For the stamp beginner nothing is more challenging than believing you have to decide on which direction you want to take your collection. The truth is you don't have to take a direction---at the moment. Don't adopt a stamp album---US or Foreign. Collect stamps you enjoy keeping and purchase a set of Vario pages.
Vario pages are sheets of special paper with sleeves that protect your stamps but still allow you to view what you have put together thus far. You are not confined or cornered into a certain country or theme. These pages are left holes made for inexpensive loose leaf binders. $ 5 on Ebay plus $1 for the binder will allow you to build a basic stamp album without choosing a hasty and expensive direction.
As time marches on you will be able to assemble a collection of stamps that will allow you to start formulating what you want to keep and what you want to trade. This discovery is what inspires a collector to pursue, sometimes for a lifetime, a certain type of stamp.
