Need advice 25-30K to spend

cefy1

Hello,

I've seen a few of these threads over the years, but couldn't find any easily and I know there are both old and new members on these forums all the time.

My story is I am recently divorced, was able to get out with my card collection, my retirement, and a piece of my prior property as my wife bought me out. Luckily we had about same income and our kids are all older so financially I did okay, but the last 2 years were hell as anyone who has been through this type of mess can attest to. I survived, bought a reasonable condo in a nice city with an active neighborhood and now want to focus on one of the things I love. I am comfortable with my traditional retirement assets, but need to diversify with what will be a small percentage of my cash payout. Currently my main focus has been Gretzky cards, I started collecting in 1980 and that and Baseball were always my primary focus. Like many I got out for about 15 years, and came back around 2005 when I learned about grading through trying to sell a Topps Gretzky rookie on eBay in which at that time some sort of authentication was needed. I have been selling many of my Gretzky cards during the past few years as I was having difficulty finding new Gretzky cards I needed and started buying high end rookies 70's and newer with a couple of exceptions for cards from the 60's . Today I have 40 - 45 such cards of which most are baseball, with mix of the other major sports as well which were bought mainly before the dramatic rise in prices.

That brings me to where I am now, I am not an investor, but rather a collector, but appreciate high end cards of all types and understand there is an investment component to this. I am looking for suggestions on cards to buy across all sports regardless of grade, but that present well. I would say I look for value and I know I have several blind spots which would have me miss good opportunities in things like modern and basketball. For a long time I insisted I wouldn't buy any of the shiny cards which prevented me from buying cards of my favorite player Tom Brady which was clearly a missed opportunity and me just being stubborn. Anyway I have rambled enough here, like I said looking for expert opinions on any and all cards to help me build out my collection as this is a hobby that I still love. I obviously will be limited on what I buy, but this will be a good opportunity to build a list to work from. Currently I have been focusing a little more on Football last 2 purchases I made were Marino PSA 9 rookie, and Montana PSA 8 rookie. I hope to get to some shows, maybe the national in Chicago and in the fall the Expo in Toronto, but will mostly be using eBay and maybe some other online avenues.

Thanks for reading and considering items to share.
All the Best,
Chris

blurryface

high grade, centered goats & unopened.

Historicalwood71

Unopened material is going through the roof these days. And that's also with newer sports that have aged about 2 to 3 yrs. If I were you, I'd spend on hard to get hobby boxes and let them age more!!!! You really cannot beat that in the card world. Look up hobby boxes of 2017 football contenders, 2018 basketball hobby boxes ..list goes on. But if you get hands on earlier stuff.... that's icing on the cake! I'd buy cheaper also. I'll say, I'll say I'll be remiss, if I didn't mention anything of great older players in psa 9's. You can't go wrong! All My best wishes!

Jayman1982

If you're looking to beef up your hockey holdings I'd throw some money at mint Young Guns from 2000-2014 of future HOF'ers.

blurryface

@Jayman1982 said:
If you're looking to beef up your hockey holdings I'd throw some money at mint Young Guns from 2000-2014 of future HOF'ers.

signed hof rookies have done well too. i bought a ton of hockey rcs autos from @charrigan a while back when i was doing the 4 sport hof signed run. i was absolutely floored when i checked things out the other day. and the ones i couldnt comp were only because there simply werent any available for sale or even previously sold. the signed mantle run was eerily similar back in the day. needless to say, that segment has absolutely exploded.

and getting back to what @Jayman1982 was saying, some of those early young guns cards i bought signed were half the price of what an unsigned one in the same grade goes for now.

hockey was never really my sport, but i knew what collectors to follow and who to seek out advice from. a lot of the times, thats just as important as what to buy. the two little things i know for sure is that those early young guns have only continue to be extremely coveted items today and you can never go wrong with gretzky.

anyways, that's all i got for hockey. and good to see you back in a good place and all that behind you, op. has to be a great feeling!

Cakes

@blurryface said:
high grade, centered goats & unopened.

PSA 8 Jim Brown Rookie! But be careful, some of the older ones would never regrade at PSA 8. If you do go with a Brown look back at uffdah's thread to see the tips on selecting a nice one.

I also like a high grade Bill Russell rookie. He has been forgotten lately but would easily force his will and dominate the new era of greats, to include KD, Steph, Harden, etc... Oh crap just checked prices on Bill I guess he has skyrocketed the last couple of years. I would stick with Jim Brown.

AFLfan

Hi Chris,

Sorry to hear about your divorce, but it seems that things came out reasonably well for you, which is good. I am sure you will receive very good investment advice from the many intelligent collectors we have here.

As you like hockey and mentioned a show in Canada, I would advise you to simply take a look into lacrosse cards. By no means am I saying to spend a big chunk of your budget there, but maybe just a little bit if you see something you like. I feel the sport is on the rise in popularity and I have been seeing small rises in prices for certain lacrosse cards. A lot of it was printed in smaller quantities, especially the team & league-issued stuff. I have been picking up stuff, and will just be socking it away once it returns from grading.

Lacrosse cards will likely never be as popular as the big four sports, TCG or some other areas, but I think that they have the potential to increase in value. And if you like hockey, then I am guessing that you are at least familiar enough with lacrosse to enjoy the hunt and purchase at a minimum.

Whatever you decide, best of luck.

SpinFadeSplash23

Kobe on card autographs, PSA or BGS
Unopened basketball wax from 2000-2010 (focus on HOFers)

Redglobe

centered mickey mantles and 2nd year OPC Gretzky in 9 or 10

80sOPC

If hockey there are future HOF current players whose Cup /99 and /299 RC’s can be had for under 1k, in some cases under 200 bucks. Not obscure long shot HOFrs but first ballot players. These aren’t registry cards but have to believe that over time these cards will do well. Young guns are fun but the print runs are huge. Big time bubble pricing for some of the star players.

cefy1

Thanks all so far, really appreciate everyone's thoughts and ideas, this is exactly what I was looking for in terms of diversity and things I generally wouldn't have thought to consider.

Cakes

@cefy1 said:
Thanks all so far, really appreciate everyone's thoughts and ideas, this is exactly what I was looking for in terms of diversity and things I generally wouldn't have thought to consider.

No problem at all. I am pretty sure if you do a search under investment you will see threads similar going back 10 plus years. It would be interesting to see how well we have done. I have been pretty lame and stuck with Jim Brown, Hank Aaron, and Kareem rookies in everyone one. Damn I am vanilla.

KendallCat

Lots of good advice so far in this thread - centered Mantles, centered GOAT’s, strong rookie cards, unopened wax…. To add to that make sure you are buying stuff YOU like and not because others like it. If you bought a bunch of cards and the market crashed completely would you still like them should be your first criteria. If they appreciate a ton over the next few years consider it a bonus. Good luck with your purchases!

AlanAllen

I'd go one of these directions since you're a Brady guy:
1. An unopened box of 2000 Playoff Contenders. There are none available in your range right now, but Dave and Adam's had them up for $30k a couple months ago and some have sold under that this year. Could have a $2 million Brady in it.
2. PSA 10 Bowman Brady RC, PSA 7 Jim Brown RC, and PSA 6 Namath RC. I like the future of the Bowman specifically because it's a nice looking card in his Patriots uni and it's condition sensitive being cardboard with black borders. And he had no Topps RC, so it's his best traditional style card. Pop will likely stay low as PSA standards have tightened. Jim Brown has a huge hobby following and his legend will only grow. Be picky though, there are nice looking 7s and ugly 7s. The Namath is the most iconic football card there is and supply will never be enough to meet demand. Again be picky, especially with centering.

1951WheatiesPremium

I’m using $30K for maximum fun but swap each to $4K and throw extra 5-10K wherever you want.

(And honestly? Maybe toss a few bucks at Pokémon, too, if you’re talking more investment than enjoyment.)

$5K on rookies ‘and/or key cards from each major sport - MLB, NHL, NBA, NFL - with about an 75-25 ratio of rookie to key cards. To be clear, I’d be looking at key cards in the MOST popular sets. Sets like 1956 Topps baseball, 1986 Fleer basketball, etc have many set builders and probably always will for a variety of reasons.

$5K on unopened

$5K on a single card

Nathaniel1960

A blended portfolio of cryptocurrencies themselves and the platform companies that support them.

Goldenage

Healing from a divorce can take a while. I would only suggest you take your time before you start spending. You could have big highs and lows in the near future as your mind navigates through all this.

Please take the advice of buying what you like.

coinkat

Just be careful... buying is not as easy as it looks

cefy1

@coinkat said:
Just be careful... buying is not as easy as it looks

Thanks again to all, I know I tend to be very disciplined as well as conservative.

rtimmer

I’d load up on graded rookie showing wax and cello packs. 👍 god luck