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What should I tell my wife?

Started by jaeldubyoo,

69 posts in this topic

cdrag

cdrag

Posted
Posted

Sell your collection now, take your wife out on vacation.

 

This way she won't have to deal with anything in case something ever does happen.

 

Also this way you BOTH get to enjoy the time you have together

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mintcollector

mintcollector

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I know it’s been discussed before, but the search function here is next to useless. I’m putting together instructions for my wife on how to dispose of my collection if something happens to me. I want to lay out the different options for her. She has absolutely no interest in comics. I just hope she doesn’t dump it or give it away. She’s a shrewd woman and if I can communicate to her how much she stands to gain, I’m sure she will follow what works best for her.

 

Any advice?

 

First, make sure to tell her that you love her!

 

Now that this is out of the way, Heritage publishes a collector's guide of sorts that deals with all these sorts of issues. This guide is usually free if you spend a certain amount.

 

Personally, it depends on the value of the collection. I use trusts, but trusts can be expensive to set up and expensive to maintain. This is especially true if you transfer items in and out of the trust. It is best to go this method if you are a long term collector with a high value collection. Just my advice.

 

I am sure that one of the lawyers or tax accountants on this forum can provide more up to date information regarding these matters. It is much easier to curate a high value low volume collection instead of one of high volume and low value.

 

Hope that helps and I hope you seek advice outside of these forums as well.

 

 

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Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

Posted
Posted
I'm getting buried with mine, King Tut style.

 

Need something to read in the afterlife. (shrug)

 

 

In a sarcophagus that can only be opened with a special hand-made key...

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jimbo_707

jimbo_707

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I once got advice about this myself: sell before you die! You are generally giving people a problem, not a valued collection.

 

That advice isn't always practicable, because you may die unexpectedly. However, I agree that you are not really doing your heirs a favor if you leave them collectibles. Heirs will never be as passionate about a collection as the person who put his blood, sweat, and tears into building it. The books will end up sitting in a closet and being forgotten.

 

Actually, there's a good chance your heirs may feel guilty about selling your collection if they know it meant a lot to you, even if they don't actually want it. Instead of burdening them that way, I would suggest that you appoint an executor for your estate - someone who's not named in the will as an heir, maybe an attorney or a trusted friend - and ask that person to handle listing the books with one of the big auction houses (or donating low-dollar-value books).

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oakman29

oakman29

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I have specific instructions in my trust for my wife to locate the few board members here. That will be honest with her concerning my collection.Also I have a spread sheet with values of each book over fifty dollars.The cheaper fodder is not listed.

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Kevin.J

Kevin.J

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I have thought about this as I get older.

It is not easy from the UK to send a large collection to Heritage of ComicLink as has been suggested.

I have no interest in selling, so I just do nothing (shrug)

There is one dealer in the UK that I would hate to get his hands on my books, especially as he would try and rip my wife off anyway.

 

:ohnoez:

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Beige

Beige

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Mildly depressing thread tbh - but my 2c...

 

I have all books over $100 (all slabbed) that are my keepers photographed and stored on the computer, with 2 separate USB's in 2 different locations, in case of fire or such stuff happening.

Alongside this is a spreadsheet with the book title, cert number, grade and current GPA value.

I update this every three months and add or remove books as appropriate (sometimes you sell to upgrade etc)

 

Should myself and the books buy the big one in a fire, then all this info is on 2 usb's and ALSO with our insurance company so a claim is easy.

Should I depart in a more peaceful fashion, she has all the info needed to conduct an educated sale via the method of her choice.

Mine is a very modest collection - I would hope that all of you with $100,000+ collections do this as a habit.

It's a pain to start but once its all done, then its easy to maintain every 3 months.

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dupont2005

dupont2005

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A trusted friend is a good option. Telling your wife to offer him 10%-15% of the proceeds would be nice. Also, keeping your valuable comics separate from the less valuable ones, so you can say "These boxes go to auction at Heritage, these boxes go to the estate sale for 50 cents each." so that was she knows which ones she can bargain with cheapskates over and which ones she doesn't want to get cheated out of.

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dupont2005

dupont2005

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Posted
Mildly depressing thread tbh - but my 2c...

 

I have all books over $100 (all slabbed) that are my keepers photographed and stored on the computer, with 2 separate USB's in 2 different locations, in case of fire or such stuff happening.

Alongside this is a spreadsheet with the book title, cert number, grade and current GPA value.

I update this every three months and add or remove books as appropriate (sometimes you sell to upgrade etc)

 

Should myself and the books buy the big one in a fire, then all this info is on 2 usb's and ALSO with our insurance company so a claim is easy.

Should I depart in a more peaceful fashion, she has all the info needed to conduct an educated sale via the method of her choice.

Mine is a very modest collection - I would hope that all of you with $100,000+ collections do this as a habit.

It's a pain to start but once its all done, then its easy to maintain every 3 months.

I only have like 2000 comics and still have absolutely no inventory. Luckily they aren't worth anything either lol
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jaeldubyoo

jaeldubyoo

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Sell everything and roll the money into a couple of big key books.

Tell her to sell them through Heritage when you die.

http://comics.ha.com/

Done.

 

What a great idea! Anybody want to trade a few keys for boxes of drek? Seriously, I do need to thin my hoard and make it more manageable.

 

I once got advice about this myself: sell before you die! You are generally giving people a problem, not a valued collection. Pare down as you get older unless you want relatives to just dump it or give it away for next to nothing. No on wants to look at spreadsheets or pages of archived information after losing a loved one. They want to get rid of the stuff, or maybe just let it sit in a pile. If they want to do it right, it is more headache than it is worth to them.

 

Just think of selling your favorite uncle's: Beanie Babies, spoon collection, duck decoys, weathervanes, or anything else collectible that people like and everyone else thinks is junk. I have 5-10000 doowop and old R&B records "left" to me and I would give them away now almost 10 years after acquiring them. I do not think the original owner wanted that, but that is why they sit. Can't toss them out of memory/respect but I don't want them either.

 

Problem? No problem. My wife would get rid of it in a blink of an eye if she could. Don’t worry; she will not feel any guilt whatsoever about getting rid of my collection. My concern is that she gets good value out of it. Knowing her, she will give it a good try. She just needs some guidance. I know it may not be an easy task, but I know she is capable.

 

Of course, I don't know when my time is up. And I'm not ready to sell it all now. There are still some comics I want to hang on to. But you are right in that I should be paring down my collection.

 

Tell your wife to send it to an auction house, with instructions on how to contact them and pack the books (this is what I have done). She is not going to be interested in checking values, subscribing to GPA, reading spreadsheets, determining value, etc.

 

Your job as a man - as well as a husband - is to take care of your family after you're gone. If you are going to saddle them with comic books, beanie babies, old records or any other pop culture garbage - the least you can do is make it easy for them to dump it for cash to make the house payment, car payment or college payment.

Certainly, one of the options would be to use an auction house.

 

BTW, I’ve never had to rely on comics financially. I’ve made certain my family will have a steady income stream through my other investments. Having this collection is an added bonus.

 

A few of you suggested using a trusted friend to help with the sale of the collection. That's a good idea. While she could use some help, I trust my wife to handle it. I have a living trust with my wife as the executor of my estate. She’s actually pretty savvy when it comes to money matters. All she needs is good advice on how to sell my collection. I need to compile a detailed list of the more valuable comics.I plan to provide her with a list of dealers and auction houses and let her make the decision. I'll even tell her to come here and use this board as a resource.

 

You all have given me a lot to consider. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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DiceX

DiceX

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Posted
Sell everything and roll the money into a couple of big key books.

Tell her to sell them through Heritage when you die.

http://comics.ha.com/

Done.

 

What a great idea! Anybody want to trade a few keys for boxes of drek? Seriously, I do need to thin my hoard and make it more manageable.

 

I didn't say trade it. I said sell it and buy a few keys.

And if you don't want to invest the time and pain in the it would take to sell it, why would you push that off on your wife when you're not there to help her?

The easier you make it on her the more likely she is to be able to get a fair price for what you burden her with.

 

 

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jaeldubyoo

jaeldubyoo

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Why not sell it all and be done with it? Because I'm a collector. I'm cursed with the same affliction that many of you share.

 

Maybe I'm being selfish here, but I rather have a diverse collection (albeit significantly reduced) than have just a couple of big keys. What's the point in having a collection if I can't enjoy it. I didn't say all my comics are drek. I'm not ready to let it all go, just most of it.

 

If I can get my collection to about 3 or 4 boxes, I'd be happy and hopefully it won't be such a burden on my wife. Once I get it down to that point, I'm sure what I end up with will be fairly easy to sell.

 

I understand the need to pared down my collection. And you're right, it's all up to me to get rid of most of it before it becomes a heavy burden on my wife.

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