Setting Numismatic Goals Vs. Creating Your Own Collecting Pitfalls

Much of the numismatic journey involves setting goals and objectives for yourself and determining where you want your collection to eventually be. Sets, date runs, type collections – all these things are imperative to defining your holdings as a true numismatic collection rather than just an “accumulation” of random coins, banknotes, tokens, medals, and other related items.

Yet, there’s a fine line between setting a reasonably challenging – though obtainable – numismatic goal and creating an insurmountable barrier to success. Many things can hamper those goals, including overthinking, overreaching, or just plain old biting off way more than you can ever chew. And this is where numismatic pitfalls can totally disappoint a collector and even dissuade them from wanting to collect any further – a problem that hits too many collectors.

So, what’s a collector to do? Are there guidelines for building a decent numismatic challenge, maybe even a collecting goal with a lifelong timeline, without overwhelming yourself? Sure! But first you’ll need to accept your personal parameters of at least three things: your budget, your time, and your patience – whatever any of those three things may amount to.

Granted, the matter of budget is something only you can define and should be informed by the spectrum of your discretionary funds – if you have the luxury of available funds beyond what you need for bills, groceries, and other regular necessities; you don’t want to go into debt for your hobby, so figure out how much you can afford to spend each month or year for coin collecting, and religiously stick to that goal.

The matter of time is a little different than monetary budgets in that, unlike incomes, we all have the same 24 hours each day. The question is how do we each spend them? Surely, some of us have more “free” time than others. How much expendable time do you have, and how much are you willing to spend on your numismatic hobby? As much as financial budget or anything else, the amount of time you have to dedicate to researching the coins or other items of your interest, seeking them out, and enjoying what you have may be as much an influence toward how big (or small) your goals are as anything else.

Patience is a virtue, but just how virtuous are you on this front? Some of the most successful coin collectors have also been famously patient – they played the long game to build their collections and spent many years or even decades to accomplish their goals. Does that describe you? Or are you more of an instant-gratification collector, opting to fill up all the slots in your PCGS Registry Set over a shorter period of time – maybe doing so over just weeks or months?

The bottom line here is that setting numismatic goals that are too far beyond your purview are almost surely going to leave you feeling mentally exhausted. Be honest with yourself when setting numismatic goals, and know what you can afford (both time wise and monetarily). Don’t be afraid to aim high! However, if you have loftier numismatic goals than your current lifestyle or budget may permit, you might want to embrace the virtue of patience if you really want to see success over the long haul.