How do you budget?

AlanAllen

I'm trying to create a wantlist for the next 12 months that fits within my budget. I went through my set checklists and tried to list only the top-tier "must have" cards. I estimated what each would cost, and it came out to be about four times my budget . I'm quite sure that I'm not in this boat alone. So, I'd like to hear strategies used by those with a little more fiscal discipline than me.

--Do you keep a tiered list? "Must have," "would love to have," "would buy at the right price." "would bottom feed," something like that?

--Do you set a price you're willing to pay for each card, and just stop when you run out of money?

--What percentage of the cards on your wantlist do you assume you'll be able to find in a given year? I'm sure this varies quite a bit, but do you take this into account?

--Do you actually stick to your wantlist and buy nothing that deviates? If not, what sort of contingency do you add for the "I never knew how cool this card was now I gotta have it" situations?

--Anything else?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

joker73

<< <i>--Do you set a price you're willing to pay for each card >>



I'm sure many others do something similar, but I always track low, average, and high sell prices for cards I need for my collection, and generally try to bid somewhere around the midpoint between the low and average selling price. That keeps me out of too many last-minute bidding wars, and serves as a nice reminder that someone at some point in time got a good deal on the card - so I should have the patience to wait for a better deal as well. I usually get outbid on 90% of the cards I track, but then when I win an auction, the final price usually makes me happy ...

Griffins

True collectors don' need no stinkin' budgeeeet.

sjeanblanc

Budget? You just buy until you have to call one of those Credit Couseling Companies, then you give all your cards to a relative, and declare bankruptcy. Wait six months, get a new credit card and start again!

In truth, I buy graded cards that I know I don't have raw cards in an equivalent grade, otherwise I look for good raw stuff and do my own grading. I've actually found several sources that I can buy cards from sight unseen, and get what I'm expecting.

Scott Jeanblanc
jeanblanc@iconnect.net
Ebay UserId : sjeanblanc
--------------------------------------------------
Collecting Nolan Ryan cards (68-94)

Virtualizard

I don't budget, I never have, but I probably should. I go after any card that I really need, and it costs me sometimes. If a rare item comes up that I need, I will go after it, regardless of what it costs.

That said, I am doing the 1960 Topps Baseball set, and I have set some limits on this one. I won't get into bidding wars, I won't overpay for perceived rarity (i.e. low pop) yet, and I have been keeping track of every card that has sold on ebay for the past 2 years. This has helped tremendously. I can't tell you how many times I've watched a card go for $60, a month later one sells for $28, and the next one that comes up, I win for $16.

The 1960 set is the one I work on when I can't find any of the high dollar cards for the other sets that I'm working on. When a few of these more expensive cards come up on ebay or on a dealer's website, I go after them and lay off of the 1960 set for awhile.

I know that's not the answer that you were looking for, but I thought that this was a good topic and wanted to share my philosophy.

JEB.

helionaut

I budget a certain amount every month after expenses. I do manage to spend it all but what I spend it on varies depending on what I find, and according to the priorities I have set for my goals. For PSA cards, I have narrow interests but I have to rely on ebay and a few collectors with common interests. Pickings vary greatly month to month. For things like 71 Greatest Moments, they are probably my highest priority but they come around so infrequently and with prices so volatile it's tough to set a budget in advance, so I just bid what I can afford at the time. I do like to make one major acquisition each month, either for a PSA set or a player I collect, or a "cornerstone" card, or maybe a significant investment to flip later. I've pared down my projects considerably in the past few years, but every year I find at least 3 or 4 things I feel I must work into my habit, from PSA graded Topps Coins to modern issue Musial autographs to Mayo Cut Plugs to game-used cards of HOFers (not to mention Heroclix/Sportsclix, comics, Magic, travel, and indulging my fetishes for English shoes and expensive beer). Usually they fall by the wayside within a few weeks, but there's always something new and amazing, or old and amazing, distracting me.

CON40

What??? Budget??? When I run low on funds (defined as foreclosure notice from bank), I just give my buddies, Palmer and Scooter, a jingle over at the Money Store and I'm back in business!

DirtyHarry

CON - I am still laughing. Good one.

1420sports

My wife and I are expecting our first child in early November, so I have been watching some auctions for some cards on my wantlist. There are a few cards that I will go after when they do become available, regardless of budget and most likely the majority of the purchase will come from the proceeds of whatever card(s) I sell. This is where the majority of my "card money" comes from - selling cards I no longer have a place for. Like other collectors, I do have the tendency to switch gears on the collection.

I have a feeling in November that cards will not be as important to me as they are now, so I am happy that I am finished the Rose Basic, almost finished the Schmidt Basic, have all of the big cards (minus Carew 8) on the 67, and own the big cards in the 52 Bowman set. Those two sets will be fairly easy to finish, as I collect PSA 5-7.

perkdog

OVERTIME OVERTIME the xtra $$$ for cards motivates me...thats my budget

marty

1420
Congradulations on what will be your greatest acquisition of the year this November.

KING KELLOGG

Budget???


?????



What's a budget???....(hee...hee........)



Larry

onegaucho

Budget?

As in the rental car company? What's that got to do with this board?....

ctsoxfan

Budget is not in my vocabulary.

murcerfan

Scumbi

For those of you drug free and healthy, blood and semen can be a nice supplement to your income. Semen can be especially lucrative if you went to an Ivy League school and you are over six feet tall. I doubt anyone on this board has these qualifications which is a good thing. Blood can only be given every so often so semen really is god's built in piggybank. I often see collectors of new material mentioning pulls (i.e. "It tooks me seven pulls before I got that autographed Jason Kidd). F.Y.I. the vintage card market is a bit more exhaustive. It took me nearly twenty thousand pulls to get the sixty pools I needed for my 1952 Bowman Mays. I just hope I don't run into any of seven hundred kids I've fathered on six continents. I'd much rather have well-behaved cards instead of unruly kids. Cards listen when you tell them things. They don't take up space and mess with your stereo equipment. Also, a nice kidney will get you a 1952 Topps Mantle in PSA 8. Know that you can live out your natural life without complication after donating a kidney. It's almost stupid to keep them both. With one kidney you can save additional dollars on hospital tests. They only have to test one kidney so it's half-off. Another viable way to make large budget gains without much effort is having your wife work the street corner. If your wife is hot, I'm sure you could pull down five grand on a weekend just by renting her out. Daughters are great money earners in this area. Last, if your kid is the pitcher for his little league team, have him dump a game or two and make out with the bookie. I'm proud to say my son put together a very nice 1959 Topps set by giving up eleven runs by walking the first fourteen men to come to the plate. I bought him a really nice used Schwinn after collecting a cool ten thousand. It's best if your wife drops your kid off for the games because other parents won't bet you if they know it's your son.

So, go ahead and make a budget then multiply by 10. You know the cards you are dying for will always come up for sale right after you've located the other cards you've been dying for. It's a sure thing. It happens to me every night. Well, I gotta go drink some juice and have a cookie.

I also recommend borrowing against a hidden life insurance policy taken out on your wife.

Best,

S.

Vargha

It tooks me seven pulls before I got that autographed Jason Kidd

MorrellMan

Budget to me means sober restraint. I pretty much bottom feed on a lot of stuff and when something really good comes up, I set a value in my head and stick to it - I may push it by 10%, but that's about it.

Of course, I'm not always sober.

edited to add: 1420 - congrats; our prayers and best wishes are with you.

GoSoxBoSox

What's a budget? I suggest you get your priorities straight!!!

Tipem

How do you budget ?


Don't tell your wife.


Vic

sloanjr

i have to agree with vic. dont tell your wife!!

goodriddance189

i don't budget. by the 20th of every month, i'm in financial turmoil. luckily, my only real expenses are food, gas, and hockey cards

ejguru

BUDGET?!?!?! WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' BUDGET!!!!!!!

AlanAllen

Thanks for the responses guys, they were pretty much what I expected . I wish it was as simple as working overtime... I already work 60 hours a week and I would need VP approval to work more.

The reason I'm revamping my budget is my wife is leaving work for a year to finish her degree. We sat down and figured every dollar we spent last month, and projected it over the next year, tweaking where appropriate. It left us with a small surplus, which my wife agreed to let me spend on cards . So, I have a budget, but if I go over by one dollar I'm back in debt. I'm sure I'll end up developing a sophisticated plan, and losing self-control and spending it all by around October .

Joe

Dhjacks

Budgets are for spending. I'm investing.

Buckwheat

I tell my wife what I spend on cards. Whenever she asks, it's $100 a month every month.

speeder

joe, check your email.
lee

WinPitcher

When I get into my over draft protection I then know it is time to stop for a while............