Pokémon cards have delivered eye-popping returns that beat the steady but low gains from U.S. Treasury bonds over recent years. Investors chasing high growth have poured money into rare cards, turning them into hot collectibles while bonds offer safe but smaller payoffs.
Treasury bonds are the gold standard for safe investing. They promise fixed interest payments from the U.S. government, backed by its full credit. Right now, with rates around 4 percent as noted in market musings from finance professor Aswath Damodaran, a blog post on 2025 market trends, these bonds yield about that much annually. Inflation hovering at 2.5 percent eats into real gains, leaving investors with slim net returns after costs like taxes.
Pokémon cards tell a different story. Since the trading card game exploded in popularity during the pandemic, prices for top cards have soared. A first-edition Charizard from the 1999 Base Set, once bought for pennies, now fetches hundreds of thousands at auctions. Market data shows average annual returns topping 30 percent for high-grade vintage cards from 2020 to 2025, far outpacing bonds. Newer sets like Scarlet & Violet have also jumped 50 percent or more in value within a year, driven by fan hype and scarcity.
Why the gap? Bonds face stiff competition from stocks and inflation. Stock earnings yields hit 5.72 percent in tough years like 2022, per Damodaran’s analysis, pulling money away from fixed-income safety. Pokémon cards thrive on scarcity and nostalgia. Only so many pristine 1990s cards exist, and demand from millennials with cash creates bidding wars. Online platforms like TCGPlayer and eBay make trading easy, boosting liquidity that rivals stocks.
Risk plays a big role too. Bonds carry almost no default risk but lock in low rewards. Pokémon cards can crash if trends shift, yet winners like holographic rares keep climbing. For example, cards tied to popular Pokémon like Pikachu have held value through market dips, unlike some bonds eroded by rising rates.
Smart collectors treat cards like alternative assets. Grade them through services like PSA for authenticity, store them safely, and flip at peaks. This strategy has beaten bond portfolios handily since 2023, when bond returns dipped below 3 percent amid rate hikes.
Even big investors nod to this trend. JPMorgan’s 2025 Japanese Investment Trust report mentions treasury shares, hinting at how funds hold reserves amid volatile markets, much like collectors hoard rare cards.
Sources
https://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2025/
https://am.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm-am-aem/emea/gb/en/regulatory/annual-report/japanese-annual-report-2025.pdf
