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Estate Planning - all those models in the basement


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My maternal grandparents worked their whole lives and saved a great deal.  Due to my grandmother's health issues, they never traveled in retirement as planned and both ended up in a nursing home so the home reaped the benefits of my grandparents work.  My parents continued to work including my mom worked the day she had her stroke.  They never got to enjoy their retirement as planned (Mom passed 48 hours after her stroke) and Dad burned through his savings spending the last two years of his life in a nursing home due to dementia.   I have a retirement plan but in the interim I'm buying my toys.  I doubt either of my sons will want my stuff and I have a detailed list of what kits are where that they can easily search on line what they are worth and where to sell them.

The bigger question will be what to do with all the minor league hockey bobbleheads and pucks.....

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2 hours ago, HomerS said:

My maternal grandparents worked their whole lives and saved a great deal.  Due to my grandmother's health issues, they never traveled in retirement as planned and both ended up in a nursing home so the home reaped the benefits of my grandparents work.  My parents continued to work including my mom worked the day she had her stroke.  They never got to enjoy their retirement as planned (Mom passed 48 hours after her stroke) and Dad burned through his savings spending the last two years of his life in a nursing home due to dementia.   I have a retirement plan but in the interim I'm buying my toys.  I doubt either of my sons will want my stuff and I have a detailed list of what kits are where that they can easily search on line what they are worth and where to sell them.

The bigger question will be what to do with all the minor league hockey bobbleheads and pucks.....

My moms neighbor saved every dime he and his wife made and both died with 700 archers of land and a huge bank account and his daughters sold it all fast. We never know when that day will come. If you build them or just collect kits if it makes a guy happy good. Nothing wrong with happiness. Life is ment to be enjoyed.  That's how I see it..

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  • 4 months later...

I believe this topic was brought up once before and its a good question. I do think about what will happen to my Cobra collection. I will be gone so I guess it doesn't matter except for the fact it will be a problem for my wife and daughter. I thought if I get ill and have time I could piece it out or try and sell them off as a lot. My wife and daughter may like one or two to remember me by but I know they would not want them all.  Funny, as I wrestle with that I still find myself buying more. It's a sickness ! :D

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3 hours ago, cobraman said:

I believe this topic was brought up once before and its a good question. I do think about what will happen to my Cobra collection. I will be gone so I guess it doesn't matter except for the fact it will be a problem for my wife and daughter. I thought if I get ill and have time I could piece it out or try and sell them off as a lot. My wife and daughter may like one or two to remember me by but I know they would not want them all.  Funny, as I wrestle with that I still find myself buying more. It's a sickness ! :D

I think of this when I watch the shows about diehard collectors (cars, bicycles, toys, junk, etc.) that they are reluctant to sell almost ANYTHING even with warehouses and brands full of treasures (aka junk to most) despite being in their late 70's or 80s.  Selling off a model collection should not too difficult but the proceeds may be pennies on the dollar so I would only advise to try to sell to another collector and not someone that is just going to flip the good stuff for a tremendous profit.  Since I build primarily onlt one brand and model of car - my collection could end up getting donated to a museum specializing in that kind of car.  Or they may say no thanks and then let the bidding begin.

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I have told Mrs. Bucky to get her son...my stepson....to help her set up a method of selling a few at a time so she will have a little spending money on a regular basis.

eBay comes to mind, as an option.  If I get to the point that I can't build anymore, I'll prolly start to dole them out, myself.

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I have been taking three or four boxes full of kits to a local show/swap met every year for the past few years.  I will usually sell an average eight to ten kits.  Only problem is I have won a kit almost every year in their raffle and I will buy at least two or three more.  It is a net loss of kits, but still a problem.  Then Ollie's will get a bunch of kits or Hobby Lobby will have a markdown and I just have to restock my sale boxes.  They have meetings every Tuesday evening at one of the local churches for people like us.

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I found the old thread and merged the two.

I have been slowly selling off kits that I will never get around to building. I also don't want to move a lot of this stuff to Montana when I retire.

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When I got back into the hobby about 30 years ago, I'd be at a show, walking around with two huge bags of kits and I'd see the older club members walking around empty handed. I'd ask how they weren't buying like me, and they'd reply, "I have all the kits I need."    30 years later I understand what they meant!

I have stopped buying multiples of every new kit.  If there's a new kit I'm interested in, I will buy it at a show at a low price, or the Hobby Lobby coupon.  But only one copy.  Still, I'm a sucker for cheap kits at shows and brought home half a dozen from the Mid-Atlantic NNL two weeks ago.  Figure I've bought a dozen models so far this year.

I'm not in this as an investment, I'd like to think of myself as a builder.  When I did inventory a few years ago and realized I had a dozen of the Revell 50 Ford pickup, no doubt all bought at shows for cheap, only I did that a dozen times. I took the 6 open ones and dumped them into a bin. Those are the ones I'm building things from. I enjoy the freedom that if I screw up a part, there's more in the box.

I do have a ton of kits I no longer have an interest in.  Some of them are scarce and worth money. I should put them on eBay to get them into the hands of people who would enjoy them.

I have been building more lately, and I'm looking forward to retirement in a few years where I hope to spend a lot of my time building models.  Soon we will be selling the big house and looking for our forever home.  It must have room for hobbies.  I don't understand the folks who sell off their model collections when they retire, and move to a small place without room for hobbies.  What are they planning on doing?  Watching Dr Phil the rest of their lives?

Edited by Tom Geiger
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On 12/22/2018 at 5:52 PM, vamach1 said:

Perhaps the Shelby museum in Vegas would be interested sometime down the road.  I know a guy who donated all his vintage space toys (pre 60's) to the Smithsonian.

Naturally I am only joking here but maybe some of us should consider a double wide casket so we can take at least part if our BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH with us. Imagine what an archaeologist will think of all if that in another 10,000 years!

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14 hours ago, Khils said:

...I know my problem.....just don't know how to fix it!

Ain't that the truth. But I've kicked most of my other vices, so I figure it's pretty harmless.  :D

I have all my kits marked with realistic prices, so in the event of my sudden demise, my executor won't have to do hours of mind-numbing research...or just toss the stuff, which would be kinda sad. I've also left a list of people to offer a lot of stuff to for free, so it's pretty well covered.

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2 hours ago, misterNNL said:

Naturally I am only joking here but maybe some of us should consider a double wide casket so we can take at least part if our BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH with us. Imagine what an archaeologist will think of all if that in another 10,000 years!

Me I'm going to have a pyramid built. Going to have all my models, plenty of supplies , and snacks.  Got more than I can build in this life. So I need to finish them in next life.

Seriously I need to inventory and mark prices. Like Bills idea of having people to get stuff that might not be sellabe but too good for the trash.

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                    Ha I don't worry about my kits they'll be in good hands when I pass. I have 2 sons that build models (both better builders than me) and They build out of my stash. I  hear hey dad taking this 34 Ford truck hey dad taking this Ford Tractor and ect ect ect. With over 600 kits in the stash they'll be well taken care of.

                     In fact, mother will probley have to moderate so that there is no fight. We have always had a deal in our house, I buy, they model, even through I don't remember agreeing to that. Can,t remember one of them coming over and saying bought a new model today.

                       Maybe I should ask them if there is anything special that they want me to buy before I pass. NOT

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On 12/28/2018 at 12:46 AM, slusher said:

My moms neighbor saved every dime he and his wife made and both died with 700 archers of land and a huge bank account and his daughters sold it all fast. We never know when that day will come. If you build them or just collect kits if it makes a guy happy good. Nothing wrong with happiness. Life is ment to be enjoyed.  That's how I see it..

right Carl, life is meant to be enjoyed, when I find a rare kit to restore, I do it. Every so often I look at the stash & trade or sell what i know I won't build....I part out some of it also, I really love this stuff, :wub:but am strong enough to divorce some of it too...;).

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7 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

  I don't understand the folks who sell off their model collections when they retire, and move to a small place without room for hobbies.  What are they planning on doing?  Watching Dr Phil the rest of their lives?

I agree. Our model club president is doing this soon. It makes me sad that he won’t be taking anything with him. Not even his great builds. Said he was going to sell it all. He also can’t do detail work very much anymore and looked like he was going to cry. Felt awful for him. 

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2 hours ago, Rusty92 said:

I agree. Our model club president is doing this soon. It makes me sad that he won’t be taking anything with him. Not even his great builds. Said he was going to sell it all. He also can’t do detail work very much anymore and looked like he was going to cry. Felt awful for him. 

This cheered me up.  Not really but persnally I would hold onto at least my best 50 builds (If I have that many) and would liquidate 90% of the common stuff just in case I live to 90 and can still see.  At 60 I am already thinking about what to do with my kits so goal number number one is to build as many as possible in hte next ten years (retiring in 7 months) and see how it goes from there.  I have more of a problem with diecast then models (ten times more) so I would hold onto the best and sell or donate the rest if no one in my family wants them.

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After losing my dad earlier this year, and seeing what my mum and I will have to deal with when we organize his hobby room this summer, it really puts things in to perspective.

He has a room full of his hobbies. And besides the piles of camera equipment and CDs and DVDs, and diecast...he has stash of airplane and ship models, unstarted and started, supplies, etc. And now when we go through that room, we'll be digging up memories and feelings too. It's going to be such a challenge to go through that room. Pretty sure my mum will leave it up to me, and it's going to be tough.

Definitely makes me think about my stash and my hobbies, and what my wife and kids would have to do with these when I go.

Been giving serious thought to streamlining the stash. :(

 

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Personally, I saw my dad work his butt off, and have time for his Mauser gunsmithing, and go on some cool trips at the end of his work life.  Took early retirement, then had trouble staying awake watching the news, started getting easily bruised, then was diagnosed with Parkinson's.  Started going downhill fast, ended with sudden lead poisoning.  So much for enjoying the American work to retirement lifestyle.

Funny how time goes faster the older I get (anyone else notice that?).  I'm at about 180 kits, have doubled in the past few years.  I've been a member of three model clubs in my small town, the current one is a break-off from the militaristic IPMS club.  We had a display at the library, one day one of our members was just hanging around, a man asked what he should do with his recently passed dad's models.  Next meeting he brought in several boxes, I got several somewhat rare kits for a screaming deal, the man was happy to unload them.   The "president" (not IPMS remember) bought the collection later, I got some more kits, was given ones that were started, which I sold on Facebook for $2 - $5, it was a feeding frenzy!  I think that made some guys happy, instead of going to the landfill.

I've been selling some lately, at model swap meets and contests, and on Facebook.  Have not tried eBay yet.  It's sort of tough to admit I'm mortal, and I will not build every Ferrari kit I have.  I do have in my basic Will, that the Model Car Builders Museum in Salt Lake should get the collection if my kids don't wish to deal with it.

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1 hour ago, slusher said:

Guys I took some kits to Carl Perkins Home for child abuse that I wouldn't build and donated them to a lady at the desk. She knew several of the kids who would enjoy them. She took care of it personally. 

That was generous of you.

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