Sobering thoughts about collecting as you grow old

[coindood]

In six months I'll turn 60. I'm interested to see where my life will go in the next decade. My collecting didn't really subside in my 50s, but I have to realistically think about whether I'll still be as active in my sunset years.

This crossed my mind when I was looking over my "one coin per year" collection, one of my favorites. They're kept in an album, with 20 coins per mylar page. The last page starts at year 2020 and will be completed in 2039...that's when it hit me: I'll be 74 at that point. Will I make it? Both my parents passed at 78 so genetics says it's possible, but they led healthier lives than I have.

I'm not trying to create a discussion about who to leave one's valuables to, final plans and all that. That's been pretty well talked about here.

Moreso, I'd like people's thoughts on collecting into your senior years, since I believe a fair amount of those here are middle aged or beyond. Have you shifted focus on what you collect? I have fleeting thoughts of minimizing large chunks of my collection (non-PM stuff) that I spent decades accumulating, just to be practical, since for the most part they're simply dormant and I have added to them in awhile.

Thoughts?

[68Camaro]

You may want to separate or refine this by types of "collecting". There are collections for the enjoyment of collecting, and there is accumulation for the purpose of either eventual use, wealth preservation, or insurance/ survival. (There can be minor overlap between these, but not in general.)

For me, collecting for collecting sake has been greatly reduced. Oh there are still a few things that catch my eye, but far fewer. Hopefully the items with intrinsic value will catch the eye of an heir and will be kept after I'm gone, but for the rest of it, it can be sold, donated, trashed.

The survival / insurance items will either be used, in which case they will have fulfilled their purpose, or they won't be used (but they will still have fulfilled their purpose). If any of those things have useful life remaining after we're gone, then hopefully someone that can use them (my heirs, etc) will get value from them.

Likewise with the wealth preservation items. Our heirs generally know the value of the stuff. If we don't need the stuff it will get passed on to our heirs.

[cwgii]

Lol. Same here. Downsizing. Old Lady feels everything I own should be thrown away.
Point in case. She threw out a cigar box with $300 in 2 dollar bills.

[Recyclersteve]

Lol. Same here. Downsizing. Old Lady feels everything I own should be thrown away.
Point in case. She threw out a cigar box with $300 in 2 dollar bills.

I don’t get it. She didn’t even think to open it and see what was inside?

[Recyclersteve]

Unless someone is truly quite affluent (I don’t consider a net worth of $1-2 million as being affluent, as oftentimes much of the net worth is tied up in one’s primary home and/or coin collection) I don’t see how you can afford to hold onto a bunch of coins that would be hard to sell for more than face value. With inflation in most everything we buy, the true value of stuff like zinc pennies and presidential dollars keeps going down year after year.

Another factor- I’m retirement age and only working 10-12 hours a week as a delivery driver, but I also trade stocks to make money. Unfortunately, much of that is in accounts I don’t want to touch for a few years.

And yet another factor- I had coins and precious metals stolen in 2019- most of what I had in storage. The storage place offered me about 3% of what I lost to settle. I didn’t accept. I had insurance at one time for my coins, but the premiums were SOOO HIGH that if I’d insured the collection over the last 10-12 years, the premiums would have actually exceeded what I would have gotten when I filed a claim. So in essence I never would have gotten anything.

I’m trying to delay taking Social Security as long as possible to get more on a monthly basis- we have some longevity in our family- dad was 97 when he passed.

Unless someone has a really high net worth where they can justify wasting money on things like hobbies, I don’t see how you could really justify keeping a lot of relatively common coins on hand. I do think exceptions can be made for things like common date silver coins or bullion.

[Silver4face]

"wasting money on things like hobbies" Sorry, but I don't agree with that because hobbies are a good thing enjoyed by middle class people like myself. Said hobbies include the collecting of NON bullion coins. Or even the collecting of bullion coins for NON BULLION reasons. For example, I collect giant pennies from great Britain and I don't even care about the copper aspect to them. I suppose they have deprecated in buck fidens economy. However, still not a waste of money. Now for my real list of wasted money - ESPECIALLY by NON affluent people:

Drugs
Alcohol (possibly a few small exceptions)
Cigarettes
Lottery tickets
CASINOS
GAMBLING
Expensive I phones
Ridiculous clothing/jewelry
And anything I failed to mention.

[coindood]

"wasting money on things like hobbies" Sorry, but I don't agree with that because hobbies are a good thing enjoyed by middle class people like myself.

Right on.

If your perspective about coin collecting, or hobbies in general, is solely the monetary value (expense, potential resale value, etc.) you're missing the point of why hobbies are such a blast. It can be jigsaw puzzles, painting, whatever. They don't have to have a practical purpose beyond simply bringing you enjoyment.

For example, I collect giant pennies from Great Britain and I don't even care about the copper aspect to them.

Hey, me too!

And yet another factor- I had coins and precious metals stolen in 2019- most of what I had in storage.

Ok Steve, you've told that story like a half dozen times on this forum. I fail to see how it relates to collecting into your senior years.

[Recyclersteve]

"wasting money on things like hobbies" Sorry, but I don't agree with that because hobbies are a good thing enjoyed by middle class people like myself.

And yet another factor- I had coins and precious metals stolen in 2019- most of what I had in storage.

Ok Steve, you've told that story like a half dozen times on this forum. I fail to see how it relates to collecting into your senior years.

If you’re talking about the theft story, this was a subtle way of saying people need to be diversified. If everything you have is in coins (no stocks, real estate, retirement accounts, etc.), then you stand to get hurt much more severely than someone who is very diversified. I hope that clears things up.

[coindood]

Understood. But those topics have been covered in depth in other posts. I'd like to keep this thread on coins/hobbies.

[cwgii]

Lol. Same here. Downsizing. Old Lady feels everything I own should be thrown away.
Point in case. She threw out a cigar box with $300 in 2 dollar bills.

I don’t get it. She didn’t even think to open it and see what was inside?[/quote

Why, it's garbage. Her motto is, just throw all my stuff away. Back up a dumpster and start heaving.

Coins, tools all Junk.

[shinnosuke]

I had about 30 boxes of US nickels that I kept for 6-7 years and finally sorted in 2020 when Covid made me stay home from work. All the non-silver, non-buffalo & non-2009 nicks were deposited into my credit union account.

I turned 65 a few months ago and feel it's time to sell my penny hoard, all sorted for 95%. I have offered for sale here but no takers. That seems like a bad sign to me. Are there no youngsters who want so non-PM security?

My Ag & Au, what little I have, is staying put for now since it's not under my roof and security is good.

[silverflake]

I am having similar feelings guys. I got rid of the copper "mini-hoard" pre-pandemic. Now I really wish the gold/silver ratio would tighten in silvers favor. Would like to see a better trade for silver into gold. For all those folks who do hold a large silver holding (like many, mine sunk to the bottom of the sea in a rafting accident) it would be nice (I bet) to take pounds of silver and convert to ounces of gold (or acres of land?). Space is at a premium for some of us and quickly, time is becoming a premium (was it ever not a premium?).

As far as age goes, I turn 56 in November and for crying out loud I am finally starting to feel it in my bones. Aches, pains. And my wife and I are seriously in discussion for a total, over the winter dis-hoarding experience. Our house, our basement, our garage - if we don't use it, haven't touched it in years or don't even realize we have it ("Hey honey, when did we get this fireplace vacuum? We don't even have a fireplace!") we will be tossing it or possibly selling.

Keep the ideas coming, friends. I am listening.

Keep stacking...well, if you have the room, that is.

[thecrazyone]

I keep collecting bc I'm the third gen collector in the family, and my actions are showing my kids why it's good to do.

[coindood]

And my wife and I are seriously in discussion for a total, over the winter dis-hoarding experience.

Same!

I have considerably less area to clutter and consequently fewer questionable items to discover, but it's time to simplify my possessions. Especially some long-dormant collections such as movie posters, autographs, VHS tapes. And I can't describe how good it feels to be rid of this stuff, knowing it won't be replaced. I enjoyed them when I was younger, but those days are long gone.

My first instinct is always "How much can I get for this on eBay?!" but I get as much satisfaction giving it away. Recently gave a co-worker a HEAVY Sentry home safe that I never use. They were very happy to get it. I'll never have to lug that thing around again. lol

[mrrosado]

In six months I'll turn 60. I'm interested to see where my life will go in the next decade. My collecting didn't really subside in my 50s, but I have to realistically think about whether I'll still be as active in my sunset years.

This crossed my mind when I was looking over my "one coin per year" collection, one of my favorites. They're kept in an album, with 20 coins per mylar page. The last page starts at year 2020 and will be completed in 2039...that's when it hit me: I'll be 74 at that point. Will I make it? Both my parents passed at 78 so genetics says it's possible, but they led healthier lives than I have.

I'm not trying to create a discussion about who to leave one's valuables to, final plans and all that. That's been pretty well talked about here.

Moreso, I'd like people's thoughts on collecting into your senior years, since I believe a fair amount of those here are middle aged or beyond. Have you shifted focus on what you collect? I have fleeting thoughts of minimizing large chunks of my collection (non-PM stuff) that I spent decades accumulating, just to be practical, since for the most part they're simply dormant and I have added to them in awhile.

Thoughts?

My friend just turned 100! He had in his pocket a peace dollar from the year of his birth still in his pocket. Collecting is a fun hobby that can be profitable. I just switched from baseball cards to coins because the prices got a bit ridiculous with the baseball cards for what I was getting in return. The coins at least have a minimum face value.

[MaxGravy]

And my wife and I are seriously in discussion for a total, over the winter dis-hoarding experience.

Same!

I have considerably less area to clutter and consequently fewer questionable items to discover, but it's time to simplify my possessions. Especially some long-dormant collections such as movie posters, autographs, VHS tapes. And I can't describe how good it feels to be rid of this stuff, knowing it won't be replaced. I enjoyed them when I was younger, but those days are long gone.

My first instinct is always "How much can I get for this on eBay?!" but I get as much satisfaction giving it away. Recently gave a co-worker a HEAVY Sentry home safe that I never use. They were very happy to get it. I'll never have to lug that thing around again. lol

Four years ago we purged almost everything we owned before leaving the US. It felt great to unburden. We kept important keepsakes and mementos but got rid of all the clutter and junk we had not even looked at for years. In retrospect I would do it all again, and probably get rid of even more. Life is about doing things, not getting things. We've made a lot of incredible memories over the last few years that would not have been possible if we were still tied to all that stuff.

[Recyclersteve]

Two things that I didn’t see brought up that are likely major concerns for many as they get older:

1) EYESIGHT: When I need a magnify glass for everything, that will be a sad day.

2) MEMORY: It will be a TRULY SAD DAY when I have to break out a Redbook to find that 1877 and 1909-S are the two keys to the Indian Head cents. Ditto for when I can’t remember the key dates that I’ve found in change or bank rolls.

[JobIII]

Two things that I didn’t see brought up that are likely major concerns for many as they get older:

1) EYESIGHT: When I need a magnify glass for everything, that will be a sad day.

2) MEMORY: It will be a TRULY SAD DAY when I have to break out a Redbook to find that 1877 and 1909-S are the two keys to the Indian Head cents. Ditto for when I can’t remember the key dates that I’ve found in change or bank rolls.

Bah just own it & power through these concerns like a champion:

1. be the proud owner of a coin microscope. I have good eyesight and i want one for imaging & less back pain (if i ever get time to do coin stuff again )
2. there's plenty of websites that specialize in key dates and varieties. I say just favorite those and you'll be fine for longer still