Heirloom or Junk: Being selective in the things we keep can change our futures.
It’s almost redundant to say that what some of us regard as treasures, others might see as junk, and vice versa. To be truly content, we must independently value our possessions. However, when others appreciate our possessions, it not only suggests market value but also enhances our personal valuation. Pretending we don’t care about others’ opinions isn’t realistic—we are inherently social beings. Our perception of our belongings is often influenced by what we believe others think about them. When someone values our possessions, it tends to increase our own appreciation of them. Demand can indeed create more demand. They say, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy,’ but I believe that depends on the context of the comparison.
I prefer that my possessions not only serve their functional purposes but also have aesthetic appeal and high resale value, indicating demand from others. Items in demand are more worthwhile to sell or pass on to our children as valuable gifts, rather than as mere junk. While sentimentality often leads us to keep items of little market value, it’s important that the memories associated with these items are meaningful enough to justify their retention, either to share with others or to frequently remind ourselves of their significance. Sentimental items can lead to clutter, especially in large families or those with many inherited cultural artifacts. However, we should be selective in what we choose to keep. Just because our loved ones cherished certain items doesn’t mean we must hold onto them if they hold no value to us. Reallocating these items to those who appreciate them not only clears space in our homes but also fulfills a duty to ensure they are loved and used, rather than neglected.
We should choose our possessions wisely, otherwise, everything we own could one day be considered trash, impossible even to give away. Being selective about the quality of materials, craftsmanship, style, brand recognition, and rarity is crucial, as these are attributes that people value and will likely continue to value in the future. As someone who isn’t very sentimental, I appreciate things that other people and myself recognize as quality, stylish, or branded. One of the luxuries of owning high-quality items is their potential for reuse and resale, allowing us to recoup our investment, and sometimes even profit. People are willing to pay good money for many things that are well-maintained. My background as an estate liquidator, following the closure of an import business, has given me insights into the many changing values of a wide array of items. I seen fads and hypes die of things that many people paid a lot of money for. I’ve also seen values sore beyond anyone’s expectation from items that were in demand that people can no longer find there are fads and there are sustained value. Many quality of things manufactured depreciate with time because of rising costs, so people do value many items made from a prior era. By reallocating items that we no longer value to those who do we can recoup some, all, or profit from that experience. I have bought, used and sold vehicles, equipment, jewelry and many other things for a profit after I was done with them, because I was selective with my choices. When we recycle the interest in used goods it is extremely beneficial for society. My experiences in buying and selling various things have been extremely positive overall, and I will continue to do so. I feel as though it is a part of life, we all must buy and sell in order to profit.
I’m sure that most people would want to leave their loved ones with things that they’d have an interest in or at least things of high value that can bring about a windfall income for them if they decided to sell. The market value of an item that is in demand is as realistic of a value as cash minus selling fees if any. Things in demand are cash in the form of things. Depending on the material, brand, quality, rarity, and demand, many items can bring about great financial rewards for our families in the future if we choose intelligently. Just considering inflation alone, assets like real estate, gold, and stocks so many things act as hedges against inflation over time.
Most things will not retain their values mostly only maybe when they’re ancient, especially temporary luxuries, obsolete technology, and many personalized customizations. Of course it’s not all about resale value, but what brings us value the most. I only suggest we get things that we can afford and that we not overspend on what isn’t returning positive value to us. Functional value is relative, as people all have similar needs, but luxuries that cost a lot of money to use or maintain are in a class of their own. For instance, buying a brand new Maserati compared to a used Toyota, the amount of depreciation that one must endure purchasing the Maserati is a pure luxury. Certain cars even have the potential to appreciate beyond their original costs, and maybe one day, so can the Maserati, but not anytime soon. Somethings catch on later, and what was once not appreciated can appreciate substantially in the future especially when it comes to collectible items. I will have much more information about collecting in my book to come called “Collecting for Profit”, make sure to keep an eye out for it if you’re collecting anything, if you want to diversify your assets, or if you’d like to profit from more from your collection.
The things we use are one thing but the things we collect is an entirely different subject. Predicting the future values of certain collectible items isn’t as difficult as one may think, we can look at historical prices of things that rose with time such as gold, silver, real estate, vintage muscle cars, coins, stamps, art, motorcycles, maps, documents, the more prominent the item the better record keeping we should have of it, but as long as we purchase quality items and keep things that we love and truly appreciate the worth of their use or the pleasure of owning them, then I’d say they’ll mostly be sound investments. Keeping our things in great condition always helps us retain their value and our interest in them. Remember that furniture, tools, and many other functional items from the past still fetch far more money than just inflation from being quality-made and having timeless appeal. Everything in this world can potentially become vintage or an antique depending on how long they last. I wish you luck and great fortune on your journey to choosing quality possessions to keep and pass down to your loved ones.