Advice from veteran collectors: how do you fund your purchases?!

[pins79]

I grew up in the late 80s and early 1990s, enjoyed reading comics and watching the Saturday morning comic cartoons, but never really built a comic collection. Over the years, I casually acquired a comic book here and there, but mostly for enjoyment of reading. Now, in my mid 30s, coming from Hot Toys and Marvel/DC statue collecting, I decided I wanted to grab some of the first appearances of my favorite (and obviously everyone else's favorite) comic book characters (Iron Man, Spiderman, Hulk, etc) and I'm saying "dayyuuum...these things are expensive!" I thought pinball machines and XM Studios statues were addicting and expensive, but I was SO wrong.

 

I've always been extremely impatient when it comes to collecting. In the last couple of months I bought a couple of Hulk 181s (9.2 and 7.5), IM 55, GSX1, TOS39 CGC 5.5, and I'm paying off a AF15 CGC 5.0. Plus I also bought a bunch of other bronze age and copper age books. Coupled with all the statues/hot toys I have preordered...it's all adding up quickly!

 

I'm trying to figure out how some of the more seasoned comic book collectors on here with these awesome (and incredibly expensive) silver age keys fund their purchases? That is, do you mainly just save up for one or two BIG keys (Top 20 silver age books) a year and neglect the other minor keys? This seems to require a GREAT DEAL of self-control! Are most people on here incredibly wealthy? What gives...

[BarryAllen]

I invest in the Comic Book Coin and reinvest the monthly profits into Silver Age Key books.

[KPR Comics]

I don't buy toys or statues.

[Jeffro.]

I pimp myself out to lonely housewives

 

Or rather I wish I could do that

 

I sell off the pieces of my collection that I no longer want to fund the things I do want

[AmazingSaul]

Umm.... I work in accounting. I just spend my own money...

[CheeseFrog]

Career pays for most of it.

[namisgr]

When I was spending the most, a strict budget was helpful. If spending was over budget one month, the budget for the next month or months was adjusted accordingly. When a big auction was on the horizon, I'd underspend the previous months.

 

As for funding, I made money the old fashioned way - I earned it.

[pins79]

I make decent cash...but even with my income, it's still quite a bit of $$ when you're going after major keys. Even before I started getting into comic books, I was spending on average $3K a month on collectibles of some sort...now I'm probably closer to $5K a month...I guess the best thing to do is curtail some of the $$ thats going to other collectibles...even then though, if you have $60K a year to spend on collectibles, that equates to 2 mid grade silver age keys a year (maybe a Hulk 1 and AF15 in 5 to 6 condition)...like I said, expensive!

 

I've been selling some of my other stuff to go after more books...I have a pretty large LEGO collection that I bought just for this type of situation. that is, retired LEGO sets usually double or triple in price so somewhat decent profits.

[ThothAmon]

Never go in debt to buy a comic. Other than that it's all good.

[pins79]

Never go in debt to buy a comic. Other than that it's all good.

 

No doubt about that...I have one credit card I use...$5K max. Other than that, I'm personally anti credit cards...mostly cause I don't trust myself with them!!

[mathlete]

I aim for lower grades with reasonable eye appeal. I don't see the point in spending 5x as much for one book when I could have five books. I always assume the higher grades are for investment purposes, but I guess some people are really bothered by a few nicks and dings.

[ninanina]

I ran into a 40 year old collection before the dealers got access to it and was able to load up on Silver Age and Bronze Age stuff on the cheap as a result. The key was having the cash to spend when the opportunity presented itself. This was much cheaper than buying individual keys one at a time. The seller was happy as I was offering her more than the dealers, so I got first kick on what was at the time a collection with about 20,000 comics in it.

 

I used e-bay at the time to fill in the holes.

 

[oakman29]

I'm just going to cut and paste an old conversation I had with another board member.

 

quote=oakman29]First off I have been collecting comics for nearly forty years,but besides my ASM run of AF 15,ASM 1-current I was lacking in the "big grails".

I make a very good living,but living in California,with a house,supporting two grandkids and everything else involved,it was tough to build a collection that I wanted.First off you need to set goals,and be very focused.

Okay here we go!

Get yourself a savings account at a bank that is separate from the current bank you have,no debit cards(too tempting).Then every paycheck put in 20,40 or whatever you can comfortably afford to put into that account.You have to mentally forget that that money is in there,and to never withdraw EVER! Until your goal has been reached.

Never,ever tell your wife/girlfriend you have this account,or you have lost the battle.Buying shoes and purses instead.

Okay now that you have your account,you need a goal.Let's say you want a Hulk #1 in 3.0,and you know Hulk 1's in that grade go for around 4K, so you start building up your savings account for this Hulk 1,remember stay focused! Don't buy every little thing that looks shiny to you,or you will have lost the battle.Staying focused is the key here.Then when you have reached your goal of 4K you purchase your book,and set a new goal,and start saving for that one.

I only buy one big book a year,and that's fine.I have been able to get the"big grails" I've always wanted.I can usually save up around six thousand a year,putting money in that I would otherwise use to get coffee at Starbucks.So instead of coffee I'm setting a goal and keeping it for an ultimate payoff in the end.

The money in your account grows real fast when you ignore it,so good luck,stay focused on your ultimate goal.

[BarryAllen]

I'm just going to cut and paste an old conversation I had with another board member.

 

quote=oakman29]First off I have been collecting comics for nearly forty years,but besides my ASM run of AF 15,ASM 1-current I was lacking in the "big grails".

I make a very good living,but living in California,with a house,supporting two grandkids and everything else involved,it was tough to build a collection that I wanted.First off you need to set goals,and be very focused.

Okay here we go!

Get yourself a savings account at a bank that is separate from the current bank you have,no debit cards(too tempting).Then every paycheck put in 20,40 or whatever you can comfortably afford to put into that account.You have to mentally forget that that money is in there,and to never withdraw EVER! Until your goal has been reached.

Never,ever tell your wife/girlfriend you have this account,or you have lost the battle.Buying shoes and purses instead.

Okay now that you have your account,you need a goal.Let's say you want a Hulk #1 in 3.0,and you know Hulk 1's in that grade go for around 4K, so you start building up your savings account for this Hulk 1,remember stay focused! Don't buy every little thing that looks shiny to you,or you will have lost the battle.Staying focused is the key here.Then when you have reached your goal of 4K you purchase your book,and set a new goal,and start saving for that one.

I only buy one big book a year,and that's fine.I have been able to get the"big grails" I've always wanted.I can usually save up around six thousand a year,putting money in that I would otherwise use to get coffee at Starbucks.So instead of coffee I'm setting a goal and keeping it for an ultimate payoff in the end.

The money in your account grows real fast when you ignore it,so good luck,stay focused on your ultimate goal.

 

I wish I could get a Hulk 1 3.0 for $4k!!!

[oakman29]

Well it was an old conversation,but it's still relevant.

[Tempus Fugit]

2 themes I have used over the last 40 years or so (both rely on Oak's separate comic fund):

 

When money was tight: Parlay/flip/deal your way from small books to big books. Buy bulk for $1 each sell for $5-$10. Wash/rinse repeat. Scour shows for underpriced/undergraded books you know can be flipped. These are books you buy for $25-100 and sell for maybe double that.

 

Second (better) option is to work you butt off for 40 years and get into a job that pays more that you need to live. Use extra money to buy funny books.

[BarryAllen]

2 themes I have used over the last 40 years or so (both rely on Oak's separate comic fund):

 

When money was tight: Parlay/flip/deal your way from small books to big books. Buy bulk for $1 each sell for $5-$10. Wash/rinse repeat. Scour shows for underpriced/undergraded books you know can be flipped. These are books you buy for $25-100 and sell for maybe double that.

 

Second (better) option is to work you butt off for 40 years and get into a job that pays more that you need to live. Use extra money to buy funny books.

 

This is good advice. Within 40 years the comic market will crash and you will be able to buy all the keys for cheap!

[pins79]

I'm just going to cut and paste an old conversation I had with another board member.

 

quote=oakman29]First off I have been collecting comics for nearly forty years,but besides my ASM run of AF 15,ASM 1-current I was lacking in the "big grails".

I make a very good living,but living in California,with a house,supporting two grandkids and everything else involved,it was tough to build a collection that I wanted.First off you need to set goals,and be very focused.

Okay here we go!

Get yourself a savings account at a bank that is separate from the current bank you have,no debit cards(too tempting).Then every paycheck put in 20,40 or whatever you can comfortably afford to put into that account.You have to mentally forget that that money is in there,and to never withdraw EVER! Until your goal has been reached.

Never,ever tell your wife/girlfriend you have this account,or you have lost the battle.Buying shoes and purses instead.

Okay now that you have your account,you need a goal.Let's say you want a Hulk #1 in 3.0,and you know Hulk 1's in that grade go for around 4K, so you start building up your savings account for this Hulk 1,remember stay focused! Don't buy every little thing that looks shiny to you,or you will have lost the battle.Staying focused is the key here.Then when you have reached your goal of 4K you purchase your book,and set a new goal,and start saving for that one.

I only buy one big book a year,and that's fine.I have been able to get the"big grails" I've always wanted.I can usually save up around six thousand a year,putting money in that I would otherwise use to get coffee at Starbucks.So instead of coffee I'm setting a goal and keeping it for an ultimate payoff in the end.

The money in your account grows real fast when you ignore it,so good luck,stay focused on your ultimate goal.

 

I wish I could get a Hulk 1 3.0 for $4k!!!

 

 

This is what I think I have to do as I also live in So Cal, have a mortgage, and my wife doesn't work. It's so tempting to want to buy another book here and there (BB28, FF1, JIM 83, etc)...but right now my focus is a Hulk 1...I need to learn to stay focused!!

[rodan57]

I'm trying to figure out how some of the more seasoned comic book collectors on here with these awesome (and incredibly expensive) silver age keys fund their purchases?

 

[zosocane]

I'm trying to figure out how some of the more seasoned comic book collectors on here with these awesome (and incredibly expensive) silver age keys fund their purchases?