Over-indexed in collectibles - but should I sell?
Hi all, I’m in my early 30s and have a net worth of about $1.2M, but the unusual part is that roughly $1M of that is in Pokémon cards. The rest is diversified well. So I know I’m extremely overexposed to one asset class, and a very niche one at that.
For context, these cards were originally personal collectibles that I bought with no intention of selling, but there's also no way to prove this. Since they shot up in value, I started selling them a few years ago. For context, I just moved to the US this month. Before moving, I was only selling a couple of cards per month, and because of the tax rules where I lived, I wasn’t paying tax on those sales.
Now I’ve moved to the US, and I’m unsure what happens if I sell. I don’t know whether I’d be taxed as income or capital gains, and I’m also not sure whether selling them could create issues from an immigration standpoint since I’m here on an O-1 visa. I do not want it to look like I’m operating a business.
The other factor is my job: I currently make about $800k, but it’s a very high-risk role with almost no job security, and I could realistically be laid off at any time. This salary is also new for me, which is why my net worth doesn’t really reflect it yet.
So I’m stuck between a few concerns:
I don’t fully understand the US tax or visa implications of selling now.
if I wait a few months, prices could fall but I also may not even still be a US tax resident by then, and could end up somewhere with more favorable tax treatment
I’m not looking for legal or tax advice here, just practical/anecdotal input. If you were in this position, would you start reducing exposure now, wait, or do something else? And for anyone who has held high-value collectibles, how did you think about rebalancing?
Thanks!