January 11, 2026, 5:45am 1

Lifestyle creep is a phenomenon where an increase in wage often leads to an increase in discretionary spending. This translates directly to collecting as well.

If your collecting budget increased by 2x, would your appetite for collecting increase proportionally? Why/Why not?

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Yes, I’d have the funds to chase the entire EX Era run with all variants/repeating errors/promos/trophies/etc. Someone had around 60-70% of the entire reverse run on eBay last year (?) for around $40k in VLP+. I’d start there. They included a good portion of the ultra rares as well.

I’d do so to focus on the one era of PTCG that resonates with me the most. Monetizing nostalgia is a bad idea always, I find it becomes weaponized, though it would be (more) justifiable if I had a 2x multiplier on my collecting budget. I also realize where I am in the first place to even share this take, haha.

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crindy January 11, 2026, 5:54am 3

i might treat myself to a slightly nicer versions of cards that i want! for my wotc binder i’m probably gonna skip the shinings (except the raichu that i pulled myself when i was little) because the price point is too high, but if my budget doubled i could see myself splurging on a shining mewtwo or something.

mostly my goals are pretty unambitious though so an increase in budget would only get me to the same place faster

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resources are finite, human desire is infinite. - someone smart

The ultimate quest is a master set of everything. So I don’t think doubling, tripling, or dodecatupling my money would change much about my my appetite, just the speed of my ability to get things. So really, its about pacing myself appropriately. I don’t think I’ll be able to get good condition copies of the biggest of boys, and I am not interested in 1st edition. But if I had more money, maybe those parts would change. Not the quantity, just the quality of the copies of cards I get, and how soon.

Good thought experiment. I’ve already mulled this over. And yes, its hard to pace yourself on these things. But I’m pretty happy when I just get a good condition card thats like $3 when the other copies on the market look much worse. Or when I can get a deal on a lot as in a “lot” not a lot, but there are usually a lot of cards in a lot of cards, maybe thats why they call them lots…anyhow, it can feel good to find a quality one and get it cheap when it has tons of stuff I don’t own already.

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koala January 11, 2026, 6:10am 5

No because I’ll be spending twice as fast, halving my delayed gratification and burn out sooner. Desire has a threshold

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As a relatively new collector, and collecting a low value set, I don’t really have a budget so at the moment this wouldn’t really effect me. However, knowing myself I would definitely be more proactive if I knew I suddenly had twice as much to spend and would definitely be researching and purchasing more than I do currently.

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IMG88 January 11, 2026, 10:57am 7

I think my appetite for collecting would be the same, and even the goals would be the same, but I’d achieve them twice as fast.

I think I would only change future chase cards if my budget increased a lot more (maybe x10). Then I’d go after goals with much rarer items that I don’t even consider right now.

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joponnes January 11, 2026, 11:03am 8

I would probably widen some of my goals i’ve made more limited, like going for whole ex eseries era instead of skipping the ultra ex cards and secret rares. Other than that i would perhaps buy few more cool lego pieces, but i also see a lot of other good uses for that money so i doubt my goals would widen a lot. Nevertheless, in my field no big salary increases incoming so very hypothetical thoughts

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