Why Pokémon cards are growing faster than your retirement account

Pokémon cards are scorching hot right now. An index tracking the thousands of rare cards shows that valuations have increased 170% in the last year alone. Growth like that really makes you wish you hadn’t given away all your childhood cards years ago.<br /><br />Today on the show, we cover three things that are contributing to the rapid growth of shiny cards produced by the world’s highest-grossing media franchise.<br /><br /><strong>Come see Planet Money live on stage in April! 12 cities. Details and tix here: </strong><a href="https://tix.to/pm-book-tour" target="_blank"><strong>https://tix.to/pm-book-tour</strong></a><strong>. </strong><br /><br /><strong>Related episodes: </strong><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/06/16/1254264655/nintendo-switch-2-business-strategy" target="_blank">The secret to Nintendo's success</a><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/07/23/1197967756/movie-theaters-lure-customers-novelty-popcorn-buckets" target="_blank">The curious rise of novelty popcorn buckets</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/31/983110019/the-curse-of-the-black-lotus-update" target="_blank">The Curse Of The Black Lotus (Update)</a><br /><em>For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at </em><a href="http://plus.npr.org/" target="_blank"><em>plus.npr.org</em></a><em>.</em> <em>Fact-checking by </em><a href="https://www.npr.org/people/1268825622/sierra-juarez" target="_blank"><em>Sierra Juarez</em></a><em>. Music by </em><a href="https://dropelectric.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank"><em>Drop Electric</em></a><em>. Find us: </em><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@planetmoney" target="_blank"><em>TikTok</em></a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/planetmoney/" target="_blank"><em>Instagram</em></a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/planetmoney" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/money" target="_blank"><em>Newsletter</em></a><em>.</em><br /><br />See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>