[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by skeet

Yep..you are right. Some auctions the darn guns go for wayyy more than they are worth...Well...the ones i want anyway. I do occassionally do get a good buy on some items. But usually if it is a shotgun here in this corner of Wyoming. Rifles however..are really crazy. Especially lever guns, I bought a kinda junker 1886 Win in 38-56. Cleaned it up and put it in an auction. Darn thing went for 1400 bucks..and I only had a little more than 400 with the parts i needed to buy to fix it up..BUT the bore was good..hehehehe LOL I was just hopin to get 6-800. I'd a been happy with it too. For the most part though I don't want her to have to deal with that. The spensive guns are gonna go now and I'll put the money in an account. She can draw the interest off of it for a long time. Long as she doesn't get married to a goober after me..Then I have a device in the floor of the house to take care of that. haahahahahahaha. Nah...she said she didn't want another goof to have to take care of.. Have a double gun that is worth in the vicinity of 50 grand so she'll have something to play with.. You know when I bought all these guns in the past..I figured to be able to cash 'em in sometime and have around a hundred grand or maybe a bit more...And they will be. BUT..I figured a hundred thou was gonna be a LOT of money. Boy was I WRONG. It ain't even 'nuff to get started on any more

There are a million questions I have. Are you doing this because you think you need to financially? If so, then that is a question you really need to sit down and think about. If you need the money or think you will need to set up an account to take care of your wife should you pass on, then you have to do what you have to do.

If it isn't a matter of money, then just do what feels right to you and makes you happy. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't be selling anything if I didn't need the money. I just have a hard time parting with guns and bikes because of nostalgia. If I NEEDED the money, then I would be selling them all. It would also depend on what the NEED is. If it was just to buy other guns, then I wouldn't sell them. If it was to afford a surgery for a loved one, then they would all go. As far as retirement funds are concerned, you are right, $100,000 nowadays is nothing. My wife and I have $250,000 in retirement funds right now at 39 and 33 years of age and I am shooting for $3,000,000 by the time we retire in our 60's. My mom says that will be WAY too much money, but I think she is wrong. Me, I would rather err on the side of having saved too much versus having saved too little and having to work until I am 80.

Also, what is all this talk about taking care of your wife when you pass on? You aren't that old, even if you shoot like an old man. You are way younger than my dad and he isn't the least bit worried about all this stuff.

Now, if you are looking at this from an investment standpoint in that the guns aren't really appreciating much anymore and you would like a better return on your investment, exactly where are you going to get that return on investment? Remember, you are at an age, while not too old, it is old enough that risky investments will be off the table and you will be looking at stuff like corporate bonds and government bonds, or at least you should be adverse to financial risk at your age.

It all comes down to how you view those guns (e.g., nostalgia, investments, tools) and how badly you NEED the money.