I buy comics as an investment... 2 2

[rsouxlja7]

On 4/30/2024 at 10:38 AM, batman_fan said:

I remember a poll done on the boards a while back to look at the age of collectors and the peak was definitely on the older side.  I would say it suggested the slowdown in prices was out a ways (20yrs?) but that poll was years ago.  May be interesting to refresh.  I still spend a lot on stuff but I am prepping to clear out about 10,000 comics and about 100 boxes of toys, cards, etc. after I retire in 2 years (actually 594 days not that I am counting).  Trying to figure out the best venue to sell through.  Considered an EBay store but selling through EBay seems like the you risk a lot of scammers.

I think the MCU and DCEU declines probably sped up those timelines  

[Terry JSA]

On 4/28/2024 at 11:01 AM, Robot Man said:

I have always bought them because I like them. And because I like them and kept them, just by accident, they have become pretty good investments…

Felt that.

[Telegan]

When I was younger, I thought about comics as an investment, but nowadays, not really.  I'd rather put the money into something like stocks/ETFs where I can get in and out of them quickly as opposed to waiting for an auction or a private buyer and the process involved with selling comics to those outlets to make money.  The only other option is to be a short-term flipper which I have no intentions of being.  Then you have the "I need more room" problem with comics unless you are dealing in mostly higher-end books because if you're dealing in $20-$100 books and hoping they double or triple, how long are you going to be doing this and how many times do you expect to be successful before you make any kind of "investment-sized" profits (assuming retirement here).  I'd rather own a ton of MSFT than a ton of some issue of whatever's getting hyped lately and hope it zooms up and I can dump it before it comes crashing.

I haven't sold a comic since I was a kid and the only way nowadays I'd think about selling is maybe if I upgraded a comic.  For me, it's just owning a copy of comics I've wanted and that's about it.  I'll leave the "investment" angle to CD's, stocks, etc.  I do care about what I purchase comics for because I don't want to overpay or take a bath on it when I sell, but if I buy something for $500 and am forced to sell it some day for $400-$450, I don't really mind.  I got it for a reason and it more than likely fulfilled that purpose.

[shadroch]

Would you not buy a house because it isn't easy to sell and you'll pay commissions on the sale? Don't you have short-term investments and long-term ones?  

You don't invest in CDs. You park money in them until you can find better returns.

[Telegan]

On 4/30/2024 at 6:17 PM, shadroch said:

Would you not buy a house because it isn't easy to sell and you'll pay commissions on the sale? Don't you have short-term investments and long-term ones?  

You don't invest in CDs. You park money in them until you can find better returns.

I buy a house to live in and in a location I'd like to live.  If it appreciates, so be it (and it usually has for decades - so it's relatively safe in that regard over the long term).  I hope it doesn't tank in value, but if it does, I still have a house to live in.  Its primary and major purpose is shelter, so I buy it for that more than as an investment.

As for my CD's, they're fixed income portions of my investment portfolio and a good portion of my income.  Since the CD's are the low-/no-risk portion of my investments, I don't need to necessarily wait for better investments - they're doing what I need them to do at the moment.  If they stop paying 5%+, I'll reconsider them as a part of my investments.  For a bit more risk, that's what the stock portion of my investments are for.  I can move in and out of those stocks/ETFs as needed for short-term/long-term investments.

This is why I was saying I, personally, don't collect comics as an investment (well, not much of one, anyway) - it's just a hobby to me.  If everything triples, yay me, but it's not like the risk I'm taking is going to offer some multi-million dollar reward if all my comics triple in value.  If all of them go down by 2/3, oh well - at least I have some nice comics to look at and I didn't bet the farm on them.   But as with everything else, to each their own - we all have different goals, risk tolerances, and are at different stages in our lives.

 

 

[sfcityduck]

I'm not a dealer. So comics are not my life or livelihood. For me comics are a form of entertainment. And buying and selling comics is a game.

I usually buy what I like or what interests me. But sometimes I seek something out just to see if I can find it. An example: I've spent a few years trying to find a copy of the Aquateers Meet the Super Friends (1979) giveaway comic that was sold with a pair of swim goggle. I don't collect Super Friends. I'm not trying to own the rarest Bronze Age comics. But I do enjoy a nice hunt. So when I finally found a copy, I turned around and sold it here on the boards. The fun was finally finding one. The payoff, and it is in no way an "investment" was getting someone to buy it off of me who really wanted it. I get the satisfaction of money and making someone happy. Sure I made a 40x return.  But finding a good home for a rare item is probably more satisfying. 

I'd hate to have the stress of caring how much I make selling comics that i'd have if I were a dealer (but I'd probably have a much better collection). Even when I'm selling to fund an anticipated acquisition, I enjoy listing the items and seeing if anyone appreciates them as much or more than I do collecting the cash.

Edited May 1 by sfcityduck

[ExNihilo]

On 4/30/2024 at 8:12 AM, Dr. Balls said:

all fall into that category where a collector can feel like they are buying something that will accrue value to be sold at a later date

I max out my retirement, I pay my mortgage and monthly bills (in full), I travel.  The rest of the money went to savings/brokerage, and at a certain point you realize that you're not taking that money with you in the next life, so maybe you allow yourself to enjoy some of it now.  Buying blue chip books isn't an investment.  It's a lease on "happiness".  I spend $x,000 on a book and I amortize it over the remainder of my life.  There's either some residual value that I can get back if I need to sell it, or I bought something I've always wanted to make me happy for 30+ years at roughly the same monthly cost as a streaming service.  (Obviously not accounting for the time value of money because it complicates the calculation).  For me, it's not an investment, it's diversification of assets.  I'm not sure I'd call that a financial trap.

(And I will say, sometimes when I'm having a bad day, I can look at my FF 48,49,50 and the day becomes just a little more brighter.  That makes it worth it to me.)

[october]

These threads always bring out the doom and gloom. Maybe I am an outlier, maybe I am lucky, maybe I am just better at it , but my comic "investments" (really just my collection) have vastly outperformed my other portfolios. I spend an absurd amount of time looking for deals, it's fun for me, and I've been a quasi-dealer for about 20 years, but it IS possible to come out well ahead with this stuff. I think I am far better off sinking $10k into a comic than I am an ETF, mutual fund, etc. because I've spent, literally, tens of thousands of hours buying/selling comics. That time better be good for something....and it has been. Plus it's SO SO SO much more fun than just clicking the buy button on Vanguard or Fidelity. It takes a long, long time to develop the right eye and the right strategy though. Just buying random keys off the next CLink auction ain't gonna cut it. 

I guess I'd rather rely on my own instinct and knowledge in a weirdo niche market than hand my money over to a fund manager or try to beat buildings full of MIT grads and their algorithms. I do max out my 401k, but I'm not going to be shy about plowing what's left of my hobby gains into a comic I think is awesome and will continue to be awesome. Maybe that's risky? I don't know. I kind of feel like it's the opposite actually. 

Just felt like I'd post a slightly different perspective to what usually pops up in these threads.

Edited May 1 by october

[Artboy99]

On 5/1/2024 at 8:10 AM, october said:

These threads always bring out the doom and gloom. Maybe I am an outlier, maybe I am lucky, maybe I am just better at it , but my comic "investments" (really just my collection) have vastly outperformed my other portfolios. I spend an absurd amount of time looking for deals, it's fun for me, and I've been a quasi-dealer for about 20 years, but it IS possible to come out well ahead with this stuff. I think I am far better off sinking $10k into a comic than I am an ETF, mutual fund, etc. because I've spent, literally, tens of thousands of hours buying/selling comics. That time better be good for something....and it has been. Plus it's SO SO SO much more fun than just clicking the buy button on Vanguard or Fidelity. It takes a long, long time to develop the right eye and the right strategy though. Just buying random keys off the next CLink auction ain't gonna cut it. 

I guess I'd rather rely on my own instinct and knowledge in a weirdo niche market than hand my money over to a fund manager or try to beat buildings full of MIT grads and their algorithms. I do max out my 401k, but I'm not going to be shy about plowing what's left of my hobby gains into a comic I think is awesome and will continue to be awesome. Maybe that's risky? I don't know. I kind of feel like it's the opposite actually. 

Just felt like I'd post a slightly different perspective to what usually pops up in these threads.

agreed!

I have a lot more knowledge of the comic industry gained from the 50 some years I have been buying comics, and I feel I have a very good eye for what others will also like and that is what I generally bought.

I more than tripled my "investment" over a short 10 year period and I think it is hard to replicate that type of return in normal investment opportunities.

Paid off my mortgage and vehicle loan in January from selling some comics.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

On 4/28/2024 at 4:19 PM, Robot Man said:

When I got to his place, I found it was a trailer. Inside was a couch, a TV, coffee table, a mattress on the floor and was packed with mostly worthless comics.

Would you describe his collection as Trailer trash?

[comicparadox]

To paraphrase Freewheelin’ Franklin

“Comics will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no comics”.

[thehumantorch]

On 4/28/2024 at 10:23 AM, MattTheDuck said:

Elon Musk claims to do the same thing, and he's a multi-billionaire!

But it's a very nice mattress

[davidking623]

On 5/1/2024 at 7:10 AM, october said:

These threads always bring out the doom and gloom. Maybe I am an outlier, maybe I am lucky, maybe I am just better at it , but my comic "investments" (really just my collection) have vastly outperformed my other portfolios. I spend an absurd amount of time looking for deals, it's fun for me, and I've been a quasi-dealer for about 20 years, but it IS possible to come out well ahead with this stuff. I think I am far better off sinking $10k into a comic than I am an ETF, mutual fund, etc. because I've spent, literally, tens of thousands of hours buying/selling comics. That time better be good for something....and it has been. Plus it's SO SO SO much more fun than just clicking the buy button on Vanguard or Fidelity. It takes a long, long time to develop the right eye and the right strategy though. Just buying random keys off the next CLink auction ain't gonna cut it. 

I guess I'd rather rely on my own instinct and knowledge in a weirdo niche market than hand my money over to a fund manager or try to beat buildings full of MIT grads and their algorithms. I do max out my 401k, but I'm not going to be shy about plowing what's left of my hobby gains into a comic I think is awesome and will continue to be awesome. Maybe that's risky? I don't know. I kind of feel like it's the opposite actually. 

Just felt like I'd post a slightly different perspective to what usually pops up in these threads.

Exactly !

[ttfitz]

On 4/28/2024 at 11:50 AM, shadroch said:

Around 1990, I was set up at a NY show, and at the table next to mine was a store owner from Virginia.  We spent four days talking and watching each other's table. He was near Alexandria, and I visited DC often, so a few weeks later, I dropped by his shop. It was a nice enough shop but I was stunned to find out he slept on a mattress in the backroom and showered at a gym.  Living his dream came with a cost.

I was trying to figure out who this might be, but the only places I could think of in that area were either places that wouldn't be at a show in NY or owned by Geppi who I doubt was sleeping in the backroom (Although I could be wrong )

[shadroch]

On 5/1/2024 at 10:10 PM, ttfitz said:

I was trying to figure out who this might be, but the only places I could think of in that area were either places that wouldn't be at a show in NY or owned by Geppi who I doubt was sleeping in the backroom (Although I could be wrong )

From what I've heard, Geppis's first place was too small to have a back room. 

[Q.N.S.]

Hello. I signed up again here because of this thread. Around 20 years ago by now I used to post here, and some months ago I tried to find my old posts but couldn't, it was somewhere around '02 - '04. I can't remember my s/n or my e-mail at the time. So I just went ahead and signed up again. On to the point. I am CONFIDENT that comic books (use your pre-exiting discretions!!!) are a good investment. Better than most. I don't buy into the demographic argument, even though I recognize it's allure. It's something that appears to make sense on the surface, but doesn't really make sense when you consider the underlying INTRINSIC reasons WHY comic books and some other collectibles hold value and appreciate. The argument is like saying antique shotguns are only going to fall out of favor because kids today don't go hunting for duck on Saturdays. Doesn't matter. Antique shotguns are not going down in price. Not now, not in 20 years. The stock market is a scam now. It's blown up way beyond any sort of reasonable valuations. The metrics and fundamentals we used in the 90's and before are all gone. Quants and high-speed networks programmed by computer geeks and AI ruined the stock "market" and mistrained anyone under 45 who can't even remember what a real stock market was. PHYSICAL is where it's AT. 

Not scams like crypto, either, that scam is done. Just because it rocketed doesn't mean it wasn't always a scam with benefits, that's what it was and is. But what it will never be is PHYSICAL... and the crypto geeks and the stock market sharks are already into comic books and other alternative "hard asset" commodities, whatever they may be, as the dollar has no future, the greed of the bankers and politicians knows no bounds, and sound financial policy is not coming back. This is why the dime box became the quarter box/ became the 50 cent bin/ became the dollar bin/ and will become the 2 dollar bin.  Nothing you can't hold in your hands is really real, and yours. Anything can happen. A natural disaster or war could wipe out the stock market and the crypto and houses and land. You know what it also means? LESS COMIC BOOKS. Higher values for the ones that survive. They can mine gold, mine silver, and mine FAKE crypto, but they can't mine pre-code horror, and they can't mine Claremont's X-Men run. 

I'm in my mid-50s. Here's my active collecting years: 1975-1985, 1993-1995, a wee bit around the turn of the milennium, then NOTHING - even sold about half my best books in '07...(much to my regret), and now, back into it. Here's how... all of a sudden I was watching You Tube and I came across a video. That's all. I MISSED the COMIC BOOM and it was late '22 when the boom was coming to an end, I was SPEECHLESS. The next day I started digging out my collection and getting back into things regularly and understanding the comic market as it exists today. We saw the fair-weathered friends and spec hunters and pumpers leave. But they will be back. It might be 7 years but there's going to be another RALLY... what's most surprising is how RESILIENT our values have held during a time when the superhero movies are in disarray, the big two are terribly managed, and over-slabbing caused a disgorgement. But we're getting over the hump... it will take another 1-2 years to reach the denoument of this post-comic boom stabilization phase. 

PHYSICAL. DESIREABLE.  MARKETABLE. NOSTALGIC. NEAR-LIQUID. OFF THE BOOKS ( in many cases). TRANSPORTABLE.

You can whittle down, focus, reduce, but should not divest now. I would sell all the stocks and crypto to buy tangibles. You remember what happened to records when CD's came around, and even cassettes and 8-tracks and VCR are worth something now. The LP's I sold and the Rolling Stone mags (early '70s) I shouldn't have. These things are pure Americana. The comic book age, even if it ends after 70-80 years doesn't matter. The young still love the stories and the tv shows, and online. This means they UNDERSTAND why comics are valuable. They don't have to like sitting there reading them, but if they watch/play an augmented/virtual reality Batman, and their granddad gives them a stack of Batman comics from 100 years ago they know God and Man aren't making anymore of those.  Much of what you can buy or score at half-off today's already soft market is a 100% gain just waiting to be had. In the meantime, enjoy the hobby....

Edited May 2 by Q.N.S.