The Million Dollar Proposal

[GPX | 1,369]

Lately, there has been a few articles/videos talking up on the increasingly expensive nature of retro games. This thread isn't about the validity of the speculation, but rather, it's about sitting back and doing a little bit of daydreaming...

Imagine you somehow got given a million bucks (cross lotto win; you've been a star worker and you got a promotion etc..), how would you go about with your normal collecting routine? Would it remain the same goal you've been setting all this time? Or will it steer to a completely different path?

 

[spacepup | 2,404]

I think I'd probably be still going after the same things I am now, although it would likely enable me to pick up some of the pricier ones without waiting as long.   I actually don't think I'd go on some huge game shopping spree.  

After paying off my house, shoring up savings, and doing a few other things, I'd travel the world more often and make those trips better.  

[DarkTone | 984]

I would continue as is. I need a drive to go further in collecting. Maybe it will show if I had the cash. 

[DorkOverlord | 684]

I'd renovate my house to add a bigger game room 

[OptOut | 8,883]

My focus wouldn't change, but I'd definitely pick up some of the WAY pricy stuff now that I want that I just can't justify.

For example, I have enough money right now to buy a 64DD set and games, but that's a good few grand that I could never justify actually spending when I could buy way more other stuff I want with that money instead.

So if I had a million out of nowhere, I would definitely spend like a couple grand straight away to buy the full DD set, no questions asked.

But, other than spending maybe 10 to 20 grand, I'd just bank the rest of the money and invest in property.

[CMR | 519]

I'd probably just buy myself a new truck and some more land.

[m308gunner | 352]

Well, my current collecting goals would be a drop in the bucket compared to that amount of moolah. 

Finish out the last 60+ CIBs and renovate the hell out of the game room. Then pay off bills and invest in property.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

If I got a million bucks, I'm sure a minimum of $200,000 would be tied up in upgrading to a new house.

Then I imagine we'd put $100,000 into college planning for each of the boys

Then we'd probably take a long vacation.

Then we'd invest most of the rest.

Then I'd probably treat myself to maybe $10,000 worth of shit.  So I'd probably buy the stuff that's already on my radar, and finish off SNES, replace my missing PS1 and PS2 stuff, and so forth.  Nothing too exciting.

 

If I had $1,000,000 that I had to blow in the industry?  I'd probably try to get as many good games as I could for older platforms as I could.  All the good NES games, all the good Sega CD games, all the good Saturn games, etc.  No sealed shit, no one-of-a-kind shit, nothing.  I'm in this hobby because I love gameplay, and that's what I collect for the most part.  Gameplay is king.

[Darth Vader | 154]

Pfft, I'd buy that fancy sticker seal Marry-O tape that I saw on that pawn program on the television. It's worth a million bucks ya know.

No but really, if I cleared a clean million, half would get stashed immediately. Then I'd set up my Mom and Dad with a fat chunk of change, pay off my house, then start upgrading all of my lower quality CIB's. Then I could just sell off the lower quality ones without denting my windfall too much.

Hopefully I'd be able to make some good investments, I dabble in stocks a little, and be able just to ride out this crazy thing we call life comfortably.

P.S. - My girlfriend thinks it weird that I still say television instead of just saying TV.........is that weird?

[Galdius | 1,511]

I would try and complete the AES set and pick some other games.

Would invest the rest since I don't have any plans on moving apartments.
Maybe I would get a new car.

[jonebone | 1,307]

Pay off the house then dabble in a lot more collectibles or be a little more aggressive in some purchases.  I'd be living a same or similar life just expand my focuses a bit. 

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

Pay off the house/house upgrades, make sure my son is set for college and maybe a little spending money after. Maybe a new car or two. I might set like $20k aside for game collecting but I’m not sure I would stray too far from what I am doing already. Throw whatever was left at my retirement account.

This hypothetical question answer gets more boring the older I get lol 

[Philosoraptor | 468]

I've already got enough games to play for now. I'd probably buy $5,000 worth of Pokemon stuff and invest the rest. A million dollars is barely enough to retire on nowadays, so most people are going to use it for retirement prep or paying off debts.

[G-type | 2,480]

$1 mil? that might cover my kids college tuition in 2033

ok the fun answer is: build a home arcade

[Sign Collector Guy | 334]

For sure buy "the" sticker seal Mario. Then sell it for 2 Million a year later.  

[RH | 4,903]

Were at a point with inflation and life that "$1,000,000" isn't a LOT of money.  Granted, it's more than I have in all of my combined assets, but it's not really enough to setup a young person "for life".

With that said, whether I were to come into $1,000,000 or $1,000,000,000, I feel like the answer would generally be the same.  I'd want to make a minor upgrade in our living arrangement/home, and my wife and I would want to give significantly. 

Can we get a "give a lot away" category?

If it were $1,000,000, my wife and I would probably sock most of it (maybe 50-75%, after taxes) and the rest we'd give away. If the sum were considerably more than that, we've actually discussed that we'd want to put the overwhelming majority of it in the bank for a year.  The next year we'd quit our work, lay low, research long term money management and spend time strategizing how to effectively live off of that wealth for the rest of our lives, while giving away the rest of it, slowly, over the course of the next 50 years, or so, to charitable organizations we support.

You can't take it with you, and we'd much rather do something like give to every crisis pregnancy care center in the US, assist in ending human trafficking or help provide fresh water to villages in places with the greatest needs for such things.

[RH | 4,903]

1 minute ago, Sign Collector Guy said:

For sure buy "the" sticker seal Mario. Then sell it for 2 Million a year later.  

Even though I made my "be a do-gooder" post, if I received a ridiculous amount of money, we'd definitely have a little fun.  I very likely might just say, "fudge it", throw out my standards of not wanting to pay people who expect ridiculous amounts of money for their petty trinkets... and drop $1,000,000 for the SNES PlayStation.

No... I wouldn't.  Even with $1B, I can't do that, but I'd probably find a way to have some gamer fun.

[arnpoly | 198]

I would definitely convince my wife to let me buy Stadium Events.

[RH | 4,903]

7 minutes ago, arnpoly said:

I would definitely convince my wife to let me buy Stadium Events.

Yeah, I mean, if you can knock out the top 10 most expensive NES titles, all of a sudden, getting a complete set doesn't seem THAT difficult!  That's something along the lines of what I might do too.

[arnpoly | 198]

Just now, RH said:

Yeah, I mean, if you can knock out the top 10 most expensive NES titles, all of a sudden, getting a complete set doesn't seem THAT difficult!  That's something along the lines of what I might do too.

To put into context, Stadium Events is the only licensed cart I'm missing.

I'd also pick up the expensive unlicensed carts that are otherwise out of reach.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I doubt that I would do anything different than I do now. It's not the fun answer, but I wouldn't mind having that kind of money available for whenever I actually needed something.

[Gloves | 11,776]

Yeah boring as it is, my main goal rn is financial independence, and a quick Mil would get me pretty far along on that path. 

I'm sure I'd pick up Kuon, Zombie Nation CIB, and Snow Brothers CIB. Space Mega force too. But that'd probably be about it. The rest into savings and then business as usual. 

[MrMark0673 | 197]

Yeah, super boring, but I would just leverage it into more passive income to become more financially independent as well.  It would change things long term I suppose, as 15-20 years later the results of investing would become realized and I'd probably have some fun, but in the short term I would just reinvest in more properties.

If it were something absolutely bananas, like $200 million: 

• I'd buy every pinball machine I ever wanted and have a great setup to entertain friends and guests.
• I'd buy a CIB Heartbeat Trainer with Outback Joey again.  For a guy who had almost "everything", this may be the only item that I genuinely miss.
• I'd put out aggressive bounties for unreleased prototypes that may or may not still exist or ever fully exist in the first place (Dewey the Dolphin will always be my white whale), and then I'd go on to see how I could release the ROMs to the masses legally for all to enjoy.

That might be it.  If I had such an egregious amount of surplus liquid cash, I'd probably travel a lot more and go somewhere warmer for the winters.  Love Boston, but I'd gladly take 7 months away from this place annual to sit on a tropical beach.

[GPX | 1,369]

Buying a new home with much larger space would be the first thing I’ll spend on. Then buying bad-ass shelves to finally put my games on a proper display where they belong. Most of them are suffocating in silence in dark space within boxes, some within boxes within boxes. 

I’ll likely then buy some expensive stuff I’ve been eyeing on for a fair while. The majority of money will go in banks with holidaying/investing in mind. 

I use to be a fullset collector, but now I’m more selective in what I want to buy and the condition I want them in. I think my collecting philosophy/strategy won’t change all that much. 

[Sign Collector Guy | 334]

Just now, GPX said:

Buying a new home with much larger space would be the first thing I’ll spend on. Then buying bad-ass shelves to finally put my games on a proper display where they belong. Most of them are suffocating in silence in dark space within boxes, some within boxes within boxes. 

I’ll likely then buy some expensive stuff I’ve been eyeing on for a fair while. The majority of money will go in banks with holidaying/investing in mind. 

I use to be a fullset collector, but now I’m more selective in what I want to buy and the condition I want them in. I think my collecting philosophy/strategy won’t change all that much. 

I eased up on my collecting because just having things in boxes not on display felt wrong. So I feel yeah! Yah dirty hoarder.