I prefer to invest in sealed product only because sealed product carries a premium that increases in magnitude as any given product ages.

This is best evidenced by older booster boxes in any TCG being worth far more than the value of cards you can expect to receive inside while opening them.

With newer boxes, you have a higher chance to break even or even profit.

With older boxes, that chance decreases.

This is primarily due to scarcity. Once there are far less sealed boxes in existence, the scarcity of the box outweighs what could possibly be inside.

Today’s post is not the post where I show which sealed Pokémon investments I own personally.

You can read the latest post from that series here:

The post you’re about to read shows the value of the relevant sealed products from the Sword & Shield block to today, with some investment analysis I find valuable.

IMPORTANT: There is a link to a spreadsheet version of this data at the bottom of this post with bonus metrics and stats

Let's take a look at the market:

Sword & Shield

Read more

If you’re going to invest in LEGO, you need to keep track of your investments.

Look no further than Brick Tracker Pro.

This tool allows you to upload your entire LEGO investing portfolio and track your investment performance in real time.

Brick Tracker Pro IS NOT some random sponsor, I have equity in this tool and truly love using it to keep track of my investments.

You can try it for FREE by clicking the button below and if you decide to pay for it, use code “jarrylew” for 20% OFF:

Sign Up for Brick Tracker Pro

(If you’re more of a spreadsheet person, I still recommend the LEGO Investing Portfolio Tracker)

IMPORTANT: A SPREADSHEET VERSION OF THE HIT LIST IS LINKED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST

The hit list you are about to see below is the list of LEGO sets my set picking system likes most for investing that are set retire in JULY this year.

Normally we don’t split the year up like I am now, but LEGO has decided to shift 100+ sets to a July retirement date.

The following list is created by:

1. Looking at a giant list of sets expected to retire

2. Inputting Amazon sales rank data (i.e. demand) into my custom set picking system and letting it spit out which sets it thinks will perform best

3. Extrapolating “# of sets sold in the past month” for sets that don’t have sales rank data

4. Picking demand thresholds for each theme to adhere to based on prior performance and estimated supply data

Does this system catch ALL of the best sets every year? No.

However, it has outperformed the average for the last three years by a large margin as documented in my monthly market update series.

I am finalizing this July list next month in June (originally scheduled for May).

In July, I will publish the first iteration of a second hit list for sets that retire at the end of December.

The format below for listing hit list sets is as follows:

• Theme

  • List of sets my system likes

Let’s dive in.

Architecture

Target position size/set: ~1% of portfolio

Demand threshold: 14

We had another improvement in demand here. I am not in a rush to create a position though with it being available on the LEGO website without a “Retiring Soon” tag.

You can only get 5 of them per account on Amazon though, so I’ll likely buy some if we can get them for under $100.

Art

Read more

That’s right. I don’t just invest in LEGO.

I invest in all kinds of sealed trading cards and my largest position consists of a multitude of Pokémon booster boxes.

Whenever I make a Pokémon related investment, I send an alert to all paid subscribers of this newsletter.

Like this recent one here:

In the alerts, I tell you what I’m buying. What you do with that information is up to you.

Let’s look at how the Pokémon booster box portfolio has performed over the last month:

Read more

If you’re going to invest in LEGO, you need to keep track of your investments.

Look no further than Brick Tracker Pro.

This tool allows you to upload your entire LEGO investing portfolio and track your investment performance in real time.

Brick Tracker Pro IS NOT some random sponsor, I have equity in this tool and truly love using it to keep track of my investments.

You can try it for FREE by clicking the button below and if you decide to pay for it, use code “jarrylew” for 20% OFF:

Sign Up for Brick Tracker Pro

(If you’re more of a spreadsheet person, I still recommend the LEGO Investing Portfolio Tracker)

Welcome to the TIE LEGO Investment Portfolio Update for April 2026 where I show you which LEGO sets I personally own.

(Notice how no one on YouTube does that? I wonder why…)

There are a million ways to invest, but my strategy is as follows:

1. Buy heavy quantity of sets from my hit list in Q4 (see the 2026 list here)

2. Hold for 12-24 months (longer if needed)

3. Sell on Amazon and/or eBay

It’s the perfect mix of appreciation and compounding.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy reading about how much money I’ve made with LEGO investing:

Ideas

% of Portfolio: 14.4%
Unrealized ROI: 47.6% (up from 47.3%)

Virtually unchanged here vs. last month. Everything is looking good though.

Creator

Read more

The response was fantastic and prompted a few subscribers to ask the same question:

“How are you measuring supply vs. demand?”

In that latest update, I express the “value” of each sealed box but I do not measure supply vs. demand.

The reality is that supply and demand is technically represented by price.

However, we cannot rely on price alone because it does not tell you which part of the relationship is most impactful.

One box being more expensive than the other doesn’t tell you why it is more expensive.

Demand

Demand is the easy part of the equation to measure. It is as simple as looking at how much of a given item is selling and I do that by looking at two things:

1. Sold “Buy it Now” listings on eBay.com

2. Quantity sold on TCGplayer.com

I prefer TCGPlayer because you can just look at the monthly sold number but eBay comes in handy on sets with lower liquidity.

Here is a comparison for you:

Obsidian Flames Booster Boxes - Price: $370

There are roughly 60 of these selling every month on TCGPlayer.

Surging Sparks Booster Boxes - Price: $280

These are selling almost 6x as often right now, with over 400 sold in the last 30 days.

Surging Sparks Booster Boxes have WAY more demand right now.

That is blatantly obvious.

You can also use TCGPlayer to see the demand trend with their charts:

Obsidian Flames Booster Boxes - Price: $370

By looking at the blue bars (weekly) and the Y axis (total) on the right, you’ll see that demand was a little higher in 2025 (~3 boxes/day) but the average of roughly 2 boxes/day has remained constant for a while now with prices above $300.

Surging Sparks Booster Boxes - Price: $280

This chart shows a different story.

Some weeks didn’t surpass ~30 boxes sold, while others surpassed 100 boxes sold.

What this tells us is that Surging Sparks has always had more demand, this isn’t just a recent thing.

Supply

Supply cannot be directly measured.

However, you can make educated guesses based on demand and price.

In the above comparison, Surging Sparks Booster Boxes sell ~6x as often as Obsidian Flames Booster Boxes.

You might be thinking, “yeah, because they’re cheaper!”

If that was your initial thought, you’re thinking in the wrong order.

Surging Sparks Booster Boxes are only cheaper because there is more supply.

Price is a result, not a cause.

The Pokémon Company likely identified this early on and has allocated more resources to printing Surging Sparks.

Had they kept supply equal, Surging Sparks booster boxes would be sitting at a higher price vs. Obsidian Flames.

How much higher?

We cannot truly know.

As prices rise, demand falls. You cannot simply divide the demand and multiply price.

(In this case, that would be like saying Surging Sparks has 5x the demand so if supply was equal, Surging Sparks Booster Boxes would be $1,300 each)

My guess would be somewhere around $400-500 if supply were equal.

How to Use this Information

You want the following when investing in sealed Pokémon cards:

1. High demand

2. High individual card price vs. box price (value)

3. Low supply

In that order.

While you’ll never get all three in a picture perfect range, this is the general idea.

I believe Surging Sparks is a much better investment than Obsidian Flames because it has more demand and is better on value:

The cards inside the Surging Sparks Booster Boxes are worth over twice as much.

Obsidian Flames only comes out ahead in supply.

The supply is lower.

But here’s the thing about supply… it always decreases over time.

We are measuring sealed boxes, which are opened every single day by collectors.

As a result, one day, Surging Sparks Booster Boxes will be worth more than Obsidian Flames Booster Boxes.

I hope writeup this helps your understanding of this crazy market.

This post is not financial or investment advice.

I am simply informing you of what I have done with my own capital.

What you choose to do with your capital is at your own discretion.

While I will always vouch for the content I publish and the ideas I teach, there are limits to what I’m legally allowed to encourage without putting myself in harms way.

Most LEGO fans and investors look forward to this sale because of the sets that LEGO offers as gifts, depending on how big your orders are.

While the gift sets every year could always be better, there is one this year going for around ~$70.

Given that you only have to spend $160 to get that $70 gift, that’s a rough discount of 40% on every order.

Here are the 4 LEGO sets I am adding to the portfolio today:

Read more

If you’re going to invest in LEGO, you need to keep track of your investments.

Look no further than Brick Tracker Pro.

This tool allows you to upload your entire LEGO investing portfolio and track your investment performance in real time.

Brick Tracker Pro IS NOT some random sponsor, I have equity in this tool and truly love using it to keep track of my investments.

You can try it for FREE by clicking the button below and if you decide to pay for it, use code “jarrylew” for 20% OFF:

Sign Up for Brick Tracker Pro

(If you’re more of a spreadsheet person, I still recommend the LEGO Investing Portfolio Tracker)

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a regularly updated list of Amazon prices for every (relevant) LEGO set that has retired over the last two years?

You’re in luck!

That is exactly what this post is.

If you have no idea what LEGO investing is, read this post so you are up to speed.

Today’s post is not the post where I show which LEGO sets I own personally.

That post is here:

The post you’re about to read shows the value of every retired set from 2024 & 2025 and their current selling price on Amazon (the lowest Prime price) in spreadsheet form.

You will also see charts that track:

1. Each theme’s average investment performance since retirement

2. The average performance of the sets my set picking system chose, in each theme

I use this information to make educated investment decisions and adjust my set picking system.

IMPORTANT: There is a link to a spreadsheet version of this data at the bottom of this post

Time to see what has happened over the last month:

Average ROI After Selling Fees: 31.2% (up from 30.9%)

Very small gain here. Not a whole lot of action.

Read more

We’ve never had so many sets to choose from mid-year like this.

When you invest with the amount of capital I do, you have to start buying some sets early because of quantity restrictions.

I’ve decided to begin today for a couple different reasons I’ll explain below.

Here are the LEGO sets I am investing in:

Read more

Most of you reading this know that by now.

While most posts here are about LEGO or Pokémon card investing, I like to sprinkle in a few about other ventures.

This is one of those posts and I totally understand if it appears random.

I encourage you to read on though.

There isn’t anyone else on the internet showing you what I show you in this post.

I know this because I’ve tried to find it and it doesn’t exist.

So, what is this post about you ask?

Early last year I launched a supplement business in the golf industry (one of my favorite hobbies) that solves a unique set of problems.

It’s called Diald.

Due to the sensitive financial details included, you must be a paid subscriber to read the entire post below.

I still cannot believe that this silly little idea is profitable. How profitable?

You’ll have to keep reading.

Let’s take a look at what has happened over the last 30 days:

Read more

I prefer to invest in sealed product only because sealed product carries a premium that increases in magnitude as any given product ages.

This is best evidenced by older booster boxes in any TCG being worth far more than the value of cards you can expect to receive inside while opening them.

With newer boxes, you have a higher chance to break even or even profit.

With older boxes, that chance decreases.

This is primarily due to scarcity. Once there are far less sealed boxes in existence, the scarcity of the box outweighs what could possibly be inside.

Today’s post is not the post where I show which sealed Pokémon investments I own personally.

You can read the latest post from that series here:

The post you’re about to read shows the value of the relevant sealed products from the Sword & Shield block to today, with some investment analysis I find valuable.

IMPORTANT: There is a link to a spreadsheet version of this data at the bottom of this post

Let's take a look at the market:

Sword & Shield

Read more

If you’re going to invest in LEGO, you need to keep track of your investments.

Look no further than Brick Tracker Pro.

This tool allows you to upload your entire LEGO investing portfolio and track your investment performance in real time.

Brick Tracker Pro IS NOT some random sponsor, I have equity in this tool and truly love using it to keep track of my investments.

You can try it for FREE by clicking the button below and if you decide to pay for it, use code “jarrylew” for 20% OFF:

Sign Up for Brick Tracker Pro

(If you’re more of a spreadsheet person, I still recommend the LEGO Investing Portfolio Tracker)

IMPORTANT: A SPREADSHEET VERSION OF THE HIT LIST IS LINKED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST

The hit list you are about to see below is the list of LEGO sets my set picking system likes most for investing that are set retire in JULY this year.

Normally we don’t split the year up like I am now, but LEGO has decided to shift 100+ sets to a July retirement date.

I asked the paid subscriber Discord group if they wanted two different hit lists and the overwhelming majority said yes.

The following list is created by:

1. Looking at a giant list of sets expected to retire

2. Inputting Amazon sales rank data (i.e. demand) into my custom set picking system and letting it spit out which sets it thinks will perform best

3. Extrapolating “# of sets sold in the past month” for sets that don’t have sales rank data

4. Picking demand thresholds for each theme to adhere to based on prior performance and estimated supply data

Does this system catch ALL of the best sets every year? No.

However, it has outperformed the average for the last three years by a large margin as documented in my monthly market update series.

This list will be finalized at the end of May.

In June, I will publish the first iteration of a second hit list for sets that retire at the end of December.

The format below for listing hit list sets is as follows:

• Theme

  • List of sets my system likes

Let’s dive in.

Architecture

Target position size/set: ~1% of portfolio

Demand threshold: 14

An improvement in demand like this month over month is a great sign. Definitely a set I want to own before it is gone.

It is iconic and people are buying a lot of it.

Art

Read more

This has led me to dive deep into the data of the market and I’ve concluded that there are some sets/items that I NEED to buy immediately.

I’ve spent too much time/capital diversifying into average sets over the years and have not placed enough focus on the sets that are obvious winners.

Here are the new sealed Pokémon card investments I am making as we speak:

1. Prismatic Evolutions Booster Bundle Boxes

• Cost Basis: ~$75-80/box

• Size: 1.8% of portfolio

• Source: eBay (click here to use the search I used as an eBay Partner, I may be compensated if you make a purchase)

I bought these back in January at around $70/box but it is time to triple down and buy 3x the amount of bundles as I bought then.

For reasons I will explain later in the month (it’s also just obvious as hell), this set is one of the all-time sets.

It will be a fan favorite for years to come.

I knew this, but I didn’t realize just HOW good it is compared to every other set.

Just look at all these cards worth > $50:

Most sets only have a handful of cards over $50. Prismatic has 16.

The depth of hits is legendary.

Here are the sets from the last few years that have anywhere near that many:

1. Evolving Skies - 16

2. 151 - 14

3. Chilling Reign - 9

Evolving Skies is 3x as expensive, 151 is 2x as expensive, and Chilling Reign is comparable in price but is much less deep.

Did I mention those other three sets are out of print already? Meaning they’ve had more time to appreciate.

Starting to make sense now? I hope so.

Out of all the ways to buy Prismatic Evolutions, Booster Bundles provide the best value at current market prices.

Elite Trainer Boxes have dipped from $200 to $170 after a recent restock, but that isn’t far enough for me to favor those instead.

I am a buyer of more ETBs below $150 should that happen but I just don’t see it.

If I didn’t own Prismatic yet, I would be buying both right now.

This set is a MUST OWN when you consider:

1. The number of cards worth a lot of money in this set

2. The amount that people have bought since release

3. The amount that has been reprinted and bought up immediately

When you compare all of the measurable metrics, Prismatic beats every other set out there in the modern area.

Everyone on earth will wish they bought this and/or bought more when these little booster bundles hit $200+.

It won’t take long for that to happen and even if they reprint more of it, it just won’t be enough.

You’ve been warned.

2. Ascended Heroes Elite Trainer Boxes

• Cost Basis: ~$135/box

• Size: 1.1% of portfolio

• Source: eBay (click here to use the search I used as an eBay Partner, I may be compensated if you make a purchase)

I know, I know.

Me buying a brand new set is unprecedented.

However, after reviewing all of the data I just have to own these.

I am buying with the hope that TPC is able to reprint more of them over the next two years and bring the price down below $100.

If they do, I am prepared to buy A LOT more of them.

If they don’t, I at least have a position locked in place.

As things sit, Ascended Heroes is the most loved set since Prismatic Evolutions and will get overshadowed by the 30th anniversary (which releases later this year).

Given how much printing capacity will be given to that 30th anniversary set, I think it is risky to NOT own Ascended Heroes right now.

I don’t like buying sets right after release but there is a real world in which TPC underestimated demand for these and overestimate how much people will like the 30th anniversary set.

If I’m wrong, I’m willing to live with it (and buy more later).

Celebrations was the 25th anniversary set and it did not do as well as everyone thought it would.

The two sets released before Celebrations?

Chilling Reign and Evolving Skies.

Interesting right?

WARNING: When buying sealed Pokémon on eBay or TCGPlayer, you must ensure that the sellers are highly reputable with significant selling history on the platform

I bought both of these from sellers that I have ordered from in the past that have perfect reputations with 10,000+ positive feedback.

The moment you ignore this advice is the moment it will hurt you.

Don’t be that person.

This post is not financial or investment advice.

I am simply informing you of what I have done with my own capital.

What you choose to do with your capital is at your own discretion.

While I will always vouch for the content I publish and the ideas I teach, there are limits to what I’m legally allowed to encourage without putting myself in harms way.

That’s right. I don’t just invest in LEGO.

I invest in all kinds of sealed trading cards and my largest position consists of a multitude of Pokémon booster boxes.

Whenever I make a Pokémon related investment, I send an alert to all paid subscribers of this newsletter.

Like this recent one here:

In the alerts, I tell you what I’m buying. What you do with that information is up to you.

Let’s look at how the Pokémon booster box portfolio has performed over the last month:

Read more

If you’re going to invest in LEGO, you need to keep track of your investments.

Look no further than Brick Tracker Pro.

This tool allows you to upload your entire LEGO investing portfolio and track your investment performance in real time.

Brick Tracker Pro IS NOT some random sponsor, I have equity in this tool and truly love using it to keep track of my investments.

You can try it for FREE by clicking the button below and if you decide to pay for it, use code “jarrylew” for 20% OFF:

Sign Up for Brick Tracker Pro

(If you’re more of a spreadsheet person, I still recommend the LEGO Investing Portfolio Tracker)

Welcome to the TIE LEGO Investment Portfolio Update for March 2026 where I show you which LEGO sets I personally own.

(Notice how no one on YouTube does that? I wonder why…)

There are a million ways to invest, but my strategy is as follows:

1. Buy heavy quantity of sets from my hit list in Q4 (see the 2026 list here)

2. Hold for 12-24 months (longer if needed)

3. Sell on Amazon and/or eBay

It’s the perfect mix of appreciation and compounding.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy reading about how much money I’ve made with LEGO investing:

Ideas

% of Portfolio: 14.4%
Unrealized ROI: 47.3% (up from 45.7%)

Small gain here.

It is nice to see the Lighthouse stay out of stock on Amazon. The longer that stays constant, the more likely it is that they won’t be getting more.

The Cabin being out of stock for a while now is also a great sight.

It was long overdue.

Creator

Read more

You can read it here:

My goal was to show people just how good of an investment these booster boxes are.

As a recap, here is what the data looked like four years ago:

Average Yearly Gain: 104.3%
Average Overall Gain: 546.5%
Worst Performer: Crimson Invasion - 28% yearly gain - 122% overall gain
Best Performer: Flashfire - 411.1% yearly gain - 3233% overall gain

Those numbers are obviously fantastic.

My takeaway was that it was in my best interest to invest in every booster box from that moment forward.

That is what I did… for the most part.

I stupidly sold my Evolving Skies booster boxes for around ~$1,000 each because I was convinced a reprint was coming (it never happened).

Those are now nearly $3,000 each.

I also didn’t buy the following sets because I hated the idea of paying more than MSRP:

• Scarlet & Violet Twilight Masquerade

• Scarlet & Violet Stellar Crown

• Scarlet & Violet Surging Sparks

• Scarlet & Violet Journey Together

• Scarlet & Violet Destined Rivals

(I haven’t bought any Mega Evolution series sets either but there is still time there even if they never hit MSRP)

In hindsight, selling Evolving Skies and not paying over MSRP made sense at the time.

Pokémon had always been able to print enough product to allow for this to happen.

By the time I had realized that we were in an entirely new era, I missed my chance at getting every set listed above at a price I feel good about.

I could buy any of them at the current price and in the long run, it would be a good buy.

That is something I may do… I’m still undecided.

I bring all of this up to say, let’s look at how these numbers have changed four years later:

Average Yearly Gain: 278.1% (up from 104.3%)
Average Overall Gain: 2274.7% (up from 546.5%)

As you can see, things have ramped up significantly.

Since the original post I made the average yearly gain is up almost 3x.

The average overall gain is up 4x.

The S&P 500 since I made that post: +45.2%

While the stock market is much more liquid and a lot easier to buy and sell, it doesn’t even come close.

These boxes outperformed the stock market by a factor of 50.

Even today, four years later, it appears that Pokémon booster boxes are still one of the best investments you could possibly make.

The average gain between Destined Rivals and Journey Together is 87.5% over the last year, both of which were not available at or below MSRP.

The only thing that changes over time is how quickly each box appreciates.

A world where sealed Pokémon cards do not appreciate is a world where:

1. No one cares about Pokémon anymore

2. The Pokémon Company makes too much product (physcially impossible at the moment)

3. There are much larger issues in the world to worry about

The only realistic concern is #2 and as many people know, this is not possible until at least 2028.

Even then, The Pokémon Company has navigated multiple bear markets over the last 30 years and know how to balance product production (except for when they run out of production capacity).

Every time a new set releases and is deemed “garbage” by the community, they dial the printing press back on future sets (means less get produced), and then those future sets appreciate quicker because less exist.

It is a constant time-tested cycle.

If there is one takeaway, it is this:

I am going to continue to treat buying sealed Pokémon cards the same way I treat my retirement accounts.

Constant regular buys regardless of what is going on out there.

You are more than welcome to join me when I send out buy alerts to paid subscribers or just watch from the sidelines.

That choice is yours, I can’t make it for you.

This post is not financial or investment advice.

I am simply informing you of what I have done with my own capital.

What you choose to do with your capital is at your own discretion.

While I will always vouch for the content I publish and the ideas I teach, there are limits to what I’m legally allowed to encourage without putting myself in harms way.

If you’re going to invest in LEGO, you need to keep track of your investments.

Look no further than Brick Tracker Pro.

This tool allows you to upload your entire LEGO investing portfolio and track your investment performance in real time.

Brick Tracker Pro IS NOT some random sponsor, I have equity in this tool and truly love using it to keep track of my investments.

You can try it for FREE by clicking the button below and if you decide to pay for it, use code “jarrylew” for 20% OFF:

Sign Up for Brick Tracker Pro

(If you’re more of a spreadsheet person, I still recommend the LEGO Investing Portfolio Tracker)

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a regularly updated list of Amazon prices for every (relevant) LEGO set that has retired over the last two years?

You’re in luck!

That is exactly what this post is.

If you have no idea what LEGO investing is, read this post so you are up to speed.

Today’s post is not the post where I show which LEGO sets I own personally.

That post is here:

The post you’re about to read shows the value of every retired set from 2024 & 2025 and their current selling price on Amazon (the lowest Prime price) in spreadsheet form.

You will also see charts that track:

1. Each theme’s average investment performance since retirement

2. The average performance of the sets my set picking system chose, in each theme

I use this information to make educated investment decisions and adjust my set picking system.

IMPORTANT: There is a link to a spreadsheet version of this data at the bottom of this post

Time to see what has happened over the last month:

Read more

Most of you reading this know that by now.

While most posts here are about LEGO or Pokémon card investing, I like to sprinkle in a few about other ventures.

This is one of those posts and I totally understand if it appears random.

I encourage you to read on though.

There isn’t anyone else on the internet showing you what I show you in this post.

I know this because I’ve tried to find it and it doesn’t exist.

So, what is this post about you ask?

Early last year I launched a supplement business in the golf industry (one of my favorite hobbies) that solves a unique set of problems.

It’s called Diald.

Due to the sensitive financial details included, you must be a paid subscriber to read the entire post below.

I still cannot believe that this silly little idea is profitable. How profitable?

You’ll have to keep reading.

Let’s take a look at what has happened over the last 30 days:

Read more

If you’re going to invest in LEGO, you need to keep track of your investments.

Look no further than Brick Tracker Pro.

This tool allows you to upload your entire LEGO investing portfolio and track your investment performance in real time.

Brick Tracker Pro IS NOT some random sponsor, I have equity in this tool and truly love using it to keep track of my investments.

You can try it for FREE by clicking the button below and if you decide to pay for it, use code “jarrylew” for 20% OFF:

Sign Up for Brick Tracker Pro

(If you’re more of a spreadsheet person, I still recommend the LEGO Investing Portfolio Tracker)

When most people think about LEGO investing, they gravitate toward obvious themes like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Minecraft.

The Ideas theme rarely comes up in that conversation.

That’s exactly why it keeps printing.

Here’s a look at every 2025 retiree from the Ideas theme and how they’ve performed:

Theme Average ROI: 50.2%

For context, the average ROI across all 2025 LEGO retirees after almost three months is roughly 20%.

Ideas is more than double that.

Six of these seven sets were on the TIE 2025 Hit List.

The only “underperformer” in the bunch is the Motorised Lighthouse at 6.7%, which is due to Amazon stocking them until just a couple weeks ago.

Trust me, almost no one bought that set so it will hit $500+ in the coming weeks/months.

Did you know you could have bought it at the exact same time as me back in January?

I sent a buy alert for it right here inside this newsletter, which you can read here:

The Sanderson Sisters Cottage is already north of 50% ROI.

Imagine what that is going to do come Halloween…

This is what a clean sweep looks like.

Why Ideas specifically?

The sets appeal to adults with disposable income, not children.

They look intricate and are incredibly detailed.

If you were going to pick one theme that has the best looking sets to sit on a shelf after you’ve built them, Ideas is your theme.

If you’ve been on the fence about sealed LEGO investing, this is what the data looks like when you pick the right theme.

It just so happens that three Ideas sets are retiring this July.

That means the best time to buy those sets is between now and then.

If you want to see which three sets I’m talking about, I recommend you read the latest edition of the TIE 2026 July Hit List post I put out last week:

The cool part about sets that retire in July is that you have an opportunity to sell them for a profit less than six months later.

You don’t have to (I usually hold for ~18 months before selling) but having that option is extremely valuable.

Then again, you could just ignore all of this and not take advantage of it at all because you hate money.

The choice is yours.

This post is not financial or investment advice.

I am simply informing you of what I have done with my own capital.

What you choose to do with your capital is at your own discretion.

While I will always vouch for the content I publish and the ideas I teach, there are limits to what I’m legally allowed to encourage without putting myself in harms way.

If you’re going to invest in LEGO, you need to keep track of your investments.

Look no further than Brick Tracker Pro.

This tool allows you to upload your entire LEGO investing portfolio and track your investment performance in real time.

Brick Tracker Pro IS NOT some random sponsor, I have equity in this tool and truly love using it to keep track of my investments.

You can try it for FREE by clicking the button below and if you decide to pay for it, use code “jarrylew” for 20% OFF:

Sign Up for Brick Tracker Pro

(If you’re more of a spreadsheet person, I still recommend the LEGO Investing Portfolio Tracker)

IMPORTANT: A SPREADSHEET VERSION OF THE HIT LIST IS LINKED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST

The hit list you are about to see below is the list of LEGO sets my set picking system likes most for investing that are set retire in JULY this year.

Normally we don’t split the year up like I am now, but LEGO has decided to shift 100+ sets to a July retirement date.

I asked the paid subscriber Discord group if they wanted two different hit lists and the overwhelming majority said yes.

The following list is created by:

1. Looking at a giant list of sets expected to retire

2. Inputting Amazon sales rank data (i.e. demand) into my custom set picking system and letting it spit out which sets it thinks will perform best

3. Extrapolating “# of sets sold in the past month” for sets that don’t have sales rank data

4. Picking demand thresholds for each theme to adhere to based on prior performance and estimated supply data

Does this system catch ALL of the best sets every year? No.

However, it has outperformed the average for the last three years by a large margin as documented in my monthly market update series.

This list will be finalized at the end of May.

In June, I will publish the first iteration of a second hit list for sets that retire at the end of December.

The format below for listing hit list sets is as follows:

• Theme

  • List of sets my system likes

Let’s dive in.

Architecture

Target position size/set: ~1% of portfolio

Demand threshold: 14

Amazon has fully restocked the Statue and it is right on the edge of staying on the list.

If you think about how iconic this set is, it should probably be invested in regardless of what happens to the demand data over the next month.

Art

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That’s right. I don’t just invest in LEGO.

I invest in all kinds of sealed trading cards and my largest position consists of a multitude of Pokémon booster boxes.

Whenever I make a Pokémon related investment, I send an alert to all paid subscribers of this newsletter.

Like this recent one here:

In the alerts, I tell you what I’m buying. What you do with that information is up to you.

Let’s look at how the Pokémon booster box portfolio has performed over the last month:

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