[jam1337]

I'm not sure if there are any familiar faces around here but back in 05-Early 06 I was a pretty big collector and frequented the old beckett boards pretty much every day. I wasn't even sure my login would still work hah! I got out of the hobby and sold off pretty much everything. I got out for a few reasons but foremost was that I went a little nuts with the spending though I was only 18 at the time with money to burn. Years later...I miss the hobby and am looking to get my feet wet again but I have some worries and/or questions I was hoping you all could help me out with.

1) Guys on a purchasing budget: How easy is it for you to stick with it? I spent anywhere from $200-1,500 monthly on the hobby back then but now I would likely be limiting myself to the $100-200 range per month, likely closer to $100 than 200 most of the time.

2) Are "Investment Flippers" who use that to help support their hobby still controversial now like they were back in the day? I enjoyed team collecting (Redskins) and player collecting but the futures-investment collecting was fun for me even though it was mostly short term and mostly involved cards from breaks I sat on. IE: I remember when Ryan Fitzpatrick had his big game for the Rams in 05 his stuff went crazy for like a week and I had accumulated some of him through breaks. There was a varied opinion on that around the old forums so I'm not sure the opinion now.

3) *If* I were to hop back into the hobby, what would be some suggestions for a first break that would give me a good starting point? I'd love to be able to start with an enjoyable, cheap break that would give me some decent trade-material and/or with "hits" that, if they weren't Skins/Player I wanted to collect I could still expect a decent return on.

[phinzphan1372]

biggest thing is to buy what ya like and what your comfortable spending…. on average i spend between 2-300$ a month …. most months under 200$

[jplarson]

Hey welcome back! I wound up taking off from the hobby while I was in college and few years after until I was stabilized. For the budget portion, I don't set a budget as much as I set what quantity of boxes I'm going to buy and then fill voids via trades or small ebay wins. I really can't speak to the "investment flipping" aspect since for me this is a straight up hobby and I have no expectations of pulling money out of it. And finally for boxes, right now Topps Finest was just released a couple of days ago and I always heartily recommend it. In 2016 Panini will be the only brand that has an NFL license to produce NFL players in NFL uniforms. Upper Deck has the market on the college license which will leave Topps to focus on baseball.

[butterworth1326]

Don't buy boxes, buy the exact cards you want! Whether a team, player, position. Biggest thing I did was stop buying packs and boxes. Spend $100 on a box for a 1/10,000 of getting a Brian Hartline hit, or just buy the Brian Hartline card I want for 80-90% less most of the time. I have extreme budgets too, (just got married, buying a house, starting a family, etc) I have around 50-100 a month, some months I buy nothing, and yes that money rolls over lmao. I spent 500 over Christmas last year and maybe 500 since then, real quite year..I'm a very big on paying what it's worth, not making some dude rich. Look out for deals, don't let your heart buy cards.

[micorps]

I used to buy cads of player when they were selling low and who I thought still had investment potential in the future. I don't think its controversial as it is demand driven and is always good if your the guy with the cards when the player is hot. I stopped doing that because I accumulated to many cards. Now just buying PC items first and foremost and may buy 1-2 boxes a month and test my luck.

[no1dolphan]

Buying wax is suicide... better off going to Vegas. Stick with what you love... team, players, etc. It makes it much easier to know what to buy. It also will teach you what all YOUR stuff is worth so you can buy and sell at a slight profit. Not that investing in cards is smart... it's really dumb, but it's nice when you can get back what you put in and still have a PC. I also don't like speculation... rc's that may increase in value. I've found that rock solid HOF'ers that have a big following *cough*, Marino for example, are always the safest financially. That said, I have a Dolphins PC that is mostly stuff NOBODY but me wants... .and I'm fine with it because they're not going anywhere.

[jam1337]

Thanks for the responses fellas! Glad to see I wouldn't be totally budget-inept with what I'd be comfortable spending.

Buying wax is suicide... better off going to Vegas. Stick with what you love... team, players, etc. It makes it much easier to know what to buy. It also will teach you what all YOUR stuff is worth so you can buy and sell at a slight profit. Not that investing in cards is smart... it's really dumb, but it's nice when you can get back what you put in and still have a PC. I also don't like speculation... rc's that may increase in value. I've found that rock solid HOF'ers that have a big following *cough*, Marino for example, are always the safest financially. That said, I have a Dolphins PC that is mostly stuff NOBODY but me wants... .and I'm fine with it because they're not going anywhere.

Yeah I understand the return on breaking wax is not great but I'm starting from scratch again and figured a box could give me some solid trade-bait and/or some singles to sell. I did the same thing back in 05, first purchases were two boxes of Topps Chrome and it got me kick started with quite a few trades. Plus I can't deny it, I loved breaking wax!

As for player investing, I definitely wouldn't go into it expecting to make any money real. I just figured it would give me something outside of my team to be vested in and if I got lucky and made a buck or two I could sink that little bit extra into my PC.

[savagenate]

I have a VERY limited budget. $80 tops a month. Usually less. I try to stick with buying players and cards I want. I too love to break boxes though! I try to save up and buy a cheaper box or 2 3x a year to keep the itch away lol. I try to stick with boxes that have more hits in them. Absolute has 4 hits, Prizm has 3 or 4 I think, plus they have cool inserts. I tend towards boxes like that just because they can give some nice hits, plus you get to open a few packs as well lol. This year I'm doing 2014 Valor, and and maybe Prizm from last year.