Long Term Collecting Goals...

Sure, so will finding a quarter in the parking lot. Anything that provides money will HELP with your retirement, but if you are asking if it can be a significant portion of your "retirement portfolio" I wouldn't count on it unless you are able to fill the pages with nice MS early copper.

Yeah, but you'd have spend $72,000 to acquire them, too. And you aren't a dealer, so you'd get maybe 70% of that when you sell it back. So you are actually doing worse than just saving $100 bills under the mattress. Even if the coins raise in value a little, you still might not cover your initial cost after selling expenses.

60 pages of those $60 coins over 30 years would mean you've spent $200 a month. Compared to traditional investing, you are making negative interest. If we use a conservative 8% return on a mutual fund portfolio instead, you'd have $230K saving $200 a month for 30 years. Even if we use an extremely safe investment and only get 3%, you are still at $120k over 30 years. Coins don't make compound interest.

Now coins can definitely be an important part of your assets and a good diversification. It's a nice hobby that usually doesn't result in much net cost (you get back a lot of what you put into it if you get out) I just don't think as a primary investment vehicle, you are going to get the kind of retirement you are hoping for by putting it all in coins.

You need to come up with a retirement number then figure out a conservative traditional rate of return on whatever means you elect whether collectibles, stocks, savings, metals, whatever and see if your goals are realistic.

I read something many years ago that money spent on one's education created the most return on investment followed by stocks. I don't remember where collectibles fell.

I really don't like collectibles as investments because of the harsh taxes of collectibles vs tax free growth in a retirement fund. I see them more like heirlooms.

But you would of had a load less of fun with CDs or Bonds! They are just not that interesting!

I say do it. As long as it is discretionary income, coins are about the best hobby investment out there outside of learning skills.


As for retirement, still plan for that. At 32 you will likely never see any government based retirement, other than the taxes of course.

The more I think about it though, I am not so sure that Large Cents are where I would put my money unless at the high end.

Don't get me wrong, I got some Large Cents, maybe 15 or 20 and only one of them is AU and it isn't my Draped Bust Cent either.

I don't put money into my Large Cent collection with hopes of return though, just scratching an itch.


To me, if you are buying Large Cents at retail with the hope of resale, you need to have a reason why these coins are going to go up in value.

They aren't precious metals so you don't have that floor pushing up the price on the low end of the market. It is really more of a supply and demand thing at the lower end of the market like a binder full of 2x2's.

So the supply is static and the demand, well it is a market for older men generally. So you have a loss of collector's yearly due to death or lack of finances in retirement. You have some portion of younger guys joining the market with their discretionary income.

Currently we have a population bubble of baby boomers or older as the primary coin collectors. Just on demographics, there won't be enough new collectors to stimulate demand much if any. Throw in the fact that the economic chances for the younger generations who need to replace the older collectors leaving the market are not as good as prior generations and you have a decent case for decreased demand at the lower end of the market.

I tend to think people going forward will have less discretionary income to spend on coins, not more. Another strike against demand.


I can't build a good case for increasing demand in lower end Large Cents.

I wouldn't even consider retirement plans when collecting. If you love your collection enough to build it over 30 years I doubt you'll want to sell it when the time comes and you'll likely to not get anywhere close to what you would want from them.

I'm 26 and don't have a huge amount of expendable income so I sometimes come across the same dilemma where I think that putting thousands of dollars into my collection when I don't even have enough money to afford stuff like health insurance or a new vehicle down payment if my current ride breaks down. Plus I don't have a retirement account.

So what do I do when I want to collect but feel like it needs to be something liquidable and not a 200 year old coin I know I couldn't part with? I buy rounds and bars. Getting a 10 oz silver bar is still cool but if the time comes and I need some cash I know I could sell it. Plus, if I buy and sell right I could potentially make some money. Buying silver is kind of my short-term strategy to hoard cash. It's $200 sitting in a silver brick and not a spendable $200 sitting in my bank account that would probably just go towards beer and DVD's if left there.