$100 challenge: Sam’s making money with Lego

Bryce: [00:00:28] Welcome to Get Started Investing, the podcast, where we answer all of your money and investing questions. My name is Bryce and today we have. That's it. Today is the $100 challenge. And as always, I'm joined by my equity buddy, Ren. How are you? 

Alec: [00:00:53] I'm very good, Bryce. I'm pumped after that sting. Yes, it's 2024. We are doing stings this year. And, that's the first GSI. it will not be the long year the sting. All right, but this the stings might be new, but the challenge is also, we started the $100 challenge last year, and we are continuing it this year. If you're new to the show, if you don't know what the $100 challenge is, welcome. We will get to that. But a quick reminder before we do the Equity Mates Community survey is live.

Bryce: [00:01:28] It is live, and it is your opportunity to let us know how we're going and how you would like equity mates and get started investing to be formed over 2024. We want to know what content you want to hear more of, what you want to hear less of and, what you think we're doing well. Your input genuinely does make a difference to how we plan out content for the 12 months ahead. So please take five minutes to fill out the form and you go in the draw to win 500 bucks if you complete it in full. Links in the show notes or on our social channels. 

Alec: [00:02:00] Most importantly, let us know in the survey what you think of the stings. 

Bryce: [00:02:04] Yeah, give us some chance. 

Bryce: [00:02:10] Fun and creative ways to earn. 

Bryce: [00:02:17] Nice. Well that's a distinction. We also play a disclaimer Sting the trick into it. We should, we should. Yes, any information on this show is for entertainment or education purposes only. Any advice is general, but let's go. 

Alec: [00:02:38] All right, let's do it. So the $100 challenge is our effort to either earn or save an extra $100 each month, why $100 each month. Because $100 invested, each month over 40 years and getting the market's historic average return 8% a year, $100 a month over 40 years gets you $350,000. Small things consistently can add up to really meaningful amounts. That is the message that we try and talk about over and over again on this podcast, because that is, at its core, all you need to be an investor and all you need to grow wealth. And so we've been, you know, saving. We've been earning. You've been trying to start a dropshipping business. Emphasis on trying. 

Bryce: [00:03:30] We're not going to go down that rabbit hole in 2024. But I must say, a massive shout out to the one listener out there. And I apologise that I didn't pull this information earlier, but just after we closed out the final $100 challenge in 2023, which was the culmination of me building my sunglasses website, it was live and it was available and ready to rock and roll. Literally 24 hours later, I had my first sale from an equity mate's community member. So a huge thank you to that person. I hope you have got your sunglasses. 

Alec: [00:04:03] How many have you sold? 

Bryce: [00:04:05] That doesn't matter. 

Alec: [00:04:07] Okay. Have you sold any other sunglasses?

Bryce: [00:04:11] I, I think I shut the account. Oh, yeah. I didn't want to, because I had reached my period of discounted Shopify. I think it was like $4 a month for the first four months or something like that. And I'm like, I don't want to be paying 85 bucks a month for this. 

Alec: [00:04:25] Fair enough though. Yeah, yeah. Which, yeah, yeah. So look, people are having more success than Bryce , which is good to say, because the equity based community has jumped on board. We had an email from Michael, about what he is doing for the $100 challenge. He has signed up as a DoorDash delivery driver. He told us over email that he's done two, one and a half to two hour shifts, and he's made about 90 bucks. So he can say that that's going to be a good source of extra income. 

Bryce: [00:04:56] Yeah. When he finds himself scrolling aimlessly through Facebook or watching telly, thinks I could probably do something better with my time, jumps out and gets some DoorDash deliveries done. So nice one Michael. Keep them coming. 

Alec: [00:05:07] I respect the action because I often think that as well, but I don't action. So Michael, you're doing better than me. Yes. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:05:16] Nice. 

Alec: [00:05:16] But in this episode, we're going to actually be speaking to an equity mate's community member, Sam, who has embraced the hundred dollar challenge and has his own scheme to make extra money. And it involves Lego. 

Bryce: [00:05:31] Lego, let's give Sam a call to find out how he's doing the $100 challenge. Well, this all started in our Facebook discussion group. I think I posted about my time as a, young primary school kid where I would paint rocks and sell them at the front of our house, along with the cups of water.

Alec: [00:05:50] And we spoke about that on the podcast.

Bryce: [00:05:51] Yeah, we spoke about selling cups of water to the guy who made lawns across the road from us. And Sam jumped on and, said that he made a fair chunk of cash trading Lego. So, Sam, can you just start at the beginning? How did this all come about? And what what is it about trading Lego? How do you make money out of this?

Sam: [00:06:11] Lego had always been like a hobby of mine and something I enjoyed, but I think I was like 17 in my last couple of years of of school and I spotted some used Lego on Gumtree and that was some big sets. And I thought, man, that seems pretty cheap. So I ended up googling how much those sets go for, and I was like, oh, that's that's actually pretty good. So they're borrowing 120 bucks off my dad, you know, when drove and collected it all and then sold it all on eBay and paid him back and made some money in that. So but the hustle, I guess.

Bryce: [00:06:38] Nice. So can you remember how much you traded that 120 started with 120. Can you remember what you made the first sale for? 

Sam: [00:06:46] Yeah, it would have been like 2 to 3, $400 around that range all up that like ended up making just from that first initial deal. And it paid my dad back and was like, wow, I think I can make some cash here. And yeah. 

Bryce: [00:06:57] So what was fascinating in the Facebook chat that we were having was that you then have turned that $120 trading Lego into buying a car. 

Alec: [00:07:07] Oh, was. 

Sam: [00:07:08] Yeah, that is a robot. 

Bryce: [00:07:11] So how much did you actually make in total from doing this. 

Sam: [00:07:14] So basically I didn't have the job at the time. And so I think all up it started it was about 2 to 3 months and I ended up making enough double. My first car was around two and a half grand. And then I also bought myself an iPhone and a PS4 for a teenager. You know, that's what you want. So yeah, I think it ended up being like 4 or 5 grand profitable. Don't listen to the podcast yet, which is why it all went into depreciating assets. 

Bryce: [00:07:39] Nice. I was going to Say. 

Alec: [00:07:41] Yeah. Wow. Oh, well, how what how long did it take you to make that 4 or 5 grand? Like, are we talking for a couple of years or.  [00:07:48] No, I was probably like 2 to 3 months. Like it was proper hustling. Like, you know, I was meant to be doing my schoolwork in grade 12, and instead I was there, like, look, I go on like Facebook, Gumtree, like all that just every half hour just for the keyword Lego. You'd have to wash a lot by hand because it can be pretty grimy. So it'd be like, you know, 20 kilos of loose bricks just washing them by hand. That's so like it was a lot of work. But at the time I didn't have a job. So, you know, I had the spare time on my hands and. Yeah, made it happen. 

Alec: [00:08:17] Geez. I love that. That's great. That is so good. 

Bryce: [00:08:19] All right, Sam, well, before we continue unpacking and making money with Lego, we're going to take a very short break. We'll be right back. Welcome back to get started investing here with Sam. And we're talking about how he's using Lego as part of the $100 challenge. The point of this is to understand if you're still continuing with this and now putting the the hard earned dollars or your expertise in now recognising under appreciated and undervalued Lego sets and putting that into the market. So what is that? Is this something that you're still doing?

Sam: [00:08:54] Yeah. Still now that like I'm older and I got a job in that I don't necessarily hustle the dope people always keep an eye on like Gumtree and Facebook. And if stuff pops up, I'll go and pick it up and sell for profit. There's actually websites because every Lego set has a unique set number. It's actually websites where you can copy and paste the set number, and that will actually give you the sale data for last six months, 12 months to like five years, similar to the same like data and graphs. If you'd have the stocks and shares, you can actually get like Lego set graph. So yeah, sometimes I'll say a listing that might have five sets in it and just copy and paste the description, you know, put it into this website and I'll actually tell you where there's money to be made or not. 

Alec: [00:09:33] Wow, I love that. So for people who, interested in exploring this, what's the Lego website that you use? 

Alec: [00:09:42] So that one is called The BrickPicker. But there's a few of them, like there's another one called Brick Economy. But yeah, basically you can look up, buy and sell data for Lego and Google and it'll come up with a heap of websites. But yeah, has all the graphs other than stuff that's really cool, actually.

Alec: [00:09:56] Wow, this is a whole world that I just wasn't really familiar with. Like, I knew Lego was expensive, but I didn't know there's this whole like secondary almost investment market. 

Sam: [00:10:09] Yeah, yeah. And like, it even goes as far because you can obviously hustle and like buy and sell used Lego. But even born brand new Lego and actually investing in Lego sets, there's money to made to. So some sets you can actually buy. And if you sell the individual pieces in the set, you actually get more back than the recommended retail price of the set all together. 

Alec: [00:10:30] Really?

Sam: [00:10:31] Well, yeah, because people like to build custom build. So, you know, a set might be released with a really unique tile or a unique block. And if someone wants to build a custom set or a custom like model, you know they need that one piece so they'll like, pay a good price just for that single piece. So yeah, there's some sets you can buy for maybe $200, but then if you list the individual pieces, you get $300 back, which is a little bit of work. But yeah, pretty crazy when you think about it. Alec: [00:10:55] Well. 

Bryce: [00:10:56] The value of the parts.

Alec: [00:10:58] Yeah, yeah. 

Sam: [00:10:59] Yeah. As far as like investing in sets goes, a big thing that people do is every year Lego will tell you at the start of the year what Lego sets are retiring. And that basically means that at the end of this, sets are no longer going to be on shelves and what they produce, which means in the following year they usually go up. So what people will do is they'll look at the study, what sets are retiring, and then when it's on sale during that year, they'll buy it and then sell it in the next couple of years after it retires and when the price goes up. So yeah, a really good example of that is there was a Lego Star Wars set. The retired in 2022 retailed for $89. And like currently, the average price is selling for around $370. So that's like 320% growth in the last two years on a Lego set. Basically.

Bryce: [00:11:42] I'm looking at the ultimate Millennium Falcon Collector's series at the moment. It's 1300 bucks. 

Sam: [00:11:49] Yeah. That one's pretty expensive. 

Bryce: [00:11:51] Unbelievable. Yeah. Wow. There's a whole world out there of making money investing. I think the important part here is investing the money that you have.

Alec: [00:12:00] Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Bryce: [00:12:01] But thank you. 

Sam: [00:12:01] That's right. 

Alec: [00:12:02] And investing in stocks or Lego whatever you want to invest in.

Alec: [00:12:06] Yeah.

Bryce: [00:12:07] This is incredible. So thank you so much, Sam, for, opening our eyes. I'm sure many people listening are intrigued. We are right in the centre of the Lego universe as well. I think the world's largest Lego store recently opened in Sydney. 

Alec: [00:12:19] Oh, really? 

Alec: [00:12:20] Yeah. Yeah. It did. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:12:21] So I know where I'm going this weekend. 

Alec: [00:12:23] Yeah. There you go. I reckon a few people might be going up to the attics and dusting off a few old toy boxes, saying what I've got in there. 

Bryce: [00:12:31] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, if you get a text from me with some links, Sam, I'll just be asking your opinion on what looks good. 

Sam: [00:12:39] Yeah. Sounds like a plan.

Bryce: [00:12:40] Ethical. Thank you so much, for taking the time to come on the show and share your, your $100 challenge idea and shout out to the rest of the Get Started community if you want to come on the show just like Sam, and share an idea that you have to save or make an extra $100, head to equitymates.com/contact and you'll be able to leave your idea and look and, we'll get in contact. Sam, thank you so much.

Sam: [00:13:03] No worries. Thanks, boys.

Alec: [00:13:05] Well, there you go. Fascinating. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:13:06] Whole world money to be made. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is what I love about this challenge. Hearing new ideas. I am genuinely interested in looking a little bit further in this. 

Alec: [00:13:16] Stay tuned for Bryces. And, like, a dropshipping business, the difference between, what Sam just told us and what you did last year was Sam, he had the hustle, you know, he. 

Bryce: [00:13:29] I have the hustle.

Alec: [00:13:29] Yeah, he was hand washing bricks. Yeah, but anyway, that's a conversation for another day. An important reminder that the small things that you do, be it arbitrage Lego on, Gumtree or, you know, not buying a coffee and saving that money on your way to work. It all makes a difference. And the small investments that you make today can really grow and compound over time. But Bryce, with that, we'll be back next week with another episode of juicy. And we'll be back next month with our next $100 challenge. 

Bryce: [00:14:04] Love it.