What's your Coin Budget and how do you control your spendings ?

[The Pontian]

I am always interested in ancient coins but sometimes I catch my self viewing coins that they are out of my standard budget. A good question is how much should I spend per month ? Of course that is something that changes from collector to collector , but a lot of times I fill like coins are trying to make me exceed my Budget. (My collecting Budget is around 250-300€) . Do you have any tip ? How do you control your spendings ? What's your Coin Budget ?

[kirispupis]

A good rule of thumb, and one that I suspect is followed by the majority of members here, is to spend a bit more than your maximum budget for coins. What that maximum is really depends on the person.

Personally, I slowly increase my spending until I receive a stern remark from my wife, then I dial it back. I then slowly increase it - thus repeating the process.

[Qcumbor]

Not sure "control your spendings" and "collecting coins" are two sentences going very well together 😄 

The only real rule is to not spend money you would need for basics : roof, clothes, food, holydays. 

Q

[ewomack]

I track everything I spend in a spreadsheet and record purchases immediately as they come in. Sometimes seeing the totals of what you've spent can make you a more careful spender. You could also set up a spreadsheet to automatically change what's left in your budget after you enter another purchase. Sometimes not doing the math provides an excellent diversion from not spending more. For example: "How much do I have left in my budget? Hm, I'll do the math after I purchase this coin." 😄

Overall, I try to spend as little as possible. I try to be very picky about the coins I buy as well. I've bought too many in the past just for the sake of buying them. Those purchases quickly feel stale over time. Knowing your budget and what you want are the starting points. Not wanting what's beyond your budget is the next trick and sometimes the hardest to control.

 

[John Conduitt]

7 minutes ago, ewomack said:

I track everything I spend in a spreadsheet and record purchases immediately as they come in. Sometimes seeing the totals of what you've spent can make you a more careful spender. You could also set up a spreadsheet to automatically change what's left in your budget after you enter another purchase. Sometimes not doing the math provides an excellent diversion from not spending more. For example: "How much do I have left in my budget? Hm, I'll do the math after I purchase this coin." 😄

Overall, I try to spend as little as possible. I try to be very picky about the coins I buy as well. I've bought too many in the past just for the sake of buying them. Those purchases quickly feel stale over time. Knowing your budget and what you want are the starting points. Not wanting what's beyond your budget is the next trick and sometimes the hardest to control.

This is good advice. I have my spreadsheet sum my spend by month, and it's amazing how quickly it reaches the budget if I add what I think are a few cheap coins on top of a big purchase. Being very picky (strictly only coins that meet the collecting goal) will leave something for a special coin later in the month, and you won't end up borrowing from your future budgets.

[kevikens]

I don't control my spending. My wife does.

[The Pontian]

Just now, kevikens said:

I don't control my spending. My wife does.

@kevikens😂😂

[AncientJoe]

Everyone - even an oil Sheikh - has a finite budget and every purchase has an opportunity cost. If the coins you want are exceeding your budget, you may prefer buying fewer, better coins. Some collectors here buy hundreds of coins per year whereas twenty would be an atypically "high-volume" year for me (and I keep telling myself that I'd be happy with one good coin each year).

But, everyone has their preference. It's worth looking through your spending over the last n years and seeing what you could have bought and then trying to weigh if you'd be happier one way or another. 

[Spaniard]

I work on a low budget of around 100$ per month....

A lot of well organised sellers offer a layaway payment scheme which allows me to buy more expensive coins over a few months if need be.

 

[ominus1]

[ambr0zie]

This varies from collector to collector. Some feel content with 3 coins a month, each valued 10 euros. Others still feel the need for more when buying 10 coins or more, much more expensive.

I am not that impressed about coins in exceptional condition; I would rather choose a rarity in decent condition (decent being a very abstract term and everybody understands what they want from "decent") than a common coin in excellent quality. This saves my budget somehow.

My ancient coins (plus some medieval coins) consists in 378 pieces. Only 5 of them were over 100 euros. This is a line I rarely cross - the coin has to be special for me. There are, of course, thousands of coins valued more than 100 euros (and much more). But not all are interesting for me.

2022 was a year I spent a lot of money on coins. One thing helped - I am also doing a second activity besides my job, the activity is related to numismatics and I earn some sums that I usually spend in auctions. But this activity is stopped for about 2 months - hopefully it will return next year.

This month I spent too much and I am not very proud about it. A total of 570 euros for 8 coins in 2 separate auctions. As an average, I spend 300 euros/month. For me even 300 euros is too much so next year I intend to decrease the purchasing rate. But I do not regret any coins I bought as all were targets. And I will "cherry pick" the auctions, buying mainly the remaining targets I have (whenever possible).
This month I intentionally crossed the line as I wanted to be my own Santa Claus. I have some savings and I won't feel the effects too much. I started adding money in the piggy bank since summer, as I knew I would be tempted to buy some coins for Christmas.

I don't drink alcohol (very rarely), I don't smoke (I vape which is cheaper), I don't have a car and most likely I never will because of medical conditions so my budget is still OK.
If I think about it, when I started collecting modern coins (11 years ago) - I realized I need funds for this hobby so I quit smoking, started drinking less (I was a loyal customer for some bars) and cutting irrelevant expenses. I never use budget for vacations, food, things needed in the house. But I was asking myself - do I need this or a new coin? new coin please.

3 hours ago, The Pontian said:

but a lot of times I fill like coins are trying to make me exceed my Budget. (My collecting Budget is around 250-300€

99,99% of us were in this place. The alternatives as I see them are

1. cut the targets you want less and buy the coin you want more

2. wait for the same coin from a different seller/house - you might get lucky; what I also do and I am not ashamed to admit it - I wait for the same type in a worse condition (but not junk) - there is a big possibility I will be happy with a cheaper coin of the same type, especially it will be a considerably easier financial effort

3. save for it. For example if I would badly want a 500 euros coin (and it was never the case) - I would stop buying coins for 2 months and save the money.
There is another option - I will buy now this coin, even if it exceeds my budget - and next month I will try to save money and fill the monetary gap I made. I do not recommend it as you might encounter a domino effect.

[sand]

This is a fun question. For me, it also feels like Confession. Until January 2022, I didn't have a budget. I just had a maximum amount, that I would spend on a single coin. And a vague bad feeling, that I would get, when I felt like I was spending too much money on coins and coin books. It would be interesting, to see how much I spent on coins in 2021. I'd probably be shocked, if I ever bothered to go back and total it up. I think I spent less in 2020, and even less in 2019, but I've never tried to add it all up. I started collecting ancient coins, and medieval coins, in late 2018. Before that, I collected US coins, and modern English coins.

In December 2021, I made a new year resolution, to spend less time and money, on coins and coin books. In January 2022, I started keeping track of how much I spend each month, on coins and coin books. And, for the first time, I created a monthly budget, for coins and coin books. Initially, my monthly budget was slightly less than the maximum amount, that I would ever spend on a single coin. Each month, I was amazed, at how quickly my budget was used up. Therefore, I'm guessing that, in 2021, I spent a lot more money on coins and coin books, than I've spent in 2022.

For the first 8 months of 2022, I blew my budget 5 times. The percentage of my monthly budget, that I spent during the first 8 months of 2022, was 121%, 121%, 241%, 47%, 87%, 34%, 185%, and 149%.  My average percentage was 123%. Not bad.

Then, starting with the 9th month, I decided that I wanted to spend even less money, on coins and coin books. Therefore, I cut my monthly budget in half. Since then, for months 9 through 11, I've blown my monthly budget every month. The percentage of my monthly budget, that I spent, was 204%, 154%, and 219%. Not so good. My average was 192%. However, my average spending per month has dropped, since I cut my monthly budget in half. And, I'm on track to meet my budget for December, so far. I don't see any coins on the horizon, that would tempt me to blow my budget for December.

I think that, my spending on coins and coin books, will continue to decrease, for 2 reasons. First, I now have almost all of the coins that I ever wanted, that are within my budget. That's a huge factor. But part of that, is that I've narrowed down, the coin types that am willing to spend money on. There's really only 1 coin type, that I want, that is within my budget, and it's hard to find an example that meets my requirements, at a cost that is within my budget. There are a few other coin types, that I wouldn't mind having, but it's no big deal. There is only 1 other coin type, that I want, but it is way beyond my budget, and that's okay. Second, I've learned how to better control my spending.

How do I control my spending on coins and coin books? First, I compare the amount I spend on coins and coin books, versus the amount of money I spend on other things, such as fast food, or entertainment. I try not to spend more on coins and coin books, than I would spend on fast food and entertainment. Second, I think about, how much I would be willing to spend on coins and coin books, per week. I take that weekly amount, multiply it by 4, and that's my monthly budget. 

Third, I spend less time looking at coins, and I look at fewer web sites for coins. The fewer coins I look at, the fewer coins I'm tempted to buy. Fourth, the amount of money, that I'm willing to spend on a single coin, seems to have dropped this year. I can't imagine spending a large amount of money on a single coin, any more. Fifth, I've become more frugal, in general. I keep track of my coins and coin books total spending per month, and I've also started keeping track of all of my non-essential spending per month.

Okay. That's my confession. I'll try to do better, next year.

Edited December 13, 2022 by sand

[Hrefn]

One way to think about coin collections is that they are savings accounts from which it is complicated and cumbersome to withdraw money.  I have sold coins from my collection infrequently, but I have sold some.  The most expensive coins are the easiest to sell because dealers love to have such coins, beautiful and rare, in their trays.  High quality also seems to appreciate in price more quickly than average or low quality, although I have not made a science of charting coin prices so that is more of an impression than a proven fact.  
Nevertheless, if this is true, buying a coin is less like buying a Starbucks coffee, or a concert ticket, or even a pair of pants, and more like buying a share of Apple Computer, or an investment bond.  More like saving than spending.  I would never counsel someone to keep ALL his or her savings in coins.  But it is reasonable, in my opinion, to have SOME tangible assets as part of a diversified savings plan.  For a well-informed, scholarly collector who buys prudently, coin collecting could play a role.  Less knowledgeable folks could attain a similar end with bullion.  On a time line measured over a few decades, one would probably not get rich, but would not lose money either.  

Meanwhile, one enjoys the ownership of little time capsules of history and art, and the enjoyable accumulation of knowledge painlessly acquired pursuing a hobby one enjoys, and the pleasure of conversing with fellow collectors from all over the world.  

So, I have no coin budget, no monthly spending target or limit.  Many financial considerations are higher priorities than adding to the coin collection.  Some months, I buy nothing.   But I do not feel I am being frivolous in my spending when I do win something.  

[Roman Collector]

Everyone's budget is different because everyone's disposable income and priorities are different. I'm in a phase of my life where I have no dependent children anymore but I have to be concerned about retirement planning. I would characterize my coin budget as "medium"; about half the collectors here spend more on coins than I do and about half spend less.

As long as you are using income that is truly disposable, not racking up credit card debt on anything (not just coins, I mean anything), and you are saving properly for retirement, it doesn't matter how much or how little you spend on coins.

Some people use this disposable income on travel, meals out at restaurants, alcohol, cigarettes, upscale cars, boats, and other hobbies. Most of my disposable income goes into buying books and coins. I prioritize coins: I drive an old Subaru, not a new Mercedes, and I can spend the money saved on coins.

Moreover, coins do have some resale value, depending on what they are. Some coins are better investments than others, of course, and most collectors will lose money when it comes time to dispose of their collections, but there's a better return on coins than on restaurant meals, trips overseas, and booze.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Roman Collector

[Prieure de Sion]

Quote

...and how do you control your spendings ?

I have a natural control mechanism: my wife 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

I find that avoiding auctions and only buying fixed price coins helps, at least for me.

 

[red_spork]

My budget is a bit fluid but I just track it in a separate tab on my overall coin spreadsheet. It's part of my overall hobby budget which I usually have a target amount for but ultimately sometimes ends up getting raided due to unexpected expenses I'd rather not have hit my savings and occasionally the "coin budget" itself is nothing because I spend everything on other hobbies for a few weeks or months. Occasionally that budget event dips into the red for a few months and I generally don't buy anything until it gets back into the black when a must-have coin shows up that costs more than I currently have in my coin budget. Likewise, some months I add way more to the coin budget than others, particularly when other expenses are lower than expected.

At least for me the goal of having a coin budget isn't so much limiting to a strict amount of $XYZ spent each month on coins and other hobbies, it's limiting overall spend over time to acceptable levels and ensuring other things(retirement accounts, savings, etc) are prioritized correctly and it does do that.

[Octavius]

 How much is my coin budget?   -  Far less than I spend!

How do I control it?    -   I don't.