Vintage Memorabilia as an alternative investment

[dbaldoni]

I have been successful lately with clients wanting to move monies from there stock and bond portfolios into hard assets such as vintage GU bats, balls etc....are you finding your clients/friends doing the same?

[suicide_squeeze]

I have been successful lately with clients wanting to move monies from there stock and bond portfolios into hard assets such as vintage GU bats, balls etc....are you finding your clients/friends doing the same?

This is a good point. I was a stockbroker for a very VERY short time, and it took me about as long as one Nolan Ryan fastball leaving his hand to hitting the catchers glove that that business was fraud-ridden, profit driven, and NO ONE in it cares for the "personal investments goals" of the client.

Add to that the current stock market debacle, and you have an investment melt-down of magnitudes not seen since the great depression.

So where do you go with your money?

Any time you "invest" and commit your hard earned money in something, it's a long-lived rule of thumb to pick something safe, and that has a high likelyhood of giving you a good (fair) return on your money.

What better than investing in the game used items of the old guys who played the game right....the game known as "America's favorite past time"? These items are NOT replacable, rare in the fact that there are more fans every year, and more enamored by the great players of yesteryear. It's a can't lose proposition.

Supply and demand determine the outcome. You do the math.

[suicide_squeeze]

By the way dbaldoni........welcome to the forum.

[PwKw13]

I have been successful lately with clients wanting to move monies from there stock and bond portfolios into hard assets such as vintage GU bats, balls etc....are you finding your clients/friends doing the same?

I know my stock investments have been cut in half over the past year, but the value of my collectibles have held up pretty well. It's probably one of the best things I could have done with my money recently!

[skyking26]

As a 30 year collector, I like Cd's for my investments. Banks compete with each other on interest rates, you can jump from bank to bank with liquid money markets as well.

I'm a safe guy. My hobby is my pleasure, not my business and I don't like to mix.

RK

[MarinersFan34]

I try not to mix the hobby with business either but yea I do sell things on occasion, however they're also not investment type items.

The other thing to think about with vintage is that along with them being irreplaceable, we're also losing items every week to the trading card industry in their scheme to get people "closer" to the game.

[suicide_squeeze]

As a 30 year collector, I like Cd's for my investments. Banks compete with each other on interest rates, you can jump from bank to bank with liquid money markets as well.

I'm a safe guy. My hobby is my pleasure, not my business and I don't like to mix.

RK

RK,

Just a friendly reminder from a finance guy......

There is a beast out there in the world called "inflation".

This demon has a way of making your rates paid in these "CD's" turn out to be close to nothing, in relative current-dollar terms. In laymens terms... If you are getting 2.5% interest for a 9 month CD (based on a year maturity....so you'll be receiving 3/4 of a full years 2.5% on the account) and inflation for the year turns out to be 3%......you have in fact lost money by owning that CD for the year. You have lost (even though your account has a higher balance than when you opened it) becasue the beast known as inflation has left you will dollars that have less buying power for goods and services in the country we live in.

That said, yes, it's a great way to "preserve your capital" but not much help in "growing it". And in the current debacle, economically speaking, we are faced with, my guess is the Government will be burning a little bit of the midnight oil on the printing presses to pump out more benjamins into the money supply. This won't help your cause at all.

So go out and take some of that savings and buy a nice old game used item or three. 5 years from now, it's a cinch it will be worth more than the CD you would have if you had left the same funds in for that time.

Regards,

Steve

[suicide_squeeze]

The other thing to think about with vintage is that along with them being irreplaceable, we're also losing items every week to the trading card industry in their scheme to get people "closer" to the game.

And doesn't that just fry your baseballs???

I have spoken to literally hundreds of people over the years about this.

PLEASE.....just don't buy these pieces of garbage. If there is no demand for them, then they will stop producing them.

I mean......my GOD, the thought of cutting up a Ruth bath into splinters to sell off 5,000 pices of it to people who want to be closer to the game??? I just don't get it, and never will. You are buying a piece of garbage......not a game used bat. What joy could there be in knowing you financially supported a company who DESTROYED a major piece of baseball history........so they could profit huge from it??

[Fnazxc0114]

i dont really look at it as an investment. there isnt much of a market for jim sundber, steve buechell bats. there really havent been very many good rangers over the years. as far as investments go ten diff't people will give you ten diff't perspectives so i generally take most advice with a grain of salt.