DO NOT INVEST in LEGO! or should you? My take on the pros and cons of brickvesting.

Locutus001 · 2016-12-10T14:01:30.000Z

Hey everybody, after being a member of this forum for about 2 years now I'm neither one of the veterans nor a total newbie anymore and my brickvesting as well as my life have moved on since then and like most others here I would do things differently if I started all over again. Would I still invest? Maybe... probably... but things don't seem so shiny anymore and that's why I wanted to share my thoughts about this topic with you, especially aiming at people who just started to invest their money into LEGO. If you want to invest in LEGO here are some things I think you should consider first! 1. Are you passionate enough about LEGO that investing (A LOT of!) time into market research is no problem at all because you do it anyhow? If it's a yes then that's good for you! Be aware though that you shouldn't be too passionate as it might blindfold your decission making when it comes to good and bad investments. We all have been there and it's part of growing up I guess. 2. Are you a horder? Do you tend to collect stuff around you that you haven't used (or even touched) for years? I do have lots of stuff lying around, some in the basement others in my room... can't give it away for free, don't want to bother selling it (because I always feel it's not enough money for the hazzle!) and some things (and to be honest that's the smallest part! that's sad isn't it?) are just good memories I want to keep around and am not willing to part from them. If you can agree to this point you might run into some problems when diving too deep into the investing game. I have a lot not sooo great investments lying around somewhere. Spending so much time just to sell them for almost no profit at all doesn't seem to be so great ... (taking into account the time I would have to spend! And that's important! Don't leave that part out! ever!). So what happens to most of them? They're still here. Many people here will tell you what to do with these investments: Sell them as soon as possible to have money free for better investments! But what will lazy horder you do instead? Keep it and wait for the right time to sell it (either because prices go higher... they won't go too much higher though... or for the right time when YOU feel like it). That's what's going on at my end at least. And because I'm working a real job and have a partner and so called "real life" it doesn't bother me. There is no money missing for me and I can still say "better than on a bank account!". But is it? So the message is: If you have a tendancy to hord stuff you probably shouldn't dive in too deep! Just DON'T! 3. Do you want this professional, semi-professional or just as a way to get more interest out of your hard earned money? A) professional: Are you really up to it? The competition is tough. Market isn't always stable. Do you have the money you need to start? Do you have the space to store all the boxes? Don't you have better/safer ways to earn your money? With social security and stuff... And without bending the rules when it comes to taxes? B ) semi-professional: what's that with LEGO investment? I don't know... maybe depends on the sum you invest? C) just as a way to get more interest out of your hard earned money: Are you really up to it? The competition is still tough! Market isn't always stable. Do you have the space to store all the boxes? (That's THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PART for most of us! And the answer almost always is: NO YOU DO NOT HAVE THE SPACE! I thought I had... but no I don't). I'd say most people fall into the category C. So the questions are: How much do you invest? If you have too much space anyhow and too much money anyhow then just go ahead. People who earn half a million or more U.S. Dollars a year have enough money anyhow. If you have somewhere between 1.000 and 10.000$/€ to invest then take THIS ADVICE : Start slow, buy big. Meaning: Don't spend 10.000$ (or whatever I'll take $ for now) just to realize later that you're not really into selling all that stuff. Because NOBODY WILL BUY everything at once and pick it up at your place. So please do yourself the favor and start buying 10-20 sets and sell at least half of them before considering to dive deeper into this thing called brickvesting! And if you do buy them then DO NOT BUY small fries ! And try to buy WITH DISCOUNT whenever you can! (best case always! at least 10-20%). If I could change ONE thing about what I did spend my money for I'd leave these small sets be and reinvest in big ones. Yes sometimes smaller sets have the better return rate, but the hazzle just isn't worth it for me. Selling 4 small sets and getting back my money + 100$ now seems worse than selling one big one and only getting +50$. I know the math tells you otherwise, but that's how it feels for me and I'm sure I'm not the only one. There are plenty ways though! People here sell small stuff, only minifigs, only single bricks while parting out the sets. And probably math wise that is the better way. But workwise i