Why individuals collect items

The two main reasons for why an individuals collect items are:

1.    The pleasure of owning items that become part of their spare time hobby and allow them to showcase their efforts to fellow collectors and future collectible investors. They also serve as traditional inheritances to future generations (example grandchildren receive them from grandparents while they are alive and upon their death as a means of emotional connection and contain intrinsic monetary value upon selling them on the open market.
2.    The stability of owning assets that are not subject to deflation, require no cost for maintenance (except the labor time a collector puts into them), and the highest of probability of using such items through bartering them for currency and or other collectables, in an open wide world interested marketplace....simply put they are as good as cash, at times better and insure profits if and when a collector sells them.

Why an individual need consider collectible items as a better initial investment then other investments


To answer the question above one need focus on the minimal monetary value - profit one can expect to retrieve and receive once the collectible item would be bartered in exchange for fiat currency and acknowledge that the possibility of doing so means that while the item is owned by an individual and not bartered for fiat currency then it is an asset value attributed to the financial portfolio of an individual in the meantime. An asset s defined as, property owned by a person or company, regarded as having value and available to meet debts, commitments, or legacies. For the purposes of answering this particular question it is the focus on the profits that will come to pass upon letting go of the ownership of the collectible item that we will focus on below.

First, consider the annual expenses individuals pays out for sales and government taxes, transportation related expenses, household goods expenses and recreation based expenditures annually. It is by acquiring collectible items that all these expenditures can be offset in the future and be cut in their initial purchase by increasing the value of their assets and cutting costs of acquiring those items later on, with inflation factored in, as time goes by in both respects of the collecting cycle mentioned.

Then consider the following reasons that 1 - 2 % are avid - weekly obsessive, hoarding collectors of specific items on a consistent basis - worldwide while 66% of the entire population have a sporadic collection of items they prefer. More often then none the motivations that lead them to collecting include:


1. Knowledge and learning
2. Relaxation and stress reduction
3. Personal pleasure (including appreciation of beauty, and pride of ownership)
4. Social interaction with fellow collectors and others (i.e. the sharing of pleasure and knowledge)
5. Competitive challenge
6. Recognition by fellow collectors and perhaps even non-collectors
7. Altruism (since many great collections are ultimately donated to museums and learning institutions)
8. The desire to control, possess and bring order to a small (or even a massive) part of the world
9. Nostalgia and/or a connection to history
10. Accumulation and diversification of wealth (which can ultimately provide a measure of security and freedom)

...but ALSO consider these truths about these products as fixed consumer assets:


1. Allows one to diversify assets with a purchased consumer good, which does not limit you as an investor to financial - liquid investments. Since insurance companies are willing to ensure collectables there is an added proof that it is considered more than JUST an initial retail item.

2. Everyone knows that has years pass the amount of initially bought collectible sports cards are destroyed or gotten rid of. The result of this phenomenon reduces the amount of the items in the marketplace and in people s collections and thus rarity occurs and those who demand the items have less places to get it and are thus obliged to pay more for said items desired

3. Value of sport card collectables exceed inflationary costs thus sellers are assured of making more return on investment and collectors willing to pay more as it is known in the marketplace what the stated value for all collectors are in first place

4. No maintenance costs after initial purchase nor depreciation of asset, when first maintained in mint conditioned. Added value for keeping the items in mint condition

5. The storage for thousands of sports card is quite minimal

6. The items are known and recognizable in their nature and easily moved from one place to the next

7. No need to find a greater fool to pay more for an older item, as one does when selling an old house

8. Serves as a pastime and an inheritance to future generations

9. Easily sellable online to world market, if you have a pay pal account

10. No fixed times are scheduled for buying or selling said items and thus the advantage of buying in bulk, the points of entry and dollar cost averaging are quite possible... along with an ability to prosper from well timed world currency valuations


As an investor - collector all these factors describe a huge potential for profits and a marketplace that is more influential then most (non real estate - utilities based) industries worldwide in terms of turning items into whatever else one collects or currency sought in exchange.

But if all this information still does not make you consider these collectibles as an investment remember the simple concept that to make a profit one need not buy inventory to resell someday when everyone is buying them as the cost to acquire them will by the law of supply and demand ensure you can not buy them for less than marketplace value and thus flipping them will reduce the profits made whereas buying them now when the demand is lower, due to the economy and lower demand than was seen in a good economy chances are that you can buy the items cheaper and like any pother investment when the economy improves you can compete easily selling the items cheaper than the market and still make a higher percentage of profit than the majority. In other words when it comes to seeing collectibles as an investment the best times to purchase them is when the demand is lower. This is how a collector can increase the value of their collectibles portfolio and investors their investment return on what is purchased right now.