Money Or Pleasure

Having read a lot of posts on this group, I have decided to ask a
question:

Do you collect for the pure enjoyment of stamp collecting, or do you collect for the investment (profit) of the game?

Me? I learned a long time ago, that I do not intend to sell my collections during my "live" years, so the profit margin is unimportant. I collect for the enjoyment of making a collection and obtaining the items.

Comments?

Bob

P.S. If I knew how to do it I would have included a poll thinggie.

For pleasure, and the chase. Never, Ever, for profit. For that is mostly an illusion.

Art

Pleasure. It is my hope that when I pass on my collection, and should my heirs wish to sell it, that they would get about what I put into it.

I think this has come up before, in other forms. I certainly collect for the pleasure and, as Art says, the chase. I love my books full of little pieces of history and art. If something I find turns out to be of value, that's a bonus, certainly one my wife and kids keep asking about (yes, I'm watching my back)

Definitely for the pleasure. If I was doing it for the investment (profit), I would not call myself a stamp collector, but a stamp accumulator, and I would definitely be more organized!!

Both. Primarily for pleasure, but I do keep an eye on what I am paying, keeping in mind future resale potential. Also, because there are certain areas that are ripe for cherrypicking, I will buy pieces solely because they are priced WAY too cheap, i.e., misidentified by the dealer/seller.

Just posted on another thread virtually the same response as the majority here. The 2012 Scott Catalog suggests that stamp values are on a downward trend right now. Values are not as important to most of us as the joy of stamp collecting. Of course, looking at it from a different perspective, we stamp collectors can use decline in some stamp values as an incentive to acquire more stamps at more reasonable prices!

Before retirement I foolishly thought of being a part time stamp dealer..boy am I glad I did not buy more stamps than I did...today the idea is insane to me...the amount of work that would be required to make a profit would take up my whole life...now I sell a few stamps or covers ..not for profit..but to pass on to another collector if they can use them....i was told " a worker should not gamble and a gambler should not work" also told "a dealer should not collect" theres some sense to both those sayings...we are given a certain amount of time on earth...not enough for me to be a dealer and collect !!

Entirely for pleasure. I will never sell a stamp, ever. I don't collect anything for profit, never have, never will.

For me... it's a hobby, not an investment. The gains here are purely "enjoyment" of the hobby.

Hobby 1st, the fun of it. But later in retirement, if noone seems interested in it, I will piece it out for pocket change.

I know of several dealers that turned their personal collections into their "stock" and made the transition from collector to dealer. In my current mindset I would find that difficult, but who knows what the next 20 years may bring until I retire...

Second time around I started out selling but being a collector at heart I soon started collecting one stamp theme and then another and then another.

I do sell or trade for what I want but am not too concerned about the money. Just as long as I have some to spend!

The fun, the thrill, the hunt and chase and the puzzle of everything.

Definitely pleasure. I get just as excited with a .20 stamp as I do with one that cost me $20. For me, it's about the chase. Filling those spaces.

I collect because I enjoy it. And like others, I don't expect to profit any time during my life. However, I would love for my family to enjoy, if not profit from, my collection after I'm gone. I have enough material to keep even the most seasoned collector busy for years, so I hope to do the same to my family :)

I collect for the pleasure, pure and simple.