Can Collecting Be A Great Investment As Well As A Great Interest?

Hobby: an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.

I collect for pleasure but if anyone is investing serious money in their collection they should be leaving instructions for it's disposal after their death.

Very few if any collectibles can be considered an investment vehicle. Rariries and top quality items can be a place to park some cash but only if you are willing to accept a lot of risk.

Interesting discussion. I've been thinking about this a lot since inheriting my collection last fall. At first I saw it as a potential investment, but now view it as a hobby. And unlike most hobbies, one that will actually have some (limited) value for my children when I pass away. (I also inherited some coins, but haven't had the courage to dive into that yet :))

So I'm having it appraised and then will write down some instructions on how to dispose of it, so my kids can realize some value if they choose to sell it. Of course, I hope one of them continue the collection, since it would be the 4th generation of stamp collecting in our family, with the same core collection, but that's up to them.

Until then, my plan is to build the collection at a steady pace, buying high-quality stamps in the areas that the collection already covers and interest me (WW classic, Canada, Germany). And also focus it by selling the areas that are weak/I have little interest in (US, WW modern).

Here is a free PDF stamp album 'disposition' form.
http://stampsmarter.com/learning/Fo...osition.html
Don

Thank you - good resource (and a very useful site).

The only way to make a small fortune out of stamp collecting is to start with a large fortune!

There's a lot of money in stamps. I know because I put it there.

Just to add a couple of thoughts:

With the advent of Forever stamps, the purchase of these stamps appears to be inflation-protected. So even if a collector does not reap returns, the value of these stamps will at least keep up with inflation. Historically the rates for domestic letters have increased together with inflation, so assuming the same holds in future, the values new issues should be inflation-proof. A collector may not see a return but at least their spent dollar is inflation-protected.

I also think collectors can capitalize on the ever-diminishing role of dealers and use that to offset some of the expense of the hobby. I often read in Linn's tips to collectors to stock newly a few issued sheets. Their logic being that because dealers no longer stock new issues in large quantities, a light increase in demand spikes prices of sold out items. Some recently sold out issues like the 2016 Soda Fountain Favorites issue and the 2015 From Me to You issue already sell for 1.5 to 2 times their face value.

You are only "inflation proofed" if you are going to use the stamps in the future for postage. Typically dealers pay only a fraction of face value for sheets of stamps. Which is why I am slowly using sheets I accumulated in the 1990s as postage rather than attempt to sell them.

That said, you do have a point about potential scarcity of newer issues. Even so, I don't know if I want to pull funds out of my 401(k) and buy sheets of 2018 stamps as an investment for retirement -- YMMV.

I think you can bet that if too many people started pumping millions of dollars into Forever stamps the USPS would find a way to de-monetize them.

Letter rates are likely to start outpacing inflation soon as the number of letters delivered continues to fall.