I’m a big fan of Lego, after having some when I was young and enjoying some fun memories, years later I was able to re-love Lego again but now as a parent and collector. However as times have changed, the price and range have drastically changed for Lego, so if you start buying Lego is it a money pit you can lose yourself in?
Table of Contents
Growing up
Ofcorse as a child you haven’t really got much of a reference on money and how much toys cost etc, I had 4 Lego set and my friends had some also, but mine were mainly the Pirates which I loved. Now as a parent I have far more of a grip on the prices of toys especially Lego, with the kid’s let’s be honest a lot of them will be happy with any set, so you can play the game of price and bargains etc though some kids will want what they want…
And if you go down that path of wanting to get a complete series set this could build up the cost, likewise if you pop to a toy shop and give them the opportunity to see the pure amount available you may now get a big list.
To be fair to Lego as they have grown the range of Lego available is much bigger, and it appeals to a variety of people, from Harry Potter to Marvel, Star Wars to Lego Friends, from youngster Duplo to more adult collector items, Lego now has it seemingly covered.
This greatness also creates a problem, there’s a lot of areas that you can spend your money on, and what’s worse within though series there’s always new sets coming out, the big brands like Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, Lego City have not only seen new sets from there series every year but some of the versions of sets get remade again a few years later.
Its getting bigger
As the years have gone on another interesting note has been happening, sets are getting bigger, prices are getting higher, over the last 5 years the highest set-piece count has gone up several times, smashing their own record, and the collector range is now different.
If you are one of those collectors like I am this is where the money jumps again, there is a difference between being a parent that buys some for their kids and being a lego collector, you often want the whole series of sets, or you may be collecting different sets across the ranges thus magnifying your costs, even if you just focused on the big collector sets like the modular buildings, these are often £130-£200+ which one a year is alot, especially if this isn’t the only one your getting.
The collectors will more than likely want each special set, from Modular, Lego ideas, collectors, and special editions which these days there is a selection every year.
With their link to big brands like Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter etc, collectors again will want every set, Star Wars was one of those that turned Lego fortunes 20 years ago, and since the massive followers of Star Wars will want the Lego sets this became a big collector’s items, especially if you were making a display of your favorite scenes of the films.
This provided another problem of cost, you would need several of the same items, for example, Hoth, you would want 2 or 3 AT-AT, let alone Snow speeders, troops, the base, shield generators creatures, and anything else, so it wasn’t about just having one it was about having several ships or troops, this multiplied the cost yet again, add that over the years they brought out new and often better additions of those ships and sets! Even Harry Potter had a similar rebrand, after abit of a gap they rereleased the whole series again which for most of the sets made the original ones not look as good or as appealing.
But Lego is worth money
There is an argument that Lego has increased in value over the last 20+ years, and sealed unopened sets can go for quite alot of money, and for the reasons I’ve already said even complete great condition used sets can still fetch a good price, some times as much as they were new and in some cases worth more than they originally cost.
However there is a small number of people buy to invest (though this has probably increased in the last couple of years) and there is lots of lego out there if you shop around and get lucky or shop the bargains, this can reduce the cost if you were looking to bulk out your collection.
But even as a Lego fan I will admit it’s a money pit, it’s close to addiction much like many other collectable areas out there, you want one, you feel the need to complete the set, you get excited when something new. But this really mounts up in cost, a series of sets could cost £300+ let alone a collectors addition that could add much more, star wars could cost well over £800 a year and with the sets getting bigger over £1000+ which is alot of money for anyone, and that’s just one series.
Any hobby can be made to work financially if you are sensible about it, you make use of some professional financial advice from the likes of Daniel Lerner and David Lerner Associates and you are doing all you can to save your money as well as possible in general. If you do that you should be able to make this work for you.
Its a costly hobby, and though its fun and can be satisfying, even one of those hobbies that could earn you some money in the future is still a costly one, something you really have to be careful with, you can almost never keep up with and even getting close to collecting your series of sets will cost you a lot of money, so you would need some self-control or a budget.
