Admitting You Have a Problem

[David Swan]

Is the first step....

 

I counted up the number of comics added to my registry last year and it added up to 27 and given that generally the CGC comics I buy are several hundred dollars or more apiece that's a bit of money. I also bought a fair amount of raw comics to the point where my Ebay history was 3 pages long at one point for two months of history.

 

Moneywise I am able to handle the spending although there are perhaps better ways for me to allocate my funds. My concern is my motivation for my purchases regardless of whether or not I can afford it. Have I crossed the line from collecting to feeding an addiction? Do I purchase to build a set or to satisfy a compulsion to buy?

 

This year I intend to dramatically slow my purchasing. My goal is to keep myself between 8 and 12 additions to my collections. I have created the foundations for some very nice sets and from here forward I need to be tweaking not rampantly buying. I need to be very selective and not add any new sets to my registry. I am pleased to say that I have not made a CGC graded comic purchase since early December and my Ebay history is down to two items with a total cost of about $18 dollars.

 

On the upside my buying last year showed that I have a nice amount of disposable income. Now I need to start using that income in smarter ways while occasionally tweaking my sets. I will say that based on journals I've read there are more than a few people who are probably in my same boat and perhaps worse off.

 

I'm not going cold turkey but I'm confident I can meet my goal of adding less.

 

See more journals by David Swan

[Tnerb]

Hi...My name is Tnerb...

 

and I'm a collector...

 

My problem is when my goals change.

 

I purchased three graded 9.8 books a couple years ago and at the time there was nothing I wanted more. Now they just sit in my collection and I wonder why did I truly purchase them. I to have tried to just complete the sets I have, or in the case of really large sets add to them rather than start a new set. This doesn't work for me. I have another way I like to collect too, but that is so off the walls i think I will save it as a journal.

 

My income is tight so I have to at the very least make sure I buy what I like and I never but anything if I can't pay my bills. I purchased enough comic books last year that I could have paid a considerable down payment on a very nice car. The thing is, at the moment in my life I would rather have the comic books.

 

I have checked out your sets and just by the age of them alone I know that you on average a bit more than what I pay, although recently I have been looking at a few pristine silver age books I am going to have to try to save up for. If you set limits, make sure those limits won't make you one day spurge, kind of liking dieting with no treats.

 

I finally didn't buy a CGC comic book for a whole month (January 2013) and the thing about it was, i didn't even think about it. Of course knowing I have to save up for the ECCC kind of helped. I hope for your continued success in your collecting endeavors.

 

Thanks for Sharing

 

Tnerb

[David Swan]

The only regrets I have in CGC purchases are some of the mid grade Captain Marvel Adventures I got at a discount but I'm proud of a vast majority of my collection. I just think it's time to scale back and make sure I'm buying to build a collection and not buying just to buy. As you mentioned your problems occur when goals change and that's how I've managed to rein myself in. I keep the four main sets and 2 of the 4 are very hard to come by. The CMA comics are plentiful but not if you're looking for the very highest grades. All American Men of War is also plentiful but not if you're trying to pay at or below guide price for a high grade. By being selective I keep my purchases down and the more I fill in my collections the harder it becomes to find available items so the less I spend.

 

I've gone over two months with no purchases but I see some stuff I definitely covet. I just need to make sure my overall spending is at least half or less of last year and that my purchasing is for the right reasons.

 

 

[kaholo1256]

Following Tnerb, Hi my name is Kaholo...

 

and I too am a Collector...sigh

 

I have to agree with Tnerb my original goals for this year were set in wanting to complete a 9.8 or better Set for the AvX run, Uncanny X-Men Vol. 2, and Uncanny X-Force Vol. 1 and then make some headway in my Wolverine 1988 set as well as pick up a few of those single issue 1st appearances.

 

I had read a few of the Marvel Now's and ultimately wasn't impressed by most of the titles. Figured with the exception of 4 titles I'll be able to kick back a little. DC has never been my thing and for the exception of the Death of the Family which features the only DC villain I like I will stay away from this grouping.

 

Then came along this notion of buying a piece of Original art to go with my AvX run. Can't complain bought my first page at $43. Didn't seem like much and didn't stretch the wallet. Then the second, and the third, and then more and more goals then ultimately I slammed the door shut for that one for the exception of one title All New X-Men.

 

Additionally many of us post photo's here on the Jounral pages and that has brought about more purchases which weren't towards my initial goals. Did I really need to start with the New Mutants?

 

So this month I have set out a specific amount that I'm going to be willing to spend and thus no more. Additionally with the set of 50 I'm sending in I will take my leave of buying more CGC'ed already items unless that one or two diamonds in the rough show up for sale.

 

I guess all in all I am addicted, but I am passionate about my addiction and understand that the mortgage and bills come first and that my man fun account is happy being used to fund this type of addiction over any other.

 

K

[Barlor001-migration]

Hi my name is Barlor001.... and I am a Collector... Every Sunday night, I add up how much I spent on comics that week. And very seldom is it zero. My collection is all over the place, I see something I like and if the price is right I bid on it or buy it. I too think that I am going to slow down this year, And focus on two or three of my sets that I can complete or close to it. I hate to type so will close this up, love reading these journals so keep them up folks.

[zosocane]

Great thread.

 

One thing I have learned to do in my second go-around as a collector (older and wiser?) -- is to tone down the irrational exhuberance associated with a prospective purchase. I inject an "investment test" into my prospective collectibles purchase, which is a risk analysis of the following:

 

(i) market risk -- how many other people really are willing to buy what I'm interested in? A handful? A ton of people?

(ii) liquidity risk -- can I unload this quickly or is it a slow sell? Think raw vs graded. Think keys vs. generic issues.

(iii) rarity -- is the item commonly available or rare, or put another way, if I pass on the item, will it show up again in a reasonable time?

(iv) pricing -- is it a fair price? OPG, unfortunately, has lost its reliability. So I use GPA (objective) which is a great tool.

(v) volatility -- if the item is somewhat common to very common, does the price whip-saw up and down? Again, GPA is a good reality check.

 

This thought process comes into my mind before I pull the trigger, and I find myself making fewer and (I would like to think) more intelligent purchases.

 

 

[Mailman_Comics]

I don't spend as much as some of you guys on here, but the way i see it, it's what we enjoy, it makes us happy and it's something that doesn't deppreciate in value (depending on what you collect). When my wife complains, i tell her, if all this money was left in the bank, you'd spend it. All these comics i buy i can at least get my money back or make a profit down the line.

[Brandon Shepherd]

Hi... My name is Brandon...

 

and I'm a collector.

 

I keep track of all my CGC purchases in Excel, so I can see my monthly, yearly and grand totals. I too try to limit myself to just the good stuff, quality over quantity. I find the best pieces have a way of appearing at the worst times, such as when you're closing on a house, when the car needs to go to the shop, or when you have already purchased a nice book. I made a big purchase last August and I said to myself that I would not purchase another CGC book for the rest of 2012, I purchased 7 more slabs after that.

 

About 5 or 6 years ago I had a bit of a crisis of faith so to say, I felt that collecting comics had too much of a hold on me. I realized that I was spending all my free time and money on this, I felt that I had to get out of this to save myself. After some soul searching, I realized that this was who I was and I could not part with this hobby. This hobby has taught me discipline and patience, I feel that I spend my money more wisely now because I'm a collector. I could spend my money on the latest gadgets, but they will become outdated eventually, happy hours come and go but the CGC comics I enjoy provide me with so much more (this is not to say that I don't want nice gadgets or that I don't enjoy happy hour every now and then).

 

Part of the discipline of collecting is knowing when to pass, this is not always easy to say the least. There are times when you have to make the best decision for yourself and not your collection. I find that the pieces I enjoy the most are the ones I had to really work for, the ones that make me brown bag my lunch, the ones that make me skip the new Blu-ray releases, the ones where I just had to make it work to afford. So, being a collector has helped to realize what is truly important, this has also helped me in other areas of life, especially in becoming more forward thinking and goal oriented. There is so much more to life than this, at the end of the day it's just a comic book, but it's what I enjoy.

[oakman29]

Hi... My name is Brandon...

 

and I'm a collector.

 

I keep track of all my CGC purchases in Excel, so I can see my monthly, yearly and grand totals. I too try to limit myself to just the good stuff, quality over quantity. I find the best pieces have a way of appearing at the worst times, such as when you're closing on a house, when the car needs to go to the shop, or when you have already purchased a nice book. I made a big purchase last August and I said to myself that I would not purchase another CGC book for the rest of 2012, I purchased 7 more slabs after that.

 

About 5 or 6 years ago I had a bit of a crisis of faith so to say, I felt that collecting comics had too much of a hold on me. I realized that I was spending all my free time and money on this, I felt that I had to get out of this to save myself. After some soul searching, I realized that this was who I was and I could not part with this hobby. This hobby has taught me discipline and patience, I feel that I spend my money more wisely now because I'm a collector. I could spend my money on the latest gadgets, but they will become outdated eventually, happy hours come and go but the CGC comics I enjoy provide me with so much more (this is not to say that I don't want nice gadgets or that I don't enjoy happy hour every now and then).

 

Part of the discipline of collecting is knowing when to pass, this is not always easy to say the least. There are times when you have to make the best decision for yourself and not your collection. I find that the pieces I enjoy the most are the ones I had to really work for, the ones that make me brown bag my lunch, the ones that make me skip the new Blu-ray releases, the ones where I just had to make it work to afford. So, being a collector has helped to realize what is truly important, this has also helped me in other areas of life, especially in becoming more forward thinking and goal oriented. There is so much more to life than this, at the end of the day it's just a comic book, but it's what I enjoy.

Nice! Say if you registered in December of last year,how did you get best presenting of 2009?

[thehumantorch]

Hi, my name is Dave.

 

I've been collecting comics for 30 years. I love the hobby, it brings me nothing but pleasure. I have no regrets.

 

 

[Kevin.J]

My name is Kevin, this year so far, I am on my 3rd long box of raw and I have bought 22 slabs.

Yeah, I have really cut back this year.

I know I have a problem, the problem is my house isnt big enough for the comics I need.

[Brandon Shepherd]

Nice! Say if you registered in December of last year,how did you get best presenting of 2009?

 

I joined the registry in 2006 but I did not join the chat boards until last December.

[oakman29]

Nice! Say if you registered in December of last year,how did you get best presenting of 2009?

 

I joined the registry in 2006 but I did not join the chat boards until last December.

Okay.Welcome

[Kevin.J]

Same here, 10/29/2005 on the registry, 01/01/2010 on the forum

[oakman29]

Hi my name is Dave,and I have been collecting since 1968.I am addicted to comics,and comic art.I got a fever,a fever that can only be cured with more cowbell.

[bagofleas]

I will just say that in four years I have put over 700 Graded comics into my collection. That's an average of over 175 GRADED ISSUES A YEAR!!!!

 

Under normal circumstances I would say that if that doesn't constitute an addiction, I don't know what does!

 

However, even with this personal drive to acquire, acquire, acquire, I have never missed my monthly bills or other financial obligations. I don't do anything unless I know that my monthly obligations are met.

 

I can say with confidence that I do NOT have an addiction problem. This is because I have always had the mindset of "If I can't afford it, then I don't do it". PERIOD!

 

I love going to Biloxi and gamble but if I don't have the money outside of my monthly obligations, then I simply don't go. I was going at least twice a year for about seven years straight, but haven't been in over four years now because I can't afford to.

 

Granted, part of the reason for that is because I have switched my spending focus onto graded comics over the last four years, but my mindset is still the same.

 

"If I can't afford it, then I DON'T DO IT!"

[Phill the Governor]

 

However, even with this personal drive to acquire, acquire, acquire, I have never missed my monthly bills or other financial obligations. I don't do anything unless I know that my monthly obligations are met.

 

 

This.

I live by this. If I can't feasibly buy it, I won't go into financial ruin to get it.

 

 

However, I do have an addiction.

 

I use to just buy comic books as a hobby, but since I began buying original art, ALL of my excess money gets put into it. I still spend money on going out with friends, and other forms of entertainment/hobbies, but the art comes first.

 

I love it though. I love collecting art, and it puts a smile on my face every time I walk into my room and see it.

 

 

 

[surfer99]

Hi my name is...wait, there's nothing wrong me, its you people who are all crazy. I can't believe you spend so much money on something so frivolous as comic books and comic book art. Ummm...pay no attention to the comic books and art in my collection, I'm uh, holding those for someone else. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go search eBay and ComicLink...for a friend.

 

 

[Tnerb]

Hi my name is...wait, there's nothing wrong me, its you people who are all crazy. I can't believe you spend so much money on something so frivolous as comic books and comic book art. Ummm...pay no attention to the comic books and art in my collection, I'm uh, holding those for someone else. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go search eBay and ComicLink...for a friend.

 

 

 

Coming from the man who wants to hold into my X-Men 109. I believe you.

[surfer99]

Hi my name is...wait, there's nothing wrong me, its you people who are all crazy. I can't believe you spend so much money on something so frivolous as comic books and comic book art. Ummm...pay no attention to the comic books and art in my collection, I'm uh, holding those for someone else. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go search eBay and ComicLink...for a friend.

 

 

 

Coming from the man who wants to hold into my X-Men 109. I believe you.

 

More cowbell!! Dude, I forgot how funny that SNL skit was so I looked it up and replayed it. So yeah, that offer still stands if you need me to hold onto that X-men 109 for you. Just sayin.