Stock market + alt assets plunging = ??? to your collecting or "investing"

[LVDan]

Bums are still cheap and so am I.
Most of my buying this year has been in the fairly safe sandbox I've been playing in for years:
$3-$10 autos
$1-$5 TC Refs/Xfractors
$3- $10 Base Sapphire RCs
Various TC color under $20
Various TC color autos under $40

Im a penny stock slut and always have been so I don't see much changing in my card world. Also because I've favored buying mostly pitchers the last couple years I'm luckily less impacted by the new cold weather dead ball era of 2022.

I'd be scared shitless at holding multiple hundred(or thousand) dollar cards of young hitters in this current economic and MLB atmosphere.

[clsports]

People need to actually go back to work now and maybe even work overtime now! No more gov't handouts and low interest rates.

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by smanzari

I know when downturns happen, everyone yells "the sky is falling" but my eBay has NEVER been busier. I'm guessing people are still buying cards, just focusing on low-end ones

eBay has definitely been busier. During the pandemic it was a struggle for me to keep anything up because people were buying everything, as I posted. Rusty nail? SOLD. Old sock? SOLD. It reminded me of 1998-1999 where I sold everything I put up there for a while.

Not as much now... things have definitely cooled.

I have no idea what that means for the future, but it has cooled.

[Silent George]

Originally Posted by OneSickDegen

The fed raising rates 8x in a year that's a pretty good indicator the economy is gonna slow down.

We're not even naming economic indicators. We're naming the purposeful intentions of our government. We're so screwed.

[Pacmeyer]

Originally Posted by pewe

the news suggests some folks lost their entire life savings over the last week... its really really bad and sad

the meme stocks are also back below their entry points, so that has got to be even more savings lost

its not good to hear, and the scary part is this all "just" happened, so none of us know exactly how it will wash through the consumer demand that becomes clearer in the coming month or two

in other words, this is additive to the pain we already can quantify

How so? The dollar hasn't collapsed so neither has anyone's retirement funds, not yet anyway.

As for stocks, those were unrealized gains getting wiped out. Is it only now that people figuring out stocks, and cards for that matter, aren't buy and hodl forever?

[JRX]

Originally Posted by Pacmeyer

How so? The dollar hasn't collapsed so neither has anyone's retirement funds, not yet anyway.

As for stocks, those were unrealized gains getting wiped out. Is it only now that people figuring out stocks, and cards for that matter, aren't buy and hodl forever?

People invested heavily in crytpo, they've lost a fortune. S&P is down 10% in last month with tech stock down way more. Amazon is down over 50% from its 52 week high. Unless your 401k is invested heavily in energy, you're down a lot the last 6 months.

[Silent George]

Originally Posted by JRX

People invested heavily in crytpo, they've lost a fortune. S&P is down 10% in last month with tech stock down way more. Amazon is down over 50% from its 52 week high. Unless you're 401k is invested heavily in energy, you're down a lot the last 6 months.

s&p is down almost 20% on the year, with inflation what it is, if you're living off of your IRA returns you are getting squeeezed.

[pewe]

Originally Posted by Pacmeyer

How so? The dollar hasn't collapsed so neither has anyone's retirement funds, not yet anyway.

As for stocks, those were unrealized gains getting wiped out. Is it only now that people figuring out stocks, and cards for that matter, aren't buy and hodl forever?

I was replying specifically to news stories about people who went into alt investments, like crypto and meme stocks as part of the COVID bubble. Several of the most popular crypto coins are down materially more than tech stocks.

And I'm parroting the journalists, who probably can cite individual examples, but who knows really how many people "lost it all".

[allabtsprt]

If you didn't get into this hobby to get rich, you will be just fine!

[atk825]

Originally Posted by Silent George

s&p is down almost 20% on the year, with inflation what it is, if you're living off of your IRA returns you are getting squeeezed.

Notable in that having your retirement fund that you are living off of for income mostly in equities is stupid precisely for this reason.

[dbpsooner]

Originally Posted by JRX

People invested heavily in crytpo, they've lost a fortune. S&P is down 10% in last month with tech stock down way more. Amazon is down over 50% from its 52 week high. Unless your 401k is invested heavily in energy, you're down a lot the last 6 months.

As someone with 20 years to go before retiring, seeing my 401k balance dwindle just means my monthly contribution will buy more shares than it was before. Great opportunity to keep adding at lower levels for the inevitable run back up.

[GlenSepper]

Originally Posted by Pacmeyer

How so? The dollar hasn't collapsed so neither has anyone's retirement funds, not yet anyway.

As for stocks, those were unrealized gains getting wiped out. Is it only now that people figuring out stocks, and cards for that matter, aren't buy and hodl forever?

Buy and hold is a reasonable investing strategy, but you need to evaluate based on your timeframe and the nature of your investments.

[atk825]

Originally Posted by dbpsooner

As someone with 20 years to go before retiring, seeing my 401k balance dwindle just means my monthly contribution will buy more shares than it was before. Great opportunity to keep adding at lower levels for the inevitable run back up.

Exactly this. Also, the S&P is up over 60% over the last 5 years. It's only down if you are looking at it in a very narrow window.

[Silent George]

Originally Posted by atk825

Notable in that having your retirement fund that you are living off of for income mostly in equities is stupid precisely for this reason.

I agree, if the distance between your wealth means when the market dips you get in real trouble.

I do think that the combination of wealth lost with surging inflation is putting into percentages where its impacting people we would have thought as relatively safe. It's the combination that puts us into relative 2008 levels where the market was crumbling, but inflation was flat. And that makes sense for most losing years.

[Hootiefish]

As someone who buys purely for the PC and only sells when I get really lucky on a card, I just hope this means that people will stop submitting base cards to PSA so I can finally submit a few PC cards I've been sitting on since the shutdown.

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Hobby should be the last thing you are concerned about right now.

It’s definitely not a top concern but neither is the economy.

I’m fortunate to have a stable job that will be in impacted by economic conditions (and my wife also has stable jobs via academia). We only rent an apartment and have no debt (school loans and cars paid off).

Our mutual concern is welcoming our baby next month. Knowing the upcoming economic conditions, we might be in a favorable situation in regards to identifying a cheaper (yet reliable and quality) nanny and/or daycare service after parental leave ends.

For me, the hobby provides a nice escape and is something I enjoy doing on the side. And, as mentioned earlier, I’m only playing with house money from past flips. As a matter of fact, the majority of my inventory has been paid off from past card/wax plays, I was really fortunate to have sold a card that paid off my graduate student loans and been involved with the earlier FOTL drops (much of what I now own was made possible from these two specific plays).

I know everyone’s circumstances are different but the hobby has improved my circumstances. But I wasn’t just collecting either (nor was I spending 4-6 figures on speculative plays of non-GOATs, well, with the exception to one Og Anunoby card lol). I know a number of people who are in significantly better positions (even to withstand what’s coming) due to their involvement in the hobby.

[rms13]

Originally Posted by Biohazarddfl

True, but with runaway inflation, we could argue people were fools to sit on wealth as well. Just playing devils advocate, not being argumentative.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I agree. I don’t think the USD is a safe haven by any stretch but I hope it drops slower than my stock and crypto investments. I’m considering putting it all into gold bars and bullets if things keep going in this direction

[rms13]

Originally Posted by dbpsooner

As someone with 20 years to go before retiring, seeing my 401k balance dwindle just means my monthly contribution will buy more shares than it was before. Great opportunity to keep adding at lower levels for the inevitable run back up.

Lots of people became millionaires with that mindset after the last big downturn in market.

[Silent George]

Originally Posted by atk825

Exactly this. Also, the S&P is up over 60% over the last 5 years. It's only down if you are looking at it in a very narrow window.

60% over 5 years is almost exactly average, and falling.

[Silent George]

Originally Posted by rms13

Lots of people became millionaires with that mindset after the last big downturn in market.

I'm about to rollover $60k from a pension into an IRA, and yeah, I'm excited about it.

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by eastbayak

It’s definitely not a top concern but neither is the economy.

You have balls of steel if you're not concerned about the economy. I'm 30+ years away from retirement. My job pays well and is as secure as they come. But I am very concerned about the direction we are headed. It's a common mistake to think that the plight of others can't affect you no matter how well protected you think you are. It's like the hobby whales who think their high-end cards are going to be just fine while the rest of the market is tanking. It's a delicate ecosystem.

[atk825]

Originally Posted by Silent George

60% over 5 years is almost exactly average, and falling.

It's not exactly average. Average over the life of the S&P is 10.5%. And it's not falling. It has fallen.

[atk825]

Originally Posted by rms13

Lots of people became millionaires with that mindset after the last big downturn in market.

I was in a low paying job from 2008-2010 where the one good benefit was a very generous match and quick vesting...and the best thing to come of that was that I put a bunch of money in the S&P when it was at like 600.

[Silent George]

Originally Posted by atk825

It's not exactly average. Average over the life of the S&P is 10.5%. And it's not falling. It has fallen.

you are saying over the life of the s&p that the 5 year average return is 10.5%?

And I don't know what to say if you don't think the s&p is trending down right, now, except, ok.

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

You have balls of steel if you're not concerned about the economy. I'm 30+ years away from retirement. My job pays well and is as secure as they come. But I am very concerned about the direction we are headed. It's a common mistake to think that the plight of others can't affect you no matter how well protected you think you are. It's like the hobby whales who think their high-end cards are going to be just fine while the rest of the market is tanking. It's a delicate ecosystem.

I completely understand what you’re saying though. I’m not ignorant of the circumstances either, I know many will be hurt. My wife and I don’t live luxuriously and we prioritize paying ourselves (via cash savings and retirement accounts) before paying others. Personally, from an economic standpoint, I’m more concerned with my parent’s retirement accounts, my sister and boyfriend who opened up a shop in the past 12 months and still have 4+ years of lease, etc. I’m more concerned for the circumstances of loved ones.

I’m also 30+ years from retirement. Over that time, I expect there to be other tough periods too. I know we’ll eventually recover from what’s to come, although it might take a good amount of time. I’m also not a hobby whale so I don’t own any super high-end cards (I only own a couple of cards that are 5 figures, currently anyway).