Welcome to the Canary's Coal Mine

The intersection of collecting, investment, and market theory for sports cards. 

Slabnomics is about bringing financial fundaments to sports cards as a real asset class, not just collectibles.

Guiding Principles concerning Value/Math/Compound Interest.

What to expect next?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to Slabnomics, the intersection of collecting investment and market theory for sports carts. Episode 1, welcome to the Canaries Coal Mine. There are millions of people who seek the key to unlock the promised treasures of the stock market. Some fail miserably, most succeed slightly, but a precious few are legendary winners of the stock market game. We in the middle hang on to the coattails and study the writings of the proven winners. We scrutinize the why of their buys and the win of their next moves. Most will never have the wisdom of Warren Buffett or the work ethic of John Lynch, but what we do have is the lens through which these great oracles see the investment landscape, a lens that comes into focus through their sayings. Some examples come to mind like be greedy when others are fearful, and be fearful when others are greedy. And my personal favorite from John Lynch, only invest in something you can illustrate with a crayon. The secret to success really boils down to two things taking out emotion and focusing on the fundamentals. That's the essence of what this podcast is about. So who am I, and why are you listening to my podcast? I'm Matt, a 35-year-old finance guy turned cardbird. My corporate journey is a winding road of a research analyst and a sales rep through many different financial industries. Retail banking, small business lending, FX, more, many more. I've been that nerdy guy who got lost in the spreadsheets, writing articles for my own company, for other companies like Seeking Alpha, Forbes, Investopedia. I've also been that sales guy circling back with clients and playing the cat and mouse game between seller and buyer. I've done it all. I've read all the books, I've traded options, hell, I've purchased bonds directly from the United States government. And after it all, after all the wisdom that I've learned from these people and from my own failures and experience, I always come back to the fundamentals. Slabnomics is about bringing financial fundamentals to sports cards as a real asset class, not just collectibles. Because when you zoom out, the market behaves more like traditional finance than most people realize. So what is this podcast? In life as in love, as in business, one must have guiding principles to steer the ship by. In this podcast, you'll find some of these principles recurring as motifs. Number one, a card's value is dictated by market, legacy, and design. Number two, show me the math. And number three, compound interest is king. First, a card's value is dictated by market, legacy, and design. Supply and demand gets top dog status as always because it's as fundamental as it gets. Legacy is a huge contributing factor to the player's market and provides the biggest variable to swing the current value between the floor and the ceiling and provide opportunities to buy and sell. More on that in a separate pod. Lastly, design is the key factor people underestimate, the factor that most influences the compound interest of long-term card investing. We'll soon get into this one in depth as we discuss sets. Alright, the second one, show me the math. I believe fundamentally everything breaks down to the lowest common denominator of logical arguments, and I call this simply the math. Built on top of the math is the human stuff, usually a gigantic mess of unclear definitions, guesswork, and biases. For example, say someone asked me the common question, is X card a good investment? Well, this is a question so far out of the math it's almost not worth boiling down to get there. I have clarifying questions about almost every single word in that short sentence, before I can even begin to answer. Define your terms, your risk appetite, and your goals, and you will never ask that question. Okay, the third one, compound interest is king. Time contributes to market, legacy, and design as the constant accelerating factor of compound interest in sports cards. Price can be heavily swayed, variably in the near term, by hype cycles, and this creates windows of opportunity for both near-term and long-term investment. So these three motifs again. A card's value is dictated by market, legacy, and design. Show me the math, and compound interest as king. So here's some more things to expect on slabnomics. Cross-sport comparative analysis, meaning which sports and athletes are undervalued and why. Financial comparisons, evaluating cards as assets, bicycle guides, meaning don't ignore the hype, buy early and sell into it, and then a smattering of news, but only as it pertains to market dynamics. If you want to buy aimlessly as the mood strikes, this podcast is not for you. A couple housekeeping notes about the podcast. First, as I will always say, do your own due diligence. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions. Second, I'm aiming for consistency in the pod, so you always know when an episode is going to drop. I'll be publishing every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Be sure to hit that subscribe button now on your podcast players so you don't miss any episodes in the future. Here are a few episodes coming up. Why certain soccer card assets are the best buy-in sports cards right now? Why sets are like index funds? What confluence of factors ultimately drive sports card markets? Liquidity versus illiquidity and how it affects your buying and selling. And a bit further down the road, some very exciting financial tools I'm currently developing. Stay tuned. If you're still listening, you're probably like me. Analytical, curious, hungry to understand why things move so you can move before they do next time. If that's you, please take a second to do three simple things for me. Hit like on this podcast, hit that little bell to subscribe to Slabnomics, and let two friends know about it. Thank you, thank you. This is so critical when starting out. Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or TikTok under Slabnomics for extra insights. Oh, and one thing to think about before you go. The soccer card market is the largest subset of the four major sports card markets internationally, and yet's the smallest market of the four domestically. The World Cup in 2026 will be hosted by the USA for the first time ever. What do you think will happen when the marketing machine cranks on? This has been Slab Nomics episode one. Welcome to the Canaries Coal Mine. Thanks for listening.