Comic Reinvestment Diary

General
#1

It’s been a long tough day, to start off the end of a long tough week last week. So I just wanted to write out some thoughts.

My goal at the end of last year was to defy the “you can’t get rich selling on eBay” adage.

I ramped up selling things in the 4th quarter of 2025
With the idea I was going to split the money in thirds.

1/3 set aside for taxes
1/3 set aside to buy more comics
1/3 invested in my kids acorns account.

I added over $1000 to that account, plus dividends, plus returns of $282 this past year.

In the past 90 days here is what has gone into the account

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And my 1 year increase in value
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So in addition to the $1000, earned $18 in dividends and $4.82 in shipping rewards just by using my bank card to make purchases at places that give reward bonuses.

There used to be a blog of a comic seller called “early retirement diary” where the guy would talk about selling comics with the idea that he would put away cash to retire. He succeeded. I think the blog has since ended.

Anyway, in that spirit I figured I would start talking about it. I will probably work until I die, but I want to set my kids up for the best possible future they can have.

My background is simple. I grew up poor in a trailer park. My parents purchased a house when I was in 3rd grade. No AC. No Cable. My parents worked hard and provided an education for me. I have always lived fairly simply and not splurged on things. I will not lie, it has been a struggle. CHU started out after my second son was born sharing tips on books that could sell for profit that could be found on shelves. People shared tips back.

Before my first son was born I had hit bottom. My father had died and the private mental health program I was running lost its funding (they were committing Medicare billing fraud and got caught, but it was the employees who suffered.) I was out of work and times were tight. I sold a ton of comics and art (con sketches mostly) to help pay the bills. Books I will never see again. I was depressed. We budgeted, couponed, never filled up our tanks. My wife as a surprise gave me $20 and said go buy comics. I did. I bought as many books as I could find early Walking Dead issues at the time that were selling for $20 and up and flipped them. Gave my wife back the $20 and continued on. I have used money from sales ever since. Over 15 years. No “out of pocket” just reinvestments from that original $20.

CHU grew out of that. I had previously written a blog for a shop and frequented a comic message board, and after a disagreement with the shop owner, went out in my own starting CHU. I have since written for Bleeding Cool, had articles picked up by the Associated press and have met a lot of cool people.

Anyway. I plan to document the “early retirement diary” But call it the “Comic Reinvestment Diary” since the money is going to my kids.

I have automatic deposits of $5 a week going into the account. In addition I put 1/3 of sales into the account. Last year my goal was to start investing in the account again, which I did. And then my goal became to double the value of the account, again, mission completed. This year my goal is to double the account again.

The money is all in an acorns account, fractional investing, if you want to try it out use my referral link.

Hey! Acorns makes it easy to save and invest. Join me and you’ll get a free $5 investment! As a perk of referring you, I can get a reward too. Learn more and see terms here. [Share | Acorns](https://Anthony’s Referak link)

19 Likes
#2

Just to back @Anthony 's investment diary, he’s the one who actually got me using Acorns as well back around I think when COVID put us in lockdown and crazy boom of people gobbling up collectibles.

So I started throwing all (well, not all, I was still keeping some to buy new comics) my sales and comic book related income into my own Acorns account which I’ve shared here as well but not as much details but here you all go for some numbers.

I also do automatic $5 withdrawal per week, so it’s $20 a month total. When I was selling more comics and writing more, this was just pulled from my comic income alongside whateve else I would dump from sales into the account.

For two years I dumped around 12-13k of comic book income into the account and since that time, the past 3 years or so, I stopped selling and was just doing the weekly contributions into the account.

Here’s where that account sits now (it was higher a few days back but the market’s been in a slump for a few days):

acorns

Not bad for an mostly unmanaged account, just dump the money and let it grow. The past few years has mostly only been my own contributions but honestly, not bad return on investments and since I started dabbling with selling again, that money I plan to dump into this account as well.

All of this a result of just whatever comics I initially bought and let the hobby pay for itself from flipping and then dumping profits into investment to let it grow.

4 Likes
#3

i like this, i was doing the same with my other finance accounts i have but this really isolates it to just comic profit. Congrats guys

#4

Outstanding way to use the hobby to your best advantage!

I thought I did well just selling enough each week to cover my own collecting spends. In the last year, my goal has increased to sell enough comics each month to cover my monthly boat payment.

Will need to look at adding this very easy element soon.

Thanks for the great advice and stories as usual.

#5

This sounds really interesting. Are there any fees? Do you choose what your money is invested in or do they decide for you?

#6

There are fees (like $5 a month) but depends on what plan you go with. You select what type of risk level you want. So I am set at medium risk (mixture of stocks and bonds). They invest in mutual funds so there are a bunch of companies that are invested. But they do have a plan where you can fractionally invest in your own picked stocks. I haven’t tried that yet but thinking about it.

#7

That’s bad ass. Hopefully you reach that goal!!

#8

I’ve thought about that as well but since mine has been doing so well and I do my own management under my other IRA, 401k and Personal investment accounts already, I figured I’d just let it be for now.

#9

For those considering investing and don’t want the small $5 fee Acorns while also having the ability to pick their own Stocks, ETFs and even Crypto (I even have some SOL that is staking to earn more money), I’ve been dabbling with Robinhood as well. I invested in their stock and figured I might as well use their product as well… If you use my link, I believe you’ll also receive $5 worth of stock of your choice from a list of like 20 (sometimes it might be more than $5). No limits of how much to start out with either. I started out by just throwing $100 into it to invest in stocks and some crypto.

Robinhood Investing