Davest--
People generally go through a progression: oblivious to coins, user of coins, keeper of coins, collector of coins, and finally, numismatist (students of coins).
Your method makes perfect sense - that is one of the beauties of the hobby: there are no real "rules". It is your collection and you can do as you like.
I'd recommend following a couple of old adages. "Buy the book before the coin" - this advice has been around for a long time and will put you on a more even playing field. If you are interested in United States coins, the #1 book is "A Guide Book of United States Coins" and is commonly called the Red Book. Read what it says about the series you like, not just the values. The second adage is if you are going to collect a particular series, go for the higher value pieces (keys) first. They tend to appreciate faster than the lower value (common) ones. Of course, with some series, following that adage is prohibitively expensive, so you will need to do as well as you can.
Slabbed coins need to be from reputable grading companies. Read the eBay primer on the subject. Anybody can slap a coin in a plastic slab with a grade, but the whole point of having a third party grade and slab a coin is so that the condition of the coin can be fairly well assured. Sharp eyed collectors who know what they are doing often buy slabbed coins that they deem to be under-graded and then break them out and re-submit them, hoping for a better grade. This process is not for the inexperienced.
Have fun!
John in ID
