Advantages & Disadvantages of Investing in Comic Books

You search for alternative ways regarding how to invest your money and think about investing in comic books?

While comic books can be an interesting investment class, there are also some drawbacks to buying comic books as an investment.

Hence, make sure to have a look at the pros and cons of investing in comic books in this article so you may be able to avoid many common mistakes in this regard!

Advantages of Investing in Comic Books

1. Buying comic books can diversify your investment portfolio
2. Comic books may not be heavily correlated with other asset classes
3. Comic books can dramatically increase in value
4. The market for comic books is not perfect
5. Real experts may be able to make a fortune investing in comic books
6. Comic books can be quite interesting
7. Buying comic books may become a nice hobby
8. Comic books are popular all over the world
9. You may remember nice childhood memories
10. Comic books may serve as an inflation hedge
11. Investing in comic books has become increasingly popular
12. You get something physical for your money
13. Comic books may not be at great risk of getting stolen
14. You can inform yourself about comic book investing via the internet
15. You may become a real expert in the comic book community
16. Many people greatly underestimate the value of their comic books
17. You can brag about your comic books among your peers
18. Big variety of comic books to invest in
19. Easy to scale your comic book collection

Buying comic books can diversify your investment portfolio

One advantage of buying comic books is that you can diversify your investment portfolio by adding this asset class to your mix of conventional investments so you will no longer be dependent on just investing in gold, stocks or other asset classes but will be able to add some additional substance to your portfolio which may help you better control your overall risk as long as you don’t put too much money on speculative comic books.

Comic books may not be heavily correlated with other asset classes

Since the value development of comic books is often not strongly correlated with stocks or other main asset classes, buying comic books may also give you a certain hedge during times of economic downturns when other asset classes may greatly lose in value.

Comic books can dramatically increase in value

Some comic books also have dramatically increased in value over the recent past and if you are really lucky, you may be able to buy comic books right now that may increase 10x in value or even more within a rather short period of time.

The market for comic books is not perfect

Another upside to investing in comic books is that the market is not perfect and this means you may be able to make really good deals since you may know more about comic books than sellers and may be able to negotiate quite a lot until the price is right for you.

Real experts may be able to make a fortune investing in comic books

Also in case you are willing to put in the work and become a real expert in the comic book industry, you may also be able to outperform the competition and this means you may be able to buy at rather low price levels and sell at pretty high prices so you may be able to become wealthy or even rich doing nothing else but to trade with comic books.

Comic books can be quite interesting

Apart from the monetary aspects of investing in comic books, those books are also just pretty interesting to look at and you will also have a piece of history at home and can also read in your comic books from time to time which may just give you a pretty great feeling.

Buying comic books may become a nice hobby

Many people who initially just bought comic books as an asset also become real fans sooner or later and buying and collecting comic books also becomes a pretty nice hobby for them which may make their lives much better in the long run.

Comic books are popular all over the world

Comic books are not only pretty popular in the US but also in various parts of the world in general and chances are that the market for comic books will become even bigger in the future so selling and buying rare comic books may become easier and more efficient.

You may remember nice childhood memories

Comic books can also be great since you can remember back to the good old days when the characters in those books have been your heroes and you may therefore also find your inner child by investing in this kind of asset class.

Comic books may serve as an inflation hedge

Comic books may also be some sort of inflation hedge.

While comic book prices greatly vary over time, they likely still tend to increase in value with inflation and if you are afraid of inflation and that your money in your bank account greatly loses in value in the long run, buying comic books may be an interesting investment opportunity for you.

Investing in comic books has become increasingly popular

While investing in comic books has been pretty exotic just a few decades ago, it has become increasingly popular over the past decades and if this trend continues, chances are it will soon become an accepted alternative investment and real experts may be able to make pretty good money in this industry.

You get something physical for your money

While you may just have an electronic depot when buying stocks, you will have something physical in your hand by investing in comic books and this may give you peace of mind since you may feel like your comic books will be worth at least something while stocks and many other asset classes are just not tangible in the same way.

Comic books may not be at great risk of getting stolen

Since many burglars don’t know about the true value of comic books yet and often neglect them, you may have good chances that your comic books will not get stolen even in case someone will enter your home sooner or later.

You can inform yourself about comic book investing via the internet

While it has been pretty hard to become an expert in the comic book business just a few decades ago, the internet has changed things quite a lot and by watching YouTube channels or other sources, you can soon learn quite a lot about comic book investing and may be able to outperform the market in the long run.

You may become a real expert in the comic book community

By learning quite a lot about comic books, you may not only be able to enjoy the economic upside related to it but it may also give you a pretty great feeling since you may become a real expert and may also be able to consult your friends in this regard so many people will be able to benefit from your knowledge.

Many people greatly underestimate the value of their comic books

Another benefit of comic book investments is that many people are often not aware of the true value of their comic books and by offering them a pretty low price, you will often be able to buy some really valuable comic books and may be able to resell them for much more later on.

You can brag about your comic books among your peers

Comic books may not only be an interesting asset class but you may also be able to impress your peers quite a lot with your comic book collection and may therefore be able to get a really high social standing among your peers.

Big variety of comic books to invest in

Also no matter what sort of comic book you like and want to invest in, there will be something for almost every taste and you will therefore be able to choose among a huge variety of comic books.

Easy to scale your comic book collection

Since there are so many comic books out there and comic book investing has become increasingly popular over the recent past, chances are you will be able to scale your comic book collection fairly quickly so you will never run out of ideas regarding what comic you want to get next.

As you can see, there are many reasons for investing in comic books.

However, we also have to talk about the drawbacks that come along with comic book investing so you will be better able to decide for yourself whether you still want to invest in this asset class or rather want to invest in classic cars or other interesting things instead.

Disadvantages of Investing in Comic Books

1. Comic books require lots of space
2. Condition of your comic books may worsen over time
3. You may store comic books in an improper manner
4. Many comic books may depreciate in value
5. Comic book owners have to deal with huge swings in value
6. You may lose your comic books in case something happens to your home
7. You may not find proper insurance for your comic books
8. Comic books are not a safe haven
9. Comic books are a pretty speculative investment class
10. You may not sleep well at night investing too much money in comic books
11. Many fake comic books out there
12. You need to become a real expert to outperform the market
13. You may lose lots of money at the beginning of your comic book investment career
14. Comic books don’t pay any dividends
15. Comic books are not a fully liquid asset class

Comic books require lots of space

One problem with investing in comic books is that your comic book collection will take away lots of space from you once it gets to a significant level and if you don’t have a big home, you may just not be able to find enough space for your comic books which may take away lots of precious room from you.

Condition of your comic books may worsen over time

If you are unlucky or just don’t care about your comic books in a proper manner, they may also just get in worse condition in the long run which would often greatly adversely affect the value of those items.

You may store comic books in an improper manner

Many people who are still new to comic book investing also don’t store their comic books in a proper manner and this may lead to a state where comic books may just lose in quality and also the visual appearance may suffer which may not be good for the value of your comic books at all.

Many comic books may depreciate in value

While some rare comic books may appreciate in value quite a lot, many of them still become rather worthless in the long run and you may just pick the wrong ones and may not see a significant return on your investment anytime soon.

Comic book owners have to deal with huge swings in value

Another downside to buying comic books is that you will also have to deal with huge income swings.

In fact, similar to people investing in gold coins or many other asset classes, also the value of comic books is not constant and even though your comic books might increase in value in the long run, you may still suffer serious financial losses in the short run on paper.

You may lose your comic books in case something happens to your home

Also in case you are unlucky and your home burns down for some reason, you may also lose your precious comic book collection and in case you don’t have proper insurance, you may just get ruined from one day to the other.

You may not find proper insurance for your comic books

While comic book investing has become increasingly popular and insurance products are about to get better, there are still rather limited numbers of good comic book insurance products out there and you may just not find what you need at a fair price.

Comic books are not a safe haven

You should also know that since comic books greatly change in value over time, they are not considered a safe haven at all and if you are a rather careful person who is not able to deal with swings in value well, you may be better off investing in more conservative asset classes.

Comic books are a pretty speculative investment class

Since comic books are pretty speculative investments and the value of many of those comic books will eventually go down close to zero, you should never invest a big fraction of your wealth in comic books but it may rather make sense to put a minor part of your wealth into those assets so even in case they go to zero, it will not significantly hurt your overall wealth in the long run.

You may not sleep well at night investing too much money in comic books

Since comic books greatly swing in value, you may also always have to worry about the value of your comic book collection and may therefore just not be able to sleep well at night and this may adversely affect your overall quality of life quite a lot.

Many fake comic books out there

Another disadvantage of investing in comic books is that there are also many fake books out there and if you are not careful, you may just spend a small fortune on those fake comic books and may lose lots of money due to that.

You need to become a real expert to outperform the market

While some people make really good money in the comic book business, those people usually also put in lots of effort into their comic book career and unless you are also willing to make this big commitment and make comic book investing a real career, you may just not get good enough to make proper investment decisions.

You may lose lots of money at the beginning of your comic book investment career

Since you have to learn quite a lot about comic books at the beginning of your career, chances are you will also burn lots of money during this phase since you will often overestimate the value of certain comic books and may not be able to resell them at a proper price later on so you should also have a certain financial buffer for mistakes you may make.

Comic books don’t pay any dividends

You should also keep in mind that comic books don’t pay dividends at all and you will therefore not be able to generate a steady cash flow as would be possible with stocks, real estate or many other asset classes out there.

Comic books are not a fully liquid asset class

You should also know that comic books are just not entirely liquid assets since you may have to search for quite a long time when it comes to selling rare comic books at a pretty high price since the market for comic books is still not as efficient and big as it may be at one point in time.

Top 10 Investing In Comic Books Pros & Cons – Summary List

Buying Comic Books Pros	Buying Comic Books Cons
Sellers may not know the true value of their comic books	Many comic books will lose in value in the long run
You may be able to buy lots of undervalued comic books	Comic books are not fully liquid assets
Some comic books may greatly increase in value	Huge swings in value of comic books
Real experts may be able to make good money with comics	Many fake comic books out there
Comic books can be pretty interesting	Beginners often lose lots of money investing in comic books
Collecting comic books can be a nice hobby	Only true experts may make real money in the long run
Buying comic books may help you diversify your portfolio	Comic books are not a safe haven
Comic books have become increasingly popular	You may no longer sleep well at night
Comic books may help you hedge against inflation	Comic books may be overhyped right now
You may be able to impress your friends with your collection	You may not store comic books in a proper manner

Should You Invest In Comic Books?

While comic books can be an interesting investment if you know what you are doing and are also willing to accept huge swings in value, you should still know that it may not be a good idea to put a significant portion of your wealth into comic books and you may rather rely on more stable investments for your own good.

In the end, it is on you to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of investing in comics carefully and make your own judgement regarding whether this investment makes sense for you or not.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_book

https://www.statista.com/statistics/438242/comic-direct-market-share/

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.

As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.

After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.

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