I will occasionally take excellent quotes from others, buried on the board and not fully explored to their full potential, and turn them into a thread topic. Sometimes, you read a great post, and a “thank you” is just not enough. Welcome to the quotable series.
Quotable # 1, Saving vs. Collecting
SR, wise beyond his years, stated:
“When you’re young: yoyos > money, but when you’re older: money > yoyos. Those who have multiple rare high end throws know they can get a good sum of cash if they sold off one of their throws.”
MikeEff’s signature, as of this moment, reads:
“I used to have a savings account. Now I have yoyos.”
Now my thoughts…
I do not view my yo-yo collection as an “investment,” or anything that is likely to grow in value. But, I see it similar to cash in some ways. I have seen people liquidate their collection, to save for a wedding, or buy a house.
Having said that, yo-yos can easily become cash. The only problem I anticipate, is that if I liquidated my collection, I might only get back .70 on the dollar, on average, or a bit less, for what I spent retail on a mint throw. Bottom line is, I’m okay with losing .30 on the dollar for the joy of collecting and the fulfillment of the hobby as a whole. Also, in this community, from a trade perspective, yo-yos are used to get other things we want, most commonly, more yo-yos. This could be why, when I buy yo-yos, I do not always view it as “money I didn’t save.” I see yo-yo collections as similar to a savings, but the difference is that:
- The cash value, will not be as readily available as money in a bank;
- It has about a 30% to 50% chance of depreciating in value (dependent upon condition);
- You have to self insure your investment (otherwise, house burns down…no more savings).
Believe me, I keep some cash around in case of emergency, but I view a yo-yo collection as very similar to a savings, with the above exceptions. I never stress about my yo-yo spending because I have confidence in my ability to sell them, if I need to. Every time I buy a yo-yo, I have confidence in being able to get 30% to 50% of the cash back, if I ever need to. No guarantee when things will sell, but I’m confident the throws will retain some cash value and sell at some point at cash value.
I agree with SR. As an adult, money is better than yo-yos, because of the reasons listed above. It is more readily available to use the value of it.
What’s deep about that quote from Mikeeff, is that I view a savings and yo-yos, as similar in a lot of ways. Except, a yo-yo collection is like a savings account that may depreciate 30% (mint) to 50% (used), it is not FDIC insured, and you have to make the effort liquidate the throws, to get the available cash value (inconvenience). A savings account gives you some “security.” But, a yo-yo collection can do the same, if you treat it right. and plan accordingly. Well…to a lesser extent.
I liked those quotes, and thought they deserved a bit more attention. Any thoughts?