How Do You Plan Your Purchases?

Nor did I.

Mine is just the standard 7070. No gold page.

Seeing that you have some gold makes yours even move impressive.

I would have to say that I've employed a hybrid approach: focused for my core collection and opportunistic for everything else.

As I assembled my core US commemorative Type Set, I sought out several specific coins at a time and would examine dozens of each at various dealer tables and/or coin shows until I felt I understood what a "quality" example looked like vs. a "typical" or "below average" example. Each of the US commemorative coins have their own characteristics - strike, luster, bag mark distinctions - so I felt it was important to look at lots of examples before making a purchase. My decisions were not driven by price - I knew the market value of each coin I was seeking - but rather by quality. (I also understood that true "quality" was typically priced higher than average "quality" and such shouldn't be viewed as a deterrent.)

At the same time, however, if something interesting outside of my plan was encountered - and its price wasn't exorbitant - I would veer off and make the purchase. This sometimes meant I had to forego any commemorative coin additions at a given show, but as I was once told "Sometimes the bargain is the opportunity." I knew that I could always find a particular US commemorative coin in the future, but such wasn't always the case for the other item(s).

As a result, I feel I have a reasonably nice collection of US commemorative coins and an interesting collection of medals, ephemera, selected currency and miscellaneous related items.

I have several wittman half dollar folders I am trying to fill, mostly from ebay and LCS, and several half dollar proof caps albums, I try and buy a few each month for each, my franklin is short 3 coins to be full. Then when silver spot is down I buy silver rds from the LCS. Still have not bought any gold, but with price down may pull the trigger on a 5 gram bar

I don't really plan my purchases. I regularly browse the coin sites and when I find something I like I place an order. I buy a minimum of three coins at a time and my orders are usually between $250 to $350.

I never plan my purchases, but I set myself a cash budget.
I search for best value for money across the whole pf numismatics, such that bargains are much easier to find.

However, when the cash runs out, no mon(ey) no fun. That automatically puts a stop to my spending.
I stay well away from credit cards and internet money transactions.

For public numismatic auctions, I always submit (usually low), written single fixed priced bids, and thus I normally miss out. There are always other bargains to be found, the budget remains to be available for something else.