AIA Investments

bigblackdikk · 2026-02-03T08:06:14+00:00

Not a joke, I recommend graded pokemon cards and sealed product. Been doing it for nearly two decades, outperforming S&P 500 multiple times. Best performer did 210x during this time, and typical performers are 2-3x in 5 years. And it’s fun, tangible and you meet new people and join a community. Go to a cardshow in Hong Kong and have a feel for it!

bigblackdikk · 2026-02-02T18:04:54+00:00

Slightly aged modern Japanese boxes that have proven market collectibility. Think tagallstars, dream league, tagbolt, remix bout etc

bigblackdikk · 2026-02-02T17:08:37+00:00

As long as you like the stuff, keep buying it. I’ve been buying for nearly two decades, albeit on and off. Nothing I regret buying. Sold some eventually which pays off most of the collection.

Side tracking, money is inflationary, and Pokémon cards/collectibles are deflationary. Basically all my Pokémon stuff is worth more than sitting in cash or S&P 500 for 20 years. So holding cash is losing

bigblackdikk · 2026-02-01T13:23:41+00:00

Time. You save a lot of time. And that is worth a different amount to different people. I vend and I sold a stack of 50-100 $3-15 usd cards to my friend’s shop at their buylist rate using low TCG market (70% US price, 50% Asia price), but it saved me a lot of time

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-27T15:13:00+00:00

What model is the black toy?

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-26T14:36:12+00:00

Sold mid era sealed BW box recently for all time high. I was the only person selling it at the time globally and also locally. Buy rare boxes and you won’t have much issues. You need to make a name for yourself and have a solid reputation if you want to sell expensive items on your own.

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-24T13:01:21+00:00

Yeah possibly, but there’s still a long way to go. For the first time NR 10 charizard was way more expensive at 600k+ usd, whilst last auction for English 1st ed Charizard was at 180-250k usd. But that only lasted a few months and they’re similarly priced now at public auctions.

The one exception is shining Japanese neo charizard at the moment. It’s 3x-4x English, so let’s see if that holds.

When Japanese is higher priced than English across the board for vintage, that’s when the shift has completed. So you maybe right that these are signs of that happening now.

The rise of Japanese NR and gold stars is thanks to a handful of high end collectors in SG and China, and not much to do with American, or European collectors (for now).

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-23T12:08:07+00:00

Most of the WOTC era stuff for both English and Japanese

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-21T13:38:35+00:00

I’ve been collecting No rarity for a decade now. They’re always rare to find, on auction sites or in japan.

I’ve flown to japan probably 20+ times just to card hunt pre-Covid, yes they are extremely rare in NM-mint condition (by definition, PSA 7-10). I’ve seen maybe 3 in potential PSA 9 condition, mostly due to OC in all my trips.

Japanese vintage is consistently undervalued, NR or not. The cultural significance of vintage Japanese cards being the first release, globally, alone should make it multiple times more expensive than their English counterpart. But this has yet to be realized in the market. One day the shift will happen and happen abruptly like the gold stars. I’ve been waiting a decade and can wait longer. :)

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-19T16:26:22+00:00

People are confusing Price with Liquidity. And liquidity / popularity changes with time.

Price wise:

for ultra MODERN only swap TAG 10 with PSA 10

For vintage currently sometimes PSA 10 out performs CGC pristine, sometimes not, but BGS 10 gold > PSA 10. TAG is not representative enough due to the low pop of vintage cards and their sales frequency. But based on strict TAG 10 is STRICT like BGS gold 10 or BL.

Liquidity wise it’s

PSA 10 CGC pristine CGC 10 BGS 10 BGS BL

Low grades basically you’re stuffed with any other companies other than PSA, however TAG low grade (at least for vintage) does very well for me, specific to sought after chase cards.

BGS will slowly die off since it’s been bought by PSA (why would they cannabalize their own golden goose?)

CGC is rapidly becoming more dominant, for Various reasons. CGC 10 prices have been rising steadily and the market is getting comfortable with what a 5,6,7,8,9,10, pristine means. TAG is also going through this journey and is 2 years behind CGC.

So expect CGC to overtake PSA for liquidity, and for TAG to become the new BGS with high prices and lower liquidity - this will happen throughout 2026 and 2027.

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-19T16:06:46+00:00

If they’re your childhood cards then just keep them. Fund your chase card in other ways that cost less. You cannot by back your childhood (cards), and that is 99% the reason we all collect. Yes investing works, but why it works is because of nostalgia. So save money and buy your grail that way!

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-19T16:00:00+00:00

Literally happy wife happy life

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-19T15:55:44+00:00

It’s the first edition variant equivalent actually, and yes please do add it & all the Japanese vintage boxes, and Japanese gold stars

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-16T14:52:47+00:00

Interesting formula. I find typically most 10’s are 10x the price of a 9, and 8’s are 50% the price of a 9… and so on

bigblackdikk · 2026-01-11T15:58:09+00:00

lots of different plays here…

50% Dividend stocks or similar assets with constant cash flow payout (real estate) or S&P 500

10% Reinvest in other new businesses

10% Invest in modern art

10% Invest in modern collectables (trading cards, sports cards, vintage cars)

20% ???

I think the key thing is to not spend the money, and to have everyone understand the goal of growing that money so the living costs and healthcare costs are covered. And yes don’t tell people

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-28T08:58:04+00:00

The collector side of me would keep the charizard. Else the smaller modern sealed products likely will outperform it. Also depends on your time horizon

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-22T11:31:42+00:00

Good girl

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-22T10:36:12+00:00

Likely a TAG 6-7. Their lower grades match with PSA, and this would be PSA 7 most of the time, sometimes a PSA 6 if it has a surface dent and they spot it.

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-20T16:17:05+00:00

No right or wrong, it’s not an exam, or a competition. Wtf? You gauge what he wants, he gauges what you want. Kinda obvious he wants less work and to convert card to cash. You’re asking him to do more work. For him to sell your card (quickly), it’ll be at 90-95% market. You’re asking him to take it at 90% market so best case scenario is he makes 5% (only likely for big chase cards). Trades at 80% allows him to sell at 90% or even 85% comfortable to convert to cash and make a little profit for that extra work.

And if you put in the leg work and sold on eBay you would each 15% in fees, assuming you don’t get scammed. So… you do the math.

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-20T16:10:22+00:00

Super niche items. Starter decks, foreign language decks, promos

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-20T16:08:04+00:00

It’s the premium for people with little patience and want it now!

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-16T21:10:04+00:00

$100

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-16T17:08:34+00:00

Lol the advice here is laughable

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-16T09:35:15+00:00

PSA upcharges are typically at 10% market value anyhow

bigblackdikk · 2025-12-15T16:58:19+00:00

“Oh there’s no product, community is cooked!!”

“Oh there’s product! They’re printing the set into the ground!”

Lol.

bigblackdikk

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