Collecting For My Son---Question for you guy

[FuriousD82]

Make the Future Watch set for each year. You should make the set by buying cases and boxes until you complete the set. That way you can sell off the non FW autos (or FW duplicates) and recoup your money. Also, you'll be helping other people complete their sets by selling off your duplicates, which is a great honor. And you'll likely become an SP Authentic expert which is very important in the community (for answering random questions about Short Prints, errors, player selection, serial numbering). #Winning!

[cygnusx1]

Make the Future Watch set for each year. You should make the set by buying cases and boxes until you complete the set. That way you can sell off the non FW autos (or FW duplicates) and recoup your money. Also, you'll be helping other people complete their sets by selling off your duplicates, which is a great honor. And you'll likely become an SP Authentic expert which is very important in the community (for answering random questions about Short Prints, errors, player selection, serial numbering). #Winning!

If you do go the FW route, I would personally offer the exact opposite opinion. I could not imagine the amount of sorrow and devastation I would feel from purchasing a $90 (?) box and receiving some Andy Miele and Erik Gustafsson autos for my troubles.

Despite the nostalgia of completing a YG or FWA set, I would personally advise you to only go after the good players' RC's if you're looking for something that will sell well in the future. Otherwise you'll be leaving your kid with a bunch of rookies of chumps who played a few games, and he won't be able to get rid of them.

[mooneyes]

If you do go the FW route, I would personally offer the exact opposite opinion. I could not imagine the amount of sorrow and devastation I would feel from purchasing a $90 (?) box and receiving some Andy Miele and Erik Gustafsson autos for my troubles.

Despite the nostalgia of completing a YG or FWA set, I would personally advise you to only go after the good players' RC's if you're looking for something that will sell well in the future. Otherwise you'll be leaving your kid with a bunch of rookies of chumps who played a few games, and he won't be able to get rid of them.

He was just joking............

[cygnusx1]

He was just joking............

Sorry, I felt the need to help out someone who is asking a serious question about the hobby. We can't all act like sarcastic jerks :)

[Fatty McGee]

If your side project is to lose 80-90% of the money you "invest" over the next 17-20 years, then I highly recommend hockey cards. You will also most likely have the pleasure of your son having zero interest in said hockey cards because absolutely none of his friends will collect or buy them.

Now, don't get me wrong - I think what you want to do is absolutely fantastic and as a father of a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl I totally know where you're coming from. I would have LOVED to have done the same. But, a few years ago I looked around, saw that the "collectibles" industry was dropping more and more each year and that fewer and fewer kids were getting into it. So, I dumped about 95% of my collection. Best thing I ever did. But that's another story all together.

Sports cards today are now like stamps. Sure, the occasional kid is in to it, but try finding three kids in any school that actually collect. Not gonna happen.

If you REALLY want to buy stuff that is a fun "investment" that your son will enjoy and sell if he chooses to, then it's Marvel comics that Disney owns the rights to, all the way. Any and all first appearances of every single comic book character that Disney has the rights to has gone up since Disney made the purchase. But, that's a whole other kettle of fish and you really need to know what you're doing not to get ripped off.

So, my honest and sincere advice is this; Put the money you would have spent on the cards into a low/medium risk mutual fund. Make regular monthly contributions. It isn't sexy, it isn't fun and it isn't cool. BUT... if you choose to teach your son how to use money, how to save/spend his allowance, what money is for, etc. you will be stunned at how much you guys can enjoy it. He'll at first want to buy everything with his allowance, then want to save up for video games (or whatever) etc. Then when he turns 18, 21 or 57 you can say to him, "By the way... here's $100,000 above and beyond your tuition fees. Your Mother and I want you to use it as you wish for whatever you want". You'll find out in 3 weeks whether you did a good job as a Mom and Dad or not.

Or, you can just spend a lot of time buying stuff you like and that you think would be cool, under the pretense that, "It's for my son when he grows up". Then, you can sit back and watch as he sells everything for pennies on the dollar because nobody 18 years from now will give two figs for an Aleksander Barkov Jr. Young Gun. Whatever, it's your choice :-p

Maybe I should have added this in the original post.

My wife and I work at the same place and thus have the same payday every two weeks. We put $100 into an education fund already for him. That is $2,600 a year and over 18 years equals $46,800. That is before the government adds their portion and before interest.

Man will he be rich compared to me having to pay for everything but such is life. Just try to make it easier for the next person.


I am just looking for a side project that we can hopefully work on together in the upcoming years.

[habscards]

I do understand what you guys are saying about the return on investment on cards is not a good investment at all.

With that being said I am not doing it to make money in the long run. It is the thrill of the chase for me. Plus for me it is a marathon and not a sprint. I am sure that I will buy a box or two regardless but I would rather pick up the cards in traded or purchases if the price is right. I am a patient man.

Last years Future Watch was a really weak class but you can now buy the Allen and Baertschi for $10 and less and Kreider goes under $20 half the time. When they came out those numbers were easily double that.

[FuriousD82]

Sorry, I felt the need to help out someone who is asking a serious question about the hobby. We can't all act like sarcastic jerks :)

Wasn't kidding and it was a serious answer. Maybe you should look at your approach to the hobby if this is how you truly feel. Anyways, my suggestion was a fun way to collect without concern about how much you are spending but at the same time keeping you fully involved in the hobby. It's not like I told him to buy cases of the Cup until he finishes the set! You can finish the SP Authentic FW set in about 2.5 cases, which comes out to about $2500. That is a lot for some people, but not a lot for others. Plus you'll get a good amount of that back through the other hits, so you might even make your money back this way. Don't forget the patch autos have a very big following, as due the SOTT multis and other veteran content.

I do understand what you guys are saying about the return on investment on cards is not a good investment at all.

With that being said I am not doing it to make money in the long run. It is the thrill of the chase for me. Plus for me it is a marathon and not a sprint. I am sure that I will buy a box or two regardless but I would rather pick up the cards in traded or purchases if the price is right. I am a patient man.

Last years Future Watch was a really weak class but you can now buy the Allen and Baertschi for $10 and less and Kreider goes under $20 half the time. When they came out those numbers were easily double that.

12/13 SP Authentic is far different from any other year because of the strike and lack of rookie class. That being said, this years version will have a stronger rookie class. Even so, some years do stand out when compared to others, but pretty much every class has a standout rookie.

[habscards]

I do realize that last year was the exception but I bet I could put the 25 card Future Watch set together for less than $200. That plus I have traders that I will happily trade to pick up cards that would be PC for me.

That is the same as this years set. I do realize that it will be expensive but I will try to make trades to pick cards up and that does not effect the wallet too much. Just shipping costs.

[FuriousD82]

Despite the nostalgia of completing a YG or FWA set, I would personally advise you to only go after the good players' RC's if you're looking for something that will sell well in the future. Otherwise you'll be leaving your kid with a bunch of rookies of chumps who played a few games, and he won't be able to get rid of them.

This is very true. There are many "chump" rookies in these sets over the years so investment wise, it is best to only go for the top guys...but those guys change occasionally...for example, Jamie Benn went from chump to stud and it is almost impossible to find a Filatov or Josh Bailey FWA so they sell nicely. It is far more fun to build the entire set rather than pick a few players.

[FuriousD82]

I do realize that last year was the exception but I bet I could put the 25 card Future Watch set together for less than $200. That plus I have traders that I will happily trade to pick up cards that would be PC for me.

That is the same as this years set. I do realize that it will be expensive but I will try to make trades to pick cards up and that does not effect the wallet too much. Just shipping costs.

For added challenge, also build the non-auto sets. 12/13 box breaks, despite the lack of quality rookies, had additional value in the non FW hits. So yes, this FW set can probably be put together for a small amount, the box breaks overall had some value.