When i started collecting coins i had a small budget for it every month. That budget has gotten a bit bigger last month and in about 2 months it will b bigger again. Besides the coins i started to collect notes and tokens, and now i am getting intrested in Bullion bars. The coins will still be my main collection, then the notes, then the tokens then the bullion bars Now i was wondering if there are people who collect difrent items to and how do they divide there budget. I was thinking in the line of : 55% Coins 15% Notes 15% Tokens 15% Bullion bars How do you guys do it?
I don't have a budget that's really divided, except I have a bit I'll spend on various coins and silver bullion coin, as well as some as the mood strikes (like when I was roll searching and decided I had a snowballs chance in a really hot place of getting a 1982 no mintmark dime or a 1995 doubled die cent) so I go and buy the coins I want. I also collect some other coins (and postcards, etc.) that I add to my collection periodically - with no set budget or time to get the items. I mainly use my coin budget, if you will, to purchasing rolls from the bank to search through. What I keep from the roll searching is variable. What I try to do is get an amount just over what I will be spending each month on utility bills, etc. and go roll search with that, then turn in the coins I don't keep so I can go pay the bills. That way my money does 'double duty'. First, to fund my roll searching habit, then second to keep me comfortable in my home. So, say I have to pay 200 for electricity or whatnot. If that's due by the 20th of the month, and I have the money available to me by the 1st, then between the 1st and about the 15th, I'll use that to fund my roll searching, then just before I pay the bill, I dump the coins I've searched through and won't keep to get the money to pay that bill. Sometimes before going food shopping, I'll go to the bank the day before, get 200 in coins, go through them at night, and the next day dump the coins I am not keeping and take that money and do my food shopping. If I have the time and inclination, some months I use up to about a thousand in bill paying money to first go roll searching before that money is used in outlay. Keeps me out of trouble and I occasionally find something nice. Like this year, I've found a 1964 Kennedy, a silver quarter from the 40's, and two silver dimes, among other really nice specimens of US modern coinage. Every so often, I'll go through my saved coins from roll searching, and whittle it down to keeping only the 'best' ones from each year, because I don't want a huge mass of coins (so the rest go back to the bank). This way, over the last 10 years, I think I've gotten a very 'fine' collection of US modern coins (mostly the latter quarter of the century, of course), and some errors and varieties. My goal at the end is to have a complete modern collection with the finest uncirculated examples I could pull from circulation.
I go by what I have listed on my "Want List". I have 2 of them exactly the same. One stays by my computer and the other stays in my car. That way, no matter where I'm at, that list is available. Items wanted range from toned cents and toned nickels to graded MS64 Morgans and Silver Kangaroos. If I go to a coin show, coin shop or just checking out Ebay and find something I need that's on my "Want List", then I'll buy it if it's a good deal. The Silver Kangaroos always seem to take precedence though. Nicely toned silver bullion is another favorite. Fortunately, I guess, the things I want are generally hard to find so my monthly purchases are not really too extreme.
I buy what I find as the best bargain, and what I am most interested in at the time. Right now I am most interested in Sogdian, but just bought a large lot of Kushan because it was a good deal. You will find the further you get into coins you buy the best you can WHEN you can. It might seem good coins are all around right now, but as you start chasing rarer ones good coins become pretty scarce to find.
Material I can use doesn't tend to come around real often so budgeting isn't really that important to me. If I can't find any thing this month, which often happens, the money just keeps growing until something DOES show up. And when it does if I can afford it I buy it, because it may be awhile before it shows up again.
Whenever I have extra cash (I need some to pay bills, $1k for roll searching, then ???) I blow it on coins. Most of it goes towards my main collection of OGH merc dimes, but the amount of money I put back into roll searching every month is not... ubsubstantial. I also go junk box diving and buy anything I think is worth more than melt regardless of price. Some weeks that's nothing, other weeks it's $50. Usually around $20-$25 though. So I guess I don't really have a budget, I just kind of spend what I want to on coins. I need to start saving for an engagement ring, though...
I don't really budget my shopping on coins, rather I spread it among various things I collect. I make sure I leave some money available in case there is something I want. It pays off when surfing ebay at 2 in the morning.
For numismatics, I use the Dave Ramsey cash envelope method. Some cash goes into an envelope from each paycheck and I can spend whatever is in the envelope on whatever coins I want. For my infrequent cent roll searching, I don't count the expense until I exchange the coins for gift certificates at Coinstar. Then I count the expense against a budget line item depending on what I buy with the gift cert.
My wife and I have a surplus(it's a 4 digit surplus, under $2000) each month after our obligations are met. I budget about $400 for coins and supplies. I also have a $500 limit credit card, with under 15% APR and finance charges, for online coin purchases
A note is once in a blue moon for me. I try to buy bullion all at once. Coins are 95% of my numismatic budget and 95% of the time are the series that I am into at the time. Right now I spend all of my money on Seated Liberty Halves and toned 65+ Franklins.
dont tell me about once in a blue moon.... At this moment i can buy a nice looking 1882cc morgan for $155 (shipping included) (http://www.ebay.com/itm/1882-CC-1-M..._Individual&hash=item5648b8fde6#ht_616wt_1165 has $25 shipping to Belgium) For what i think that is not to much for a CC Morgan that i think looks very nice. Only thing is: i am $60 short and by the time i will have the funds for it on my paypal (wich is in 2 weeks) the listing wont be there anymore always when i get once in a blue moon opportunitys, i dont have enough funds left, and when i have the funds i cant find the blue moons....
I don't have a coin budget per-se, and sometimes go months without a purchase. I guess if I were to create a budget for my hobbies, they be lmped into a single budget and not broken down into percentages for varying aspects. If you only had say 15% budgeted towards notes and you see a nice piece you've always wanted that would eat up that 15% plus another 45%, do you saccrifice some of your coin and token budget to get it, or just pass it by and regret it forever? Guy
yes, when i see something i realy like i would take a piece of the other items budget to buy that one piece. As stated, the coins are the main collection, so if there is a coin i like very much and i am short on coinbudget, then the tokens and note budget get rerouted to teh coinbudget and that month there are no tokens or notes or anything else
