aggregate rent of which will cover (plus some) your monthly mortgage payments. Then 5-7 years down the road, you get to sell the house for let's say the same $1mm that you invested. Even in this situation you will make money because your equity interest will have increased from 10% to let's say 20%. Therefore for $100K in you get $200K out. Another benefit of owning real estate is the depreciation. You can depreciate the land against your earnings, in effect lowering your tax bracket.

 

Caveats:

1 - if you can't rent the property you have to cough up the cash for the mortgage payments

2 - in today's ultra sweet interest rate environment you have many more people just buying homes out right rather than renting. Real estate is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates

 

2 - Stocks

Be careful with stocks. A lot of people advocate a buy and hold investment strategy. IF you had bought and held Worldcom, K-Mart, Tyco, etc. you would be royally screwed right now. Peter Lynch advocates buying what you know, and there is something to be said by that. You should also read the 10K and 10Q (the 10K is an annual filing with the SEC and the 10Q is the quarterly filing). You can get one through any company's investor relations department. Keep in mind that the annual report is a marketing piece and is not a required SEC filing. Generally stockes are valued using a PE ratio. Don't pay crazy multiples and look for stocks with strong dividends. They help boost things up when things get bumpy. Right now my top pick is Philip Morris. If you don't have moral objections to it, it could be a good investment.

 

Basically I am advocating that you actively manage your money across all different types of investments. I would say that the duration of how long you want to be invested and your appetite for risk play big roles in what you invest in. If you want feel free to PM me with some of your goals and I can offer some advice.

 

Comics aren't bad to speculate in if you know what you are doing. If this is a bubble that is going to burst you don't want to be left holding the potato when the music stops.

 

Furthermore, I question the long term value of comics. I think that the prices paid for key golden age books are not going to increase more than inflation over time and I also see silver age starting to reach its peak. I have definitely been wrong before and could be wrong here, but that's what I think.

 

Best of luck!

 

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