Actually people were saving US mint stamps going back to the 30s.  It became really popular early post-war because 3¢ is all it took to mail a letter.  Today, you can easily buy these, and pretty much any denomination under 20¢ for face value, or less.  I actually think todays stamps are a better investment.  The F...more

Never buy collectibles as an investment for the kids future.

My uncle collected baseball and football cards and had an extensive collection.  Problem is, he put them all in those sticky photo albums.  Years later they became impossible to remove without damage.  I don't know what value his collection had to begin with but it sure had near zero to end with.   So, how you store ...more

I did the same thing with stamps.  I eventually realized I had bought a lot of expensive wallpaper and sold it as such.  I got pennies on the dollar when I wanted to get rid of my collection.  I suppose I learned a thing or two, the cost of an educlation in the field.

In other words, to make any money in the collectibles games pretty much requires that you become extremely knowledgeable (as to what's out there) and this means spending a lot of time doing market research, going to shows, meeting other people.  This kind of work CANNOT be done in a vaccuum. Trust me, I know. BTDT....more

Last and only time I was at Disneyworld was in 1980.  I was a kid.  I remember we had to park the car so far from the front entrance a trolly train was required to get to the gate.  I remember the tour guide commented, on that ride, that Disneyland would fit into the parking lot of Disneyworld.  I believed it. I rem...more

Buying shares in small cap start up mining companies is like buying lottery tickets. The last recommendation I bought went bust.  All $2000 I invested down the drain.  It takes a lot of gains elsewhere or dividends paid to you to make up for such horrific losses.   Remember that shares are under $5 for a reason a...more

eBay buying Skype instead of Kinkos (for about the same money I might add) was a horrible decision but then the kind of thing I might have expected from Meg Whitman.   Some of the conclusions in this list you can't draw.  Sure, Ross Perot could have bought out Bill Gates for $50 Million but we all know Gates is who M...more

Not long ago MSN advised us to hold AAPL, but now it looks like a buy again.  I'm glad they didn't scare me to bail @ $400 when one of the MSN cronies said AAPL had no future.   Compared to Google, AAPL is a bargain with its dividend.  You'd really have to have a lot of faith GOOG is the real growth stock of the two ...more