Collectibles, turning your passions into investments.
Steve Sansweet: I really do not have a general idea of how much this collection is worth and that’s good and it’s also frightening. I mean if it were to go up at an auction as part of the Rancho Obi-Wan collection, it would certainly be in the millions of dollars and as for insurance, you buy what you can afford. So each year we tried to up the insurance by another half million or a million dollars, to try to get closer to what we think might be somewhere in the ballpark of the estimate.
David Scranton: And that is Steve Sansweet, owner of the largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia in the world. At the time that story was filmed, even Steve didn’t know the collections total value only that it was in the millions. Now obviously, collectibles are serious business for many, many baby boomers who turn their passions into investments. But the question becomes are they smart investments in today’s market? And what are the pros and cons of investing in collectibles? It’s time once again to tune out the hype and focus on the facts, facts that matter to you The Income Generation. Let’s get started. Get ready to separate reality from myth.
David Scranton: How does it affect the market? How does it affect the economy? Thanks to efficiencies and new technology and a staff of veteran analyst and portfolio manager Sound Income strategy try to set the new standard and bring institutional style investing to your portfolio. Hello, I’m David Scranton you know many of us have fun memories of collecting things as kids, baseball cards, comic books, action figures. It was all part of the baby boomer experience, but for some boomers, a fun childhood pastime eventually turned into a serious investment strategy. Now, of course, collectibles were an investment tool long before the baby boomer generation we just kind of sort of helped expand the market into new areas. But are these new market niches for things like toys and pop culture memorabilia still strong? And what about more traditional collectibles like art, coins, and stamps? We’re going to have some fun while answering those questions and sharing some valuable tips and insights right here on today’s show.
Helping us will be a very special guest from the hit show Pawn Stars, much more on that later. But first, let’s talk about what constitutes an investment worthy collectible and whether you may have one without even knowing it. That’s Bob Dylan, shocking crowds in one thousand nine hundred and sixty-five, Newport Folk Festival by playing electric guitar. Just a few weeks ago one of Dylan’s electric guitars was sold at auction to a collector for almost half a million dollars. So are all guitars good investments? Of course not, while certain high-end guitars and other instruments do appreciate in value most of those eventually sold for huge sums of money. And they derive their value though from their place in history, for example, a Gibson J one-sixty-e model guitar made in one thousand nine hundred and sixty-two can be worth anywhere from four thousand to fifteen thousand dollars today. But a certain one of those guitars which happen to be owned by John Lennon is valued at two point four million dollars. That’s just one of the many interesting and complex things about collectibles in general, their value can depend upon lots of factors and it can change quickly.
So let’s go over some basics, but first, I’d like to make one thing very clear in no way is today’s show meant to advocate investing in collectibles as a viable financial strategy for retirement. Ultimately it’s a high-risk strategy that offers no reliable income stream, so in that respect, it couldn’t be more wrong for retirement and we’ll talk more about that also a little bit later on. But the bottom line is that collectibles as investments are excess or at least they should be, there an indulgence you can enjoy separate from the asset allocation designed to create your retirement income. We’re discussing them today because I know from experience that many people of our generation do have an active interest in collectibles and because there are some serious financial considerations to keep in mind. And some potential dangers to look out for so, what constitutes a collectible?
The answer is pretty much anything guitars, obviously, Star Wars toys, records, Barbie dolls generally are collectibles any physical asset that has a potential to appreciate in value over time because it’s rare or simply because a lot of people want it, it’s desirable. Traditional collectibles include things like jewelry, stamps, coins, fine art and baseball cards but the truth is just about anything can be a collectible. As we mentioned before Baby Boomers, nostalgic for relics of their childhood have created new markets for a wide variety of items. I’ll talk later about some of the specific collectibles both traditional and trendy, now market experts say might just be a good investment today. There are many reasons why people invest in collectibles, but for most financial gain is it really the major motivation. Like the Star Wars collection we saw at the top of the show most people start simply because they have a passion for something, be it Star Wars or guitars or fine art. For some, it eventually does become a financial strategy though certainly not one central to their retirement plan. The basic idea of collectibles as a financial tool is simple, the investor buys a physical asset which he can either use, transport or store while waiting for its value to increase over time, hopefully.
The collectibles market is tricky in that respect and a lot of things that people believe will appreciate in value actually in time become completely worthless. The market evolves over time as interest and generations change, remember for example the beanie baby craze in the nineteen nineties. A lot of people were purchasing these little-stuffed animals specifically as investments and while a handful are valuable today. Most are worth less than a few dollars and certainly less than they cost to purchase twenty-five years ago, on the other hand, some items become extremely valuable depending upon trends and interests. In recent years a string of blockbuster movies have renewed the popularity of comic book superheroes increasing demand for and thus the value of many vintage superhero collectibles. Now, if you happen to have a copy of the first Spider-Man comic book lying around, for instance, it might interest you to know that a few years ago one like that sold at auction for one point one million dollars. And there are actually some benefits to collectibles that other types of investments don’t offer, one is that when collectibles do increase in value they do so right along with inflation. Which oftentimes can make them a good inflation hedge.
Collectibles are also potentially global investments you can trade and sell them anywhere in the world where a demand exists. And while stocks, bonds and other traditional investments are just numbers in an account, collectibles actually allow you to enjoy them as you wait for their value to increase. And that once again, speaks to actually the main reason most people get into collectibles in the first place. Because they have a particular passion it also speaks to another unique kind of value that collectibles have which can complicate their value as financial assets. Of course, what I’m talking about is sentimental value and I’ll discuss that a bit more later on in the show also. I’ll also share what some experts say are smart collectibles to be investing in these days that many experts think that might just have a higher than average chance of appreciating in the years to come. And I’ll point out some of the specific risks of investing in collectibles and talk more about why it’s not really a viable financial strategy for your basic retirement goals, despite how enjoyable and yes even potentially lucrative it can be. Mark Hall Patton, is one of the country’s most renowned experts on twentieth-century artifacts, antiques, and collectibles. He’s administrator of the Clark County Museum system in Nevada but is best known as the go-to expert on the History Channel’s hit show Pawn Stars. Over the years he’s been called upon to establish the authenticity and historical significance of a wide variety of items brought to the world famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop. Where he’s affectionately known as the beard of knowledge, he himself is also a collector and the author of two books and over four hundred articles. Mark, it’s my pleasure to have you on the show today welcome.
Mark Hall-Patton: Well, thank you. I’m happy to be here.
David Scranton: So, how did you get into the collectibles business? I mean were you one of these where at age four walking along the beach you were collecting seashells or was it something that’s in your blood from a very young age?
Mark Hall-Patton: Yeah, I can tell you that at age five my dad who was a retired Navy guide told me to go get a trash bag and a scale. Had me empty my pockets into the bag and it turned out I was carrying five pounds of stuff that I had just kind of collected up as a kid. So I’ve always been into stuff, items, artifacts and I’m lucky I work in a field where I get to enjoy that but as you say I am also a collector.
David Scranton: What are some of the coolest things that you think you’ve collected in the past or maybe that you’ve seen others collect?
Mark Hall-Patton: Oh shoot, it gets very difficult to kind of narrow that down I… My collection realms, the one thing I don’t do I have to say is collect anything that relates to the area that my museum covered. So…
David Scranton: Right.
Mark Hall-Patton: I don’t collect from Southern Nevada and that sort of thing but in my own collections and other collections I have seen some amazing things. Some amazing Native American pieces, so amazing books and prints, some wonderful swords, some great early photographs, law enforcement badges. All these different areas that overlap in the areas that I’m interested in, but then I see other people’s collections high-end collections and it’s just like okay. I’m not going to have any of that in my collection right now.
David Scranton: Now we’re talking about Jake Lennon’s car collection a little bit earlier and that’s something coveted by any car buff. Exactly, even if you didn’t have the value of it that you could add to your net worth just looking at it is impressive in and of itself. But tell me, Mark, what is your one personal and most prized possession? Your prized collection, I think collectible (unclear 11:10) not possession because then you’ll say it’s your wife and rightfully so.
Mark Hall-Patton: I would have said that.
David Scranton: That’s right.
Mark Hall-Patton: Most prized piece, it would be a group it’s probably my Orange County California book collection. I have a very good collection on that area, it’s where I grew up and it’s an area that I’m particularly interested in. But that’s also you know when you’re a collector it’s very hard to say this one thing is what I’m interested in. This is the most important, it’s like asking which one of my kids I look out for. I can’t say that.
David Scranton: I was just going to say that, it’s like asking you which one of your children’s a favorite. So tell me in the past you know what has surprised you not just of your own possessions, but maybe of what you’ve seen? What are some things that have appreciated in value and I know you… because you’re a collector you don’t like to put value on things. But, and definitely on the T.V. show you don’t do that but the point is what have you seen that surprised you that’s going up in value more than maybe you expected?
Mark Hall-Patton: I think because I’m not a sports person, often when I see things that are current sports pieces that get very expensive. I’m always kind of startled by that and I worry about the values that people place on them, I think that they forget the fact that they are time specific for that value. You know I can understand for example, in another area I think of art you know when you see classic paintings, paintings that it’s… painters that have stood the test of time that everybody agrees. You know if you’ve got a Leonardo da Vinci or Michel Angelo or Rubens or a Virmire, yes those are high-end pieces. But when you see contemporary pieces. John Povalski, for somebody like…
David Scranton: You wonder if it has the same shelf life in terms of value as a Picasso which I get completely is… So stay with us please we need to take a commercial break right now, Mark. Please don’t go away and you too stay with us for more right here with Mark on the Income Generation.
Male voice 5: Do you have a favorite, Jake?
Jake: Well, I like them all whatever I’m driving and thinking a moment this is an interesting car. This, you know Gordon Murray who designed the F One, of course, the famous F one genius this is one of the very first cars it’s called The Rocket. It only weighs seven hundred and seventy-five pounds.
David Scranton: You know Jay Leno’s antique car collection is just about as famous as Jay Leno himself if you ever watch an episode of Jay Leno’s garage you know the former Tonight Show host is a typical collector in many, many ways. It’s obvious the value he treasures most in his collection is the simple joy he gets from having it, adding to it and sharing it with other car buffs. Now, of course, he’s not so typical in another way based on the type of collectibles he deals with antique cars, in fact, are among the most valuable of all collectibles and typically only wealthy investors can afford to pursue that particular passion. Other so-called fine collectibles that can fetch and cost huge sums include antique furniture, jewelry, wine, artwork, coins, stamps, watches and Chinese ceramics for example. Market experts say if there’s a golden rule for getting into collectibles, it’s to basically do what Jay Leno is doing which is to buy what you love, what you can afford naturally. Of course, the golden rule of all investing also applies to collectibles and that is buy low and sell high. Now that is where the tricky part can come in for many, many reasons. One being that values can fluctuate wildly based upon a variety of factors as we already mention. There’s no guarantee that your collection or any individual item in it is going to be worth more next year or even next week than it is right now. It all depends on demand and in certain sections of the collectibles market, demand can be short-lived despite all the volatility and uncertainty experts say there are a few generally more affordable types of collectibles that can often be counted on to fetch a profit at auctions, private sales or through online platforms such as eBay and Amazon. One is toys, everything from dolls to Matchbox cars, to video games a certain G.I. Joe action figure from the early ninety’s, for example, is worth an estimated twenty thousand dollars today. And if you think you might have a nineteen sixty-nine hot wheels Volkswagen beach bomb lying around that could fetch up to one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The challenge with toys is often condition, whether or not it was played with if so its value is usually diminished no matter how rare, however, if it was never taken out of the package you could be sitting on a goldmine. Another type of collectible experts say still has a strong market is Star Wars memorabilia which includes many vintage toys. Do you happen to still have your nineteen seventy-eight Luke Skywalker action figure? Depending upon its condition you might be able to sell it today for twenty-five thousand dollars or so. Another strong sector of the market experts say is pop memorabilia which can include just about everything Michael Jackson’s red Thriller jacket, Babe Ruth’s first year Yankees jersey, a copy of the original business contract for Apple computers. Those are just a few of the iconic or historically significant items that have been sold at auctions in recent years for millions of dollars. Other fairly reliable sectors of the collectibles market right now according to experts include contemporary art, vintage fashions from the nineteen forties, fifties, and sixties. Good thing they didn’t say nineteen seventies, bell bottoms, and the old standby sports trading cards. Rookie year cards, for example, of legendary players like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Mickey Mantle are especially coveted by collectors. One of Mantles rookie cards last sold for one hundred and sixty-two thousand dollars which is three times the price the seller paid in the first place. Now that all sounds great and it’s exciting to think about that something like that has a great sentimental value to us might hold even more financial value than we’ve ever dreamed. But that’s why shows like Pawn Stars and antiques roadshow are so popular, it’s fun to see someone learn that an item they treasure on a personal level actually is a treasure financially speaking. But it’s also relatively rare in terms of the collectibles market overall, which is why experts stressed the Golden Rule. Buy what you love and take pleasure in owning it, by focusing on that and not on potential financial return that ends up really providing good advice. Because now even if it doesn’t go up in value at least you’ve at least gotten some emotional enjoyment from it. But you know there’s also another unique challenge of collectibles as investments and it’s a challenge often gets passed on from one generation to the next. And underscores the importance of including in a state plan as part of your overall financial strategy, but we’ll talk more about that coming up in just a bit. And now it’s time to welcome back Mark Hall-Patton, not only a star of the hit series Pawn Star. But Mark is also one of the country’s most renowned experts and twentieth-century artifacts, antiques and collectibles. Now, cut you off a little bit at the kneecaps there we’re talking about art, but I get what you’re saying also about athletes. You know if an athlete hold certain records and let’s say another athlete comes and surpasses those records if Le Bron beats Michael Jordan’s records and all of a sudden the value of Michael Jordan’s card’s going to drop in value. It’s possible.
Mark Hall-Patton: Absolutely, and part of it is also what is generating the value, in many cases, it’s who’s watching currently and who knows who the people are. If you…you know you think about somebody who might have been a great player in the nineteen sixties. If the people that are buying today don’t know that era of athletes, they’re not going to know that this was somebody of significance and wouldn’t you know add the same value to it that they might somebody today. I think you know we’ve got the Golden Knights right now here in Vegas that are just doing a wonderful job in the N.H.L. Some of the players there are becoming very well-known and those in you know… a sign Jersey from one of them Fleury or somebody like that. Is of great value right now, I’m not saying that anything against him but you’ve got to really think about what are you investing in and why?
David Scranton: That’s right. Is it long lasting or is it just the fleeting notion so speaking of that you know what do you see now on the horizon that you think if you had to just guess? Kind of put you out on a limb there for a minute you know that has value looking forward that you think it’s something that might be an area. Not anything specific but an area that you think might have more potential for appreciation, maybe it’s something you think or maybe it’s something the other collectors are talking about. You know what would you tell our viewers that have some money to burn on collectibles and really have a passion for it?
Mark Hall-Patton: Well, first and foremost collect what you like you know don’t worry about what somebody is telling you. If you like it go ahead and collect it because it’s very hard to generate a lot of money in collectibles unless you’re buying really high end, very rare material.
David Scranton: And you didn’t get to hear all of my monologue portion of the show, but I did speak with… I did say that probably five times I agree one hundred percent but. But if you were flipping a coin, if you were throwing it out there just speculating for ha ha’s saying well what do you think might actually have more upside potential or what other collectors are focusing on right now in terms of categories of collectibles? What would you think? What would you guess?
Mark Hall-Patton: I think that we’re going to see an upswing in electronic devices and I think that you’re going to see people in another fifteen or twenty years looking back at their childhood and saying oh, I want one of these. I want an iPhone whatever just to have it on the shelf you know so that you know my friends and I can look at it and laugh about the old days. And that… a lot of times that is what tends to drive collectibles, it’s what you remember from your childhood. You know it’s… I would never say to for example invest in Coca-Cola memorabilia, there’s a market for it today. But I don’t think that market’s going to hold up because people today aren’t going to look back at the iconic brand, look and see it in the same way. You know that you have to… whatever you’re going to invest in if you like it then invest but if you want to make money on it. Pick ones… you want to pick areas where there is a group of people coming up who are going to want to collect in that area in the future. One of the areas I collect are law enforcement badges, now part of the thing about law enforcement badges, one there’s laws about them you’ve got to be aware of those. But two there’s always going to be new people going into law enforcement and there’s going to be a certain subset that are going to be interested in collecting the history of their department or their particular area in that. And that’s going to build and retain value.
David Scranton: Mark, we need to leave it there for this block here but I’d like to talk to you a bit later on in the other segment if you can stay with us. I want to ask you more about that and you stay with us too, we’ll be right back on the Income Generation.
Miranda Khan: Hello, I’m Miranda Khan and it’s time now to take a look at some of the stories that move the markets this week. The Trump administration imposes the steel and aluminum tariffs on the E.U., Canada, and Mexico. Trump announced back in March that the U.S. would slap a twenty-five percent tariff on imported steel and a ten percent tariff on imported and aluminum. Sears Holdings says it will close more than seventy additional stores in the very near future. The company says it made that decision after finding that more than one hundred of its stores which includes K-mart are non-profitable. The company closed a total of nearly four hundred stores within the last year and now it has just under nine hundred left. And some Chick-fil-a employees in California will get a nice raise starting next Monday, local media reports said its employees will be paid up to eighteen dollars per hour. California’s minimum wage is around eleven dollars per hour and current employees are paid anywhere between twelve and thirteen dollars per hour. But that’s not all, all workers will get sick days and leadership will get paid time off. For much more on these stories visit Newsmax dot com slash finance. Now let’s get back to the Income Generation with David Scranton.
Male voice 6: A Texas-size model railway.
Female voice 2: Do you have any idea of what Steve spent to put this together?
Female voice 3: I’ve always heard one million dollars.
Male voice 7: Build by a man on a mission.
Female voice 4: He’s telling his life story in chains.
Male voice 8: Yes, yes.
Female voice 5: Whenever he would add something to it, he said you want to see your inheritance again.
David Scranton: You know we’ve had a lot of fun with today’s topic so far, but we’ve also seen that very often there are serious financial considerations involved with collectibles. We’ve probably all heard stories about collectors who become obsessive about it, they end up spending more on their collections than they can really afford. And are either unable to sell pieces off due to market changes or low demand or in some cases they refused to because their emotional attachment is just too strong. All of that illustrates another of the unique challenges related to collectibles deciding when or if sentimental value should be exchanged for financial value. Often that decision is never made by the original owner of a collection, either because he doesn’t need to make it financially or as we mention because he can’t make it emotionally. This makes the golden rule of collecting buy what you love, a double-edged sword in many ways. What ends up happening with many collections is that they’re passed on to children and grandchildren as an inheritance. This includes everything from doll collections that may only have had sentimental value to art collections that might be worth millions. And because the collection usually represents something cherished by the owner, it’s usually cherished by those who inherit it as well. And that means they also inherit the strong emotional attachment that makes the collection difficult to part with. Now, on the flip side, they may end up feeling resentful if the collection is large and burdensome and carries very little actual financial value. Either way, planning to leave a large collection to your loved ones as part of an inheritance carries risk, whether it’s financially viable or not. That’s why it’s important if you have a collection of any kind particularly one that might be financially valuable to discuss your plans and wishes for it with your family in advance. That’s also why it’s important to ultimately spell out those plans, I mean spell out your wishes with the help of a qualified estate planning attorney. I know from experience that even many smart responsible people, who’ve been good stewards of their money their entire lives often overlook the importance of having a legally binding estate plan in place. It’s important for a number of financial reasons such as reducing tax burdens, eliminating potential legal fees but today’s topic helps illustrate the most important reason for having an estate plan in place. And that is to prevent your loved ones from having to make difficult emotional decisions at an already difficult time. Think about it, when a parent passes away where is most of the emotional attachment? Is it on assets like stocks or bonds or savings accounts? No, it’s typically on things like mom’s jewelry or her beloved collection of figurines. Sadly I’ve seen situations where two daughters stopped speaking to each other over their differing claims on various pieces of Mom’s jewelry. Who’s supposed to get what, what were Mom’s wishes for the collection? Would she be disappointed if we sold it? Did she ever have it appraised? Etc. Etc. Those types of questions can tear a family apart, especially if a significant collection be it model trains or baseball cards is involved. And they can all be avoided by reaching out to your financial adviser to begin the process of estate planning. Next, we’ll be talking to Mark Hall-Patton from Pawn Stars with a few more burning questions.
Jeff Rose: A consumer access study recently revealed that twenty-seven percent of Americans have never checked their credit report. But its estimated say nine percent of all consumers have some sort of error, here are three things every consumer needs to watch out for. The first thing that you need to check is your personal information because guess what, it could be wrong. This could be your name, your home address, where you’ve worked in the past or even your social security number. This is especially true if you work with multiple employers or if you moved around a lot. The second thing that you need to check is if you have old credit cards, especially the ones that you aren’t using, having those outstanding limits could be hurting your credit. If you have old cards, my suggestion would be to close them. The third sticky thing that might be hurting your credit score could be outstanding or delinquent bills. Once I had a gym membership when I lived out of state, now I canceled that gym membership years ago. But it wasn’t until I check my current report that I found out that their market has been delinquent and guess what it was killing my credit. All these could be avoided by checking your credit on a consistent basis, you can get your free credit report once per year Annual Credit Report dot com. You can also get your credit score there but keep in mind you’re going to have to pay a small fee. Stop letting these three sticky things hurt your credit today. This is Jeff Rose for max2money on Newsmax T.V.
Announcer: Read David J. Scranton’s groundbreaking new book, Return on Principle seven core values to help protect your money in good times and bad. Discover practical solutions to the financial challenges facing today’s generation of retirees and near-retirees. Learn the truth about Wall Street, the financial media and the secrets they try to hide from everyday investors. This isn’t just another book about investing. Working Americans who have lived through two major stock market crashes and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression in the past sixteen years don’t need another book about investing. David Scranton’s approach to financial planning is a holistic system designed for maximum protection, strategic growth, and reliable income regardless of market conditions. Stop planning for retirement with your fingers crossed. Read Return on Principle, seven core values to help protect your money in good times and bad available now.
Male voice 9: When it comes to an investment strategy many people get caught up in the next big thing or intrigued by a friends can’t miss stock tip. But before you take the dive ask yourself, does this past the what versus the why test?
Monte Resnick: Imagine you are at the supermarket, someone approaches and says hey what are you making tonight? To which you reply not sure, could be a cake, could be a casserole. Unfortunately, this is an example of what investing, this is how most individuals invest. Getting so focused on the ingredients, we lose sight of the absolute objective and goal in contrast why investing ask three fundamental questions that should guide all of your decisions. Number one, what are your absolute needs? Number two, what are your desirable wants? And number three, if there’s any money left over what are your aspirational legacy ideas?
Male voice 9: Talk to your financial advisor about your goals and objectives. If you’re focused on income, a dividend stock or bond strategy may be best. If appreciation is important growth stocks in emerging areas like tech and biotech may be the way to go. And remember you can diversify your risk by investing in Sector indexes.
David Scranton: If you are not using someone who is well trained in fixed income and you’re born before nineteen sixty-six it may just be time for you to break up with that advisor and move on. I would suggest someone who will care for you through these important years of your life if you need help finding someone call or write us. I’d also like to remind you of the special report entitled The income generation, this is available free to you, our loyal viewers online. If you haven’t downloaded your report pick it up after the show.
Early in the show, I made a disclaimer about today’s topic that is worthy of repeating, in no way are we discussing investing in collectibles as a viable retirement planning strategy or even really part of that strategy at all. If you have a collection of some kind that’s been appraised or you have a general idea of its value, you can if you wish include that among your list of assets. But you should consider it excess and not as something you’re counting on to contribute to your retirement income. The fact is, investing in collectibles and other real assets as a financial strategy carries unique and significant risks. And as regular viewers know I believe the number one priority for investors within fifteen years of retirement should be reducing risk and focusing on income. And as I also said, we discussed some of the risks and the fact that collectibles don’t really generate any income at all so by definition they’re not suitable for your retirement goals. And a lot of very unpredictable factors can impact supply and demand in the collectibles market, causing values to fluctuate wildly. Now obviously you’d never want to end up in a situation where you needed to sell your collectibles for retirement income at a time when demand had plunged. Another risk is the knowledge gap and the potential for getting frankly ripped off and taken advantage of. Most people simply have no idea how to value collectibles and appraisals can vary dramatically from place to place and person to person and con-men are absolutely everywhere in the collectibles market. Another significant risk is lack of liquidity. Why? Because if demand for a given item does decrease you may have a tough time selling it at all let alone at a profit. Now, of course, liquidity won’t be a major issue if your collectibles were generating income why you held them but in most cases, they’re not nor do they offer any tax advantages. Generally speaking, collectibles are like common stocks an investment based primarily on capital appreciation. In other words, based on growth which as we all know can sometimes turn into shrinkage. Now it’s time to welcome back once again the go-to historian on Pawn Stars, Mark Hall-Patton. Just a couple more questions here you know you made me feel good that in my spare drawer I actually have my old flip phone still kicking around that might be worth something although I wish I’d kept my box phone from nineteen eighty-seven that would really be worth a lot.
Mark Hall-Patton: That’s right.
David Scranton: Police badges, I can’t say I have any police badges and you’re right there are limits on those. I can imagine that you can’t walk around carrying those on your chest that would probably go over like a lead balloon, right?
Mark Hall-Patton: But you also have things like you can’t own a current police badge from Nevada in Nevada, you can’t own a current L.A.P.D. badge, you have to know about those. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t own older stuff.
David Scranton: With a different style you mean. That looks different.
Mark Hall-Patton: Yeah. And you know, you can’t use them obviously but the fact that there’s always going to be a growing market of people interested in them and in patches. And that sort of thing, you want to collect in an area where you’re building new collectors to come behind you. You don’t want to do what happened to say stamp collecting, where it became too expensive for a long time for young collectors to get into the field.
David Scranton: Sure.
Mark Hall-Patton: That killed off the collections.
David Scranton: Yeah, I mean I hadn’t thought about it that way but you’re absolutely correct. How about the Internet? Talk to us about the Internet, how has the Internet changed the hobby of collecting?
Mark Hall-Patton: It’s made it much broader, much more egalitarian you can find anything you want out there, sites like E-Bay. I don’t know whether I can say that but you know sites like that, in online (unclear 37:35). You know everybody goes there and they collect their stuff but it has killed off a lot of the brick and mortar and the shows. And places where people went and they may have been looking for say rosewood pottery but they saw some early glassware that they got interested in and it’s had a real mixed effect on collecting. Where it’s killed off a lot of dealers or move them online, but it’s killed off the serendipity of finding new areas that are interesting. And an example in my case is I was reading a series of books on collectibles that time light put out many years ago and I found out about lightning rod ornaments which are glass balls that were put on lightning rods. I thought that was a fascinating idea and I’ve got fifteen of them in my collection. They’re not worth a great deal of money, but it’s something I can pull out and show to somebody and say to somebody do you know what this is? It’s a conversation starter and it’s just fun.
David Scranton: Pretty neat.
Mark Hall-Patton: I wouldn’t have known that.
David Scranton: So Mark, I would say the one thing is well I may have put some people out of business per say. I think the good news with the Internet is at least it made collectibles a little bit more liquid. So at least when you’re trying to sell something hopefully it’s a little bit more of a liquid market, it’s almost like a… eBay’s almost like a stock market for Stock Exchange for the collectibles. So we need to call it a wrap today Mark, I, unfortunately, all good things must come to an end but I’ve had a lot of fun here today with you so thank you.
Mark Hall-Patton: Thank you. It’s good to talk to you.
David Scranton: And all of you stick around too, we have more today on the Income Generation, we’ll be right back in a moment. This is fun, this is a great three to one but I’d like to take a few seconds and tell you why I decided to write the book entitled Return on Principle. Basically, it all boils down to this, let’s face it you deserve to live a happy retirement, it’s as simple as that. But for many, the subject of money, finance, and math is complicated. Here’s a fun fact, many Americans claim that they’d much rather clean a toilet than calculate a tip in a restaurant. Thank you, I guess. But it doesn’t have to be that complicated, using the seven core values I outlined in my book you too will be able to build a life based upon the right core principles. Cut, Return on Principle isn’t just a book about financial investing, it’s about investing in your life. I know for a fact that you’re going to love it. Okay, now it’s just getting weird here.
Male voice 9: You see the commercials all the time, sign up for the airline credit card and get a free round-trip fare plus miles and more. Sounds enticing, but are these cards worth it?
Seth Kaplan: It all depends on how frequent of a flyer you are and whether you can concentrate all your flying on one airline. You know if you are a very frequent flyer two, three times a month and you fly with one airline all the time you can become what airlines call elite. They’ll give you upgrades and they’ll start giving you bonus miles and then you get those miles even more quickly. But if you’re somebody who doesn’t fly all that frequently, then paying an extra twenty, thirty, forty dollars to try to fly a certain airline and get miles just to hope to get that two hundred dollar free ticket eventually. Saved the money and just pay for that ticket.
Male voice 9: Before signing up for the airline credit card, compare the annual fee and interest rate to other cards and if they’re reasonable make sure the airline offers easy travel options to the cities you like to visit. Also, check the point structure for ticket redemption and if the points expire quickly.
David Scranton: If you’re not using someone who is well trained in fixed income and you’re born before nineteen sixty-six. It may just be time for you to break up with that advisor and move on. I would suggest someone who will care for you through these important years of your life. If you need help finding someone call or write us, I’d also like to remind you of a special report titled The Income Generation. This is available free to you our loyal viewers online if you haven’t downloaded your report pick it up after the show. If you’re near or in retirement head over to the income generation dot com and download your special report written specifically for the needs of the Income Generation. Again, those born before nineteen sixty-six. I’m David Scranton and you’ve been watching the Income Generation, we’ll see you all next Sunday.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Mark for joining us today for another episode of the Income Generation. I also like to thank you our new and returning viewers, I hope you enjoyed today’s show. You know maybe it even spurred some fond memories or got you feeling nostalgic about your old collection of baseball cards or Barbie dolls. And possibly some of you still have those collections and maybe they’ve even grown to the point where they now have a significant financial value in addition to their sentimental value. Or perhaps just one or two items in your collection are rare and highly valuable in today’s market, if that’s the case good for you and hopefully your collectibles are still bringing you as much joy and fulfillment as they always have. But also, hopefully, you’re aware of the many risks and limitations of investing in collectibles as a financial strategy. Particularly one central to your retirement plan. Just remember it’s a strategy that offers no protection against loss of principle and is not designed to generate. Which are the two features that really should be your top two priorities for investing after the age of fifty? Please remember also that even in a best-case scenario with a collection that’s actually has a high net worth. You may have a hard time cashing in for sentimental reasons and you may end up passing that same burden on your children if you haven’t spelled out your wishes in estate planning. Or the market could change dramatically and you end up passing on a worthless burden, so if you’re a collector just keep following the Golden Rule buy what you love and focus on the sheer pleasure of owning it. Because that’s the real value in the collectibles market. Thanks for watching, if you’re close to retirement and you really want to know how to protect and maximize your money it’s absolutely essential that you stay informed enough to date and right here is where you could do it on the Income Generation. Once again, I’m David Scranton. Thanks again and we’ll see you next week. If you are not using someone who is well trained in fixed income and you’re born before nineteen sixty-six, it may just be time for you to break up with that advisor and move on. I would suggest someone who will care for you through these important years of your life. If you need help finding someone call or write us. I’d also like to remind you of a special report titled The Income Generation, this is available free to you our loyal viewers online. If you haven’t downloaded your report, pick it up after the show. If you’re near or in retirement head over to the Income Generation dot com and download your special report written specifically for the needs of the Income Generation. Again, those born before nineteen sixty-six. I’m David Scranton and you’ve been watching the Income Generation.
