7 Timeless Pokémon Investing Rules Every Collector Should Know!

When it comes to Pokémon investing, there's more advice than you can consume. However, as the hobby changes

consume. However, as the hobby changes daily, it makes you wonder what advice actually always stays the same. And

that's why in this video, I'm going to be going over the seven timeless rules of Pokémon investing that literally will stay the same even as the hobby continues to grow. Because the issue is right now there's a lot of things

happening, right? Pokémon and

happening, right? Pokémon and collectibles change rapidly. And while

it is exciting, the constant movement and changes can become very exhausting to keep up with. That's why the purpose of this video is to act as a bit of like a timeless piece of wisdom that's relevant for years to come. Because like

many of you watching, I've been collecting Pokémon since I was a kid.

And same with Yu-Gi-Oh, right? And

collecting was just a huge part of my childhood. However, a question you need

childhood. However, a question you need to ask yourself is, how much do I love collecting Pokémon cards outside of the value? because I found that's probably

value? because I found that's probably the most important question to ask if you're purchasing and investing in collectibles. And I'm going to explain

collectibles. And I'm going to explain why that is throughout this video and give my reasoning behind that. However,

to kick things off, the first timeless rule is this. Purchasing the grails of an era is one of the smartest plays in the game. So, you might be thinking,

the game. So, you might be thinking, wait, why are the grails like the timeless pieces or why are they the smartest things to purchase in the era?

Now, the reason why collecting the grails is smart. Now, I'm not talking about a first edition Charizard or, you know, the first edition PSA 10 Blastos, right? That's not the purpose what I'm

right? That's not the purpose what I'm saying. But if you are purchasing, you

saying. But if you are purchasing, you know, expensive collectibles, right? One

of the key areas to focus on is having high valued collectibles that kind of maintain their position in the market.

The reason for this is because of the kind of available buyer market that's available. Okay, if you look at

available. Okay, if you look at something like the Golden Snorlax, right, the Golden Snorlax from Chilling Rain was desired back in 2021. Believe

it or not, that was one of the most desired cards during that era, though it wasn't one of the top chase cards of the era. One of the top grail cards from the

era. One of the top grail cards from the era is more like the Moon. And you can see what happens that when something's in a hype era versus when something's actually a grail card. Grails have a way

of maintaining through generations. And

that's really important to know. It's

very likely in 5 years from today or even 10 years from today, Moonbrun will still hold its position in the market and there's just so many generations that got accustomed to seeing Moon and it's become part of like a core memory,

right? Same thing when you look at the

right? Same thing when you look at the Ldios and Ldios GX tag team card, right?

That's another grail for the era. When

you kind of purchase these cards, you're kind of futureproofing yourself a little bit because as the years go on and as time goes on, people tend to remember the grails. So, I'm not saying they just

the grails. So, I'm not saying they just climb endlessly in value. Nothing's like

that. But what you're kind of doing is if you're purchasing Grails, you're purchasing wanted collectibles. You're

not just purchasing junk. You know, if you do like investing in collectibles, it's always good to set goals to get these awesome collectibles in your collection. Kind of talking about if you

collection. Kind of talking about if you do like to see cards that appreciate over time. Now, also, I just wanted to

over time. Now, also, I just wanted to say if you are a new viewer to the channel, my name is Phil and I run this Pokémon investing channel. I'd honestly

love for you to subscribe and you'll be able to learn more about Pokémon TCG and collectibles. Though, moving on to the

collectibles. Though, moving on to the second timeless rule, which is sealed is boring, but it will always be king. Now,

here's the thing, right? When I kind of started in investing in collectibles, right, I was purchasing a lot of singles and I would just buy singles because I love my singles. And you know that if you watch my channel, I talk about singles a lot because I always have a

feeling that like why would you want to collect sealed that much? Because when

you buy the singles, you know, that's kind of like the trophies of Pokemon collecting, right? When you're opening

collecting, right? When you're opening Pokémon packs, the whole purpose is to kind of get the singles, you know, the chase cards, right? Here's something

what I learned very quickly with Sealed.

Sealed has a way of just being very, very stable in the market. And it's kind of weird how it works. It holds its position much better than singles.

Singles are volatile, right? Depending

on when you are in the era, singles will be going down in price, they'll be coming up in price. But when you look at sealed, sealed has this weird way of it doesn't really have this huge spike in value, right? Singles do that. But

value, right? Singles do that. But

sealed has this very slow trajectory and it just continues to trend upwards. Now,

of course, when I'm saying this, that doesn't mean that sealed can't go down.

Even when singles start crashing from a particular set, the seal doesn't get affected. It's really strange how it

affected. It's really strange how it works. And that's why it's kind of the

works. And that's why it's kind of the king and it's going to remain the king.

Don't forget, we're also in a different culture now. And as this kind of space

culture now. And as this kind of space grows, a lot of people like doing live openings, right? You've got a lot of

openings, right? You've got a lot of kind of rip and ship things going on.

That kind of makes sealed become even more valuable because there's utility with it, right? So, it's very important to understand that because now sealed has more utility than just having something in your kind of display piece

or like a collectible. You know, if the live breaking culture continues to grow and more and more people like opening packs, there's going to be a market of people who love seeing these old school sealed packs open. So that's why it's

really important to know that yes, it is boring. I totally agree. You know, I'm

boring. I totally agree. You know, I'm not the biggest fan of just collecting a bunch of sealed kind of booster boxes and keeping them in my collection. But

at the same time, if history shows us anything, they are kind of a little bit more safe, if you want to use that word, rather than singles because they seem to always maintain their value. Now,

another thing that a lot of people don't tell you about sealed is that sealed actually has a base point in the market.

What I mean by that is sealed is sold at retail price. there's a retail price for

retail price. there's a retail price for that. Singles do not have that. Singles

that. Singles do not have that. Singles

are a complete free market. So when

you're purchasing sealed product, even though it can go below its retail price, it's kind of establish that there is a base point in the market whereas singles don't have that. With singles, no one knows what the ceiling for singles are,

but no one really knows what the bottom is as well because there's no retail price point for them. So for that reason, as I said, sealed is boring, but it will always be king. Now, speaking

about the third timeless rule, having a smaller, high-priced and liquid collection is better than having hundreds of lowerpriced cards. Now, this

is a big one, but I kind of feel you only learn this after being in the game for a while, or you can kind of just learn this right now and, you know, kind of take my lessons that I've learned of how this works. What I mean by a liquid

collection, when we buy collectibles, one of the big arguments against it is that you don't have immediate liquidity, which is completely true, right? Because

when you want to sell a card, you need to take photos of the card. Then you

need to put on eBay or TCG Play or wherever you're selling your cards, right? Then you have to wait for a

right? Then you have to wait for a buyer. You may need to take good photos.

buyer. You may need to take good photos.

You may need to negotiate through messages. You got to do a lot of

messages. You got to do a lot of manpower to sell your cards. That's why

when you have a higher price liquid collection, it actually works in your favor. Why this is so important to know

favor. Why this is so important to know is because when you have a lot of lower price cards, you need to sell all those individually. Now, if you want to get

individually. Now, if you want to get really technical, that is a lot of hours to sell a lot of lowpric cards. I'm just

talking about, you know, V, V-Max cards, you know, illustration reds. You have a lot of those in a binder. If you want to sell these later down the line, you know, few years from now, you are in a difficult position because each one of

those cards need to be listed individually, sold individually, posted individually, and you have to negotiate with each buyer individually. When you

have one high price card, yes, you are holding more risk because the card can go down more in price, but also it's one purchase, one sale, and you make the money straight away. Now, someone might say, "Oh, but if I just bundle all my

low price cards together in a binder and sell them off as a binder, that's a smart strategy. You won't get the

smart strategy. You won't get the maximum amount of money for those cards." That's why it's very important

cards." That's why it's very important to understand that when you sell a high price collection that's also liquid, something like a top PSA 10 Chase card, you effectively can put the most effort

in selling that one piece. Whereas

anyone who's sold a collection will tell you it is a nightmare, dude. It is so difficult. Some people a lot of the time

difficult. Some people a lot of the time they get so over it that they just list everything on auction cuz they can't be bothered dealing with it, right? But

when you kind of have a more higher price collectible that is in demand, that is then easier to sell and you won't get burnt out selling it. Now,

moving on to the fourth point. Pokémon

singles will always move up and down.

However, only a select few become iconic. Now, I was talking about this

iconic. Now, I was talking about this before, but this is very important to understand. Singles have a way of just

understand. Singles have a way of just moving up and down. However, you got to remember, right? There's so many singles

remember, right? There's so many singles coming on the market. You know, when you look at how many Pokemon cards have released, how many top chase cards, it is impossible to collect every single one, there'd probably be very few people

who have every single top chase card of every single era. The reason for that is because there's just so many. Though,

with this huge pool of singles that come onto the market and so many cool cards, the amount of cards that become well-known and established in a generation that actually transcend time

is very rare. that you only get maybe one to three cards per generation that actually make a crazy dent. Then when we look at generation 8 Sword and Shield, the probably two iconic cards from that

generation are the Moonbron and the Guiritina V from Lost Origin. Yes, you

have more cards that are in demand and desired, but these two cards really deserve the iconic kind of position from the Sword and Shield era. And as you keep going down and down in generations,

there's always a few cards and it's always around one to three cards that become iconic. That's why if you're

become iconic. That's why if you're looking at purchasing some of these cards, look at what made a generation stand out. Now, the reason why I think

stand out. Now, the reason why I think Moonbrun was such a awesome card is because an Umbreon top chase card was never the case in any other era. The

Moonbron became the top chase card and now Umbreon has become this incredible Pokemon that everyone thinks, "Oh, the next Umbreon card, whenever there's an Umbreon chase card, it's going to be expensive." That's why it became so

expensive." That's why it became so unique. Same thing. And that's why I

unique. Same thing. And that's why I even look at Bubble Mew in that same light because MW hasn't really had top chase cards in a lot of other eras, right? It's never had a top chase card.

right? It's never had a top chase card.

In fact, it's always been Charizard.

Charizard is always one of the most common cards. So, that's why I think

common cards. So, that's why I think Bubble Mew deserves that position even though it isn't at the highest price point for the Scarlet and Violet era just yet. Now, also, if you do love the

just yet. Now, also, if you do love the world of Pokémon TCG and would love to connect with a broader community, feel free to join my channel's Discord server. It's quickly becoming one of the

server. It's quickly becoming one of the fastest ways to get updates relating to the market. Feel free to join the

the market. Feel free to join the server. The invite is in the video's

server. The invite is in the video's description. Now, moving on to number

description. Now, moving on to number five. Card grading is a crucial aspect

five. Card grading is a crucial aspect in this hobby, and who you grade with matters. Now, one thing that I see a lot

matters. Now, one thing that I see a lot of, right, is people say, "Oh, just grade your card. If you love your card, grade it." You know, whoever you want to

grade it." You know, whoever you want to grade your card with, it doesn't matter.

As long as it's protected, you know, that's all that matters. Right? Now,

here's the thing with card grading. Yes,

it is true that if you want to get your card protected and you don't care about its value, just go send it wherever you want. But here is the thing. If you're

want. But here is the thing. If you're

doing that with very highric cards that are in good quality, when you talk about trading cards, right, they are very easy to damage. You're dealing with shiny

to damage. You're dealing with shiny cardboard. So for that reason they need

cardboard. So for that reason they need to be protected. Right? When we look at something like video games, grading doesn't really make as much sense as trading cards. Reason being is video

trading cards. Reason being is video games actually have a utility. You can

actually play them as well. Right? When

you grade a video game, you've effectively kind of taken away its utility, right? With cards, unless

utility, right? With cards, unless you're actually playing the Pokémon TCG competitively or with friends, your cards don't have that much utility outside of that, right? And more so, they also can get damaged quite easily.

It is very important to grade your cards if you want to preserve their value. The

reason why I am a big fan of grading is because it provides a source of truth between buyers and sellers. And because

of that source of truth, it makes it easier to sell your collections one day.

Also, depending on who you grade with, a lot of grading companies also make sure the card is legitimate. Now, you got to remember, right, as much as I hate to say it, for some reason in the Pokémon community, there is a lot of scamming, dude. But that's what I'm trying to tell

dude. But that's what I'm trying to tell you, right? Because there's so much of

you, right? Because there's so much of that behavior, grading becomes even more important. Grading your cards provides

important. Grading your cards provides an effective source of truth, it makes it easy to sell between buyers and sellers. The main aspect of it is it

sellers. The main aspect of it is it protects your cards and it gives it a grade. Now, the grade is also important

grade. Now, the grade is also important because with so many cards right now in the market, you get a grade that's a 10, it kind of also makes the value go up.

So, for that reason, grading is an essential in this hobby. Now moving on to number six. It is niche items are not investments. They are strictly for your

investments. They are strictly for your collection. Now an example of a niche

collection. Now an example of a niche collectible would be something from my collection which is this PSA 10 mega Heracross. Right? It's from Furious

Heracross. Right? It's from Furious Fist. One of the top chase cards from

Fist. One of the top chase cards from Furious Fist. Very niche collectible.

Furious Fist. Very niche collectible.

Now here's the thing why I don't see them as investments is because niche collectibles take a long long time to sell, right? If there is a buyer market,

sell, right? If there is a buyer market, you need to kind of list this and you will need to leave this for a very long time on the market because you are looking for the right seller. And for

that reason, when you are looking at purchasing collectibles, you kind of want to do make sure that there is a big buyer market available. Now, moving on

to number seven. True value takes time.

Don't fall for cards that rise quickly and sharply in price. So, this is a big one, right? because I see it so often

one, right? because I see it so often especially cuz I've run this channel for a while now and you know I always see the market one card it happens all the time will just spike super quickly and everyone just flocks to it and they go

this is going to be the next card man this is going to be the card that changes the era and all this happens and what I have learned over a long period of time if cards rise way too quickly

way too sharply they probably cannot be trusted it takes a whole cohort of people for it to become iconic for it to get its position in the market. If you

see cards spiking crazily in value, one thing you should really kind of always tell yourself is not to kind of go in and just try buy them for the sake of it. It is very likely you will regret

it. It is very likely you will regret that. And that's why I say if a card

that. And that's why I say if a card rises nice and slowly and takes its time, that is more trusted than any card that spikes too quickly, especially for cards that release straight away. The

reason for that is time is the best resource we have in this hobby. If

something has been in demand for a long period of time over 2 years, it is very likely for the next 2 years it's still going to be in demand. That's why it's very important to take a long and pragmatic view over the hobby. Though,

one area to consider relating to Pokémon collectibles is that there's also a deep reason why a lot of us collect Pokémon cards. And there's far more of a pull

cards. And there's far more of a pull power than we realize. It's actually

really interesting and there's some science why a lot of us still love collecting Pokémon cards today. And it's

actually one of the big reasons I'm confident in purchasing Pokémon cards.

If you'd like to learn more about that reason, I do speak about that in this video right here. Within this video on screen, I go over the science behind Pokémon and why so many adults are still collecting today and why it's likely it

will always be part of people's lives.

Click the video on screen and I'll see you on the next