Keepsakes for future returns: Goh showing his collection of various phone cards. It became a failed investment, no thanks to the mobile phones.
SIBU: The number of people buying old bank notes and coins as a form of investment is on an upward trend, especially among the middle-aged who have lost their jobs during the pandemic.
“This might look unusual, especially when the economy is bad. What’s more when some of the buyers had lost their jobs during the pandemic,” said Sarawak Philatelic and Numismatic Society president John Goh.
He claimed that people were buying them as they believed the price of these items would go up in the future.
“Middle-aged people who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic are now buying old bank notes as they have enough savings. They are buying for investment,” he said.
With the ringgit losing its value against the US dollar as well as the banks’ low interest rates, people felt that old bank notes were a good investment just like gold, added Goh.
“Our ringgit is losing its value and if they keep their money in the bank, they could also not get a good return due to the low interest rate. So, they are going for old bank notes as they could earn some money from selling them later,” he said.
He advised collectors to also go for gold coins which would fetch a high value in future.
“If you have savings in the bank, it is better to go for gold coins as they will never lose their value as the price of gold is very stable,” he said.
Unfortunately for Goh, who used to collect phone cards, these are no longer in the market with almost everyone owning a mobile phone now.
“Phone cards have ceased to exist as they are not in use now since mobile phones came into being. So the hobby of collecting phone cards is no longer there,”he said.
Goh, who has a collection of 30,000 phone cards issued by Ring Ring, Uniphone and Time Telekom, felt fortunate to be able to dispose of 10,000 pieces.
“I was lucky to be able to sell 10,000 pieces at 80 sen each recently. A friend one day called me saying that he wanted phone cards for his project. I’m quite happy that I could sell them,” he said.
