I have talked about what I have done and achieved so far in the past 6 months back some time in the recent article. I'd say that this year isn't a very active year for me in regards to trades and sales. I'm still busy with my studies and preparing for my exams every now and then. But, I'm hoping to jump into some trading in between July and August. In the meantime, I want to set specific goals for the next 6 months and talk about how will I reach there in the end. Speaking of inactive trades, some of the bulk rares I have (most actually...) are not moving. Trades are rather slow at the moment and honestly it's not good. I'm sitting on cards that either will continue to rot or may have the potential to rise, but I haven't actually give much thought in which cards are meant to be kept and which are true bulk. The most logical option for me to do is to filter out the true bulk and bulk out for some other cards I would need.
I recall discussing about this issue in this earlier post. I mentioned about how the need in the supply of bulk rares coming in regularly is the main thing to ensure the viability of the project. True enough, the trades have gone stale because there are no supply into the pool and reason is because I cannot find any supply for bulk rares for the past 3-4 months. So where can I head to now? Bulking out everything can boost my trade budget for that month, which after that means that I may close the project down whereas sitting on the pile means the cards will sit there for additional period before trading out or maybe just bulk out in the later timing. So, if that is the case, then it would be wise to sort and bulk out the cards ASAP.
I recall having a short conversation with a friend about investing in MTG. He is a working young adult and managed to buy in foils for 2 modern decks. It is agreeable that once you have the budget, it is a good thing to actually invest in foil modern singles, especially at this timing because the format is really shaking up ground and more and more people are jumping into the format. But, as you see, he is working and he has the capability to afford a larger budget capacity to buy in more cards. He don't plan to invest just for the profit, but is because he is interested in playing the decks; in fact, he is playing more regularly than me. I think we all agree that modern is just only one of the formats that is worth investing into. Legacy would be a very good option to invest in, but similar to modern, the buy-in can be pretty steep. So unless you have the initial finance, it's not really budget friendly at the start. Heck, even more experienced players actually suggest newer players to go into standard first before transiting to Modern so as to reduce spending. You get the point.
In that point of conversation, I mentioned about EDH being the actual format to consider for investment. Yes. EDH! Reason being is that it is a casual format, non-rotating, and pretty much any card have a shot at EDH. The buy-in is definitely cheaper, and depends on the level you are willing to go into, the prices for the deck varies. Yes, like any format, there will be staples, but not all are expensive. The foils would be in high demand, but comparatively, I'd say they are relatively cheaper to buy. Also, it's a format that requires only 1 piece of everything (other than basic lands) so the demand range is wider and yes, again, cheaper since I only need 1 piece for that card. Also, the buyer may need only 1 piece, but they wouldn't stop at one piece for a deck. They make multiple decks! So if probability have taught me anything, 1/60 may yield a higher odds in drawing that card out, but in comparison to a pool of cards, 100 cards would yield a much higher chance of striking a trade. Plus a 60 card deck generally go for playsets so effectively reducing the odds to 10-15 card types, compared to the more significant 80-90 different singles. I remember mentioning going to look at both EDH and Modern formats as a focus to buy-in. I'd still do that, but rather I'll shift my focus more onto EDH staples which are in modern format. In that way, I tackle off two formats without breaking my bank further.
Another thing I have learnt recently is the balance between liquid and solid assets (Investors out there can laugh at me now, but hey! I've learnt this!). Well, for those unfamiliar with the terms, solid assets are the things that have value, but aren't movable unless converted into money form, while liquid assets are well... money in general. (This article will talk more about assets) Thing is this, having a good portfolio of solid asset is actually very valuable, but in the times of need, it isn't so easy exchange the solid asset to anything else. Just as in a more familiar application, Cards are the solid assets and whatever currency you hold is the liquid asset. There has to be a balance between the two. In fact, it would be better to have more liquid than solid. I ever did mention to my friends the reason why I buy the cards is to "lock" my money into the value of these cards. From there, appreciation and depreciation will amount to how much I get back from the card.
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| Trading; I'll take that in exchange for this! |
I recall having a short conversation with a friend about investing in MTG. He is a working young adult and managed to buy in foils for 2 modern decks. It is agreeable that once you have the budget, it is a good thing to actually invest in foil modern singles, especially at this timing because the format is really shaking up ground and more and more people are jumping into the format. But, as you see, he is working and he has the capability to afford a larger budget capacity to buy in more cards. He don't plan to invest just for the profit, but is because he is interested in playing the decks; in fact, he is playing more regularly than me. I think we all agree that modern is just only one of the formats that is worth investing into. Legacy would be a very good option to invest in, but similar to modern, the buy-in can be pretty steep. So unless you have the initial finance, it's not really budget friendly at the start. Heck, even more experienced players actually suggest newer players to go into standard first before transiting to Modern so as to reduce spending. You get the point.
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| Foils for EDH may or may not be more expensive. Depending on the play budget |
Another thing I have learnt recently is the balance between liquid and solid assets (Investors out there can laugh at me now, but hey! I've learnt this!). Well, for those unfamiliar with the terms, solid assets are the things that have value, but aren't movable unless converted into money form, while liquid assets are well... money in general. (This article will talk more about assets) Thing is this, having a good portfolio of solid asset is actually very valuable, but in the times of need, it isn't so easy exchange the solid asset to anything else. Just as in a more familiar application, Cards are the solid assets and whatever currency you hold is the liquid asset. There has to be a balance between the two. In fact, it would be better to have more liquid than solid. I ever did mention to my friends the reason why I buy the cards is to "lock" my money into the value of these cards. From there, appreciation and depreciation will amount to how much I get back from the card.
It's essentially similar to stocks, but it different. An article by MTGPrice recently talked about it. I agree in most of their approach to the topic and they make very sound and valid points. In fact, selling cards really depends on the buy-lists of the traders and shops. While the value of a card may be of a certain $X value, I may not necessary get at that price. In fact, most of the time, we get the cards at slightly varied values or for some cases, a totally different level due to currency conversion, shipping, etc. In addition, we don't get back any incentives like dividends when the card prices go up; we only do get a share or value's worth when we sell the cards. Main point of this is that it is a good idea of how the general idea of stocks, but it is not. Going back to point, with this in mind, I realized that liquid asset will eventually still win any form of trades. Yes, Shocklands and Fetchlands are in high demand. Yes, Courser of Kruphix is in demand now with a shocking price tag (Not so shocking actually... just kinda surprised how fast it reached the price). But, even so, the speed and efficiency of the trade will still be affected by the demand eventually. Once the demand fall, the price will immediately drop accordingly. So while I'm out there trading, it is still very much advisable that I have liquid assets in case of rainy weather.
Okay, time for some personal growth check and resolutions to accomplish. I'll list down a few resolutions to accomplish and I'll check back again in a couple of months time. (If you don't know, I do read back my old blog posts...)
- 10% of my monthly allowance will be set aside as liquid asset. By the end of the year, I aim to hit at least 1 month's worth of allowance. (Old, but I personally think it's the most important.)
- Trade out and buy-in more effectively in July/August period. I will be updating my trades over 2 posts and discuss on whether the trades are done well or I should have avoided them.
- Continue to reduce my booster expenditure. At the moment now, I have reduced my booster expenditures to just 8 packs for the month of June. Month of May was a spree of about 20 packs.
- Log up my common and uncommon pile list into the Inventory list for the project. As mentioned, they have value in them and I have done sorting most of the cards into their respective expansion sets. I'll filter them once my exam is over and the remaining filtered ones will be bulked out for spare cash or credits.
I will also be re-focusing the blog with a slight variation of the theme. I'm currently just doing a lot more on reflection and the content opinions are generally agreeable to the public. I am using this few months to test the reach of my blog and so far, the response have been quite favorable. I will be shifting the focus and theme to not just about trading on a budget, but I'll expand to include reviews for decks and expansion sets; maybe even event coverage if I have the time, support and finances to do it. Maybe include a YouTube channel if I really reach to that level. But for now, I'll focus to improve on the quality of my articles in both content and delivery.
The lesson I have learnt over the past week while researching and drafting content for the blog, is that opportunity will not knock on your door. It's never going to unless I create that door and invite it to knock on. In short, I have to create opportunities instead of waiting for it to come by. The part about seizing opportunities is the easiest part. It's the part about that having to create one, is the one that have you breaking your own door while doing it.
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