An 18% ROI That I Will Probably Never Do Again
Life is not always about the financial return on investment. It is the life lessons passed on to future generations and time spent with family that are priceless.
Due to some technical difficulties I had to rewrite this post. So if you are stopping by for the second time, I apologize that there are some differences between this version and the original one. This is a great reminder that you should always copy and paste your posts in an offline format in addition to posting on the Steem blockchain.
The Penny Treasure Hunt
I am always game for a good treasure hunt, especially one that can be enjoyed by the entire family.
In recent years, I learn that pennies can be hidden treasures found in pocket change - that is if you know what to look for.
In 1982, the United States government changed the composition of the penny from 95% percent copper to 97.5% zinc. This reduced the cost to make pennies, but also reduced the store of value of pennies (at least from a precious metal perspective.)
A 95% copper penny is worth $0.0187531 based on metal value, while the 97.5% zinc penny is worth $0.0069591 based on metal value. Which would you prefer?
Talking At The Table - Last Night
So after looking through my collection of pennies, I was ready to reintroduce this information to my family. I highly encourage my wife and kiddos to look at the change they receive to check for 95% copper pennies or 90% silver coins.
It is important to remember that many life lessons need to be taught multiple times. It is also important to model life lessons to your students.
The Plan - Today
Since it was Saturday, I decided to invite the kiddos to run some errands with me so that my wife could enjoy some alone time. While driving around town, I decided to stop by the bank.
My kids love going to the bank because almost without fail, they are offered a lollipop. This time was no exception. And of course, my kiddos graciously accepted the kind offer.
I had an offer of my own. I had reminded my girls about our conversation last night, and I invited them to join me in a little business adventure.
Anyone who wanted to join could have a 1/5 share in purchasing $25 of pennies (a total of 2,500 pennies). We agreed to share the cost, the work, and the reward.
I had four takers. Our team was complete.
2,500 Pennies Is A Lot Of Pennies
The most important and most time-consuming part of the project was sorting the pennies. Our team members had various levels of skills, so we had to work smart and hard to accomplish this task.
As we sorted, we created several piles.
- foreign coins
- wheat pennies
- pennies from 1981 and earlier
- pennies from 1982
- pennies from 1983 and newer
The Reward
Remember that everyone contributed $5 to buy $25 worth of pennies. When all was said and done each person had about $5.92 worth of "pennies," based on the current average value of wheat pennies and the current price of copper.
We had found ...
- 4 Canadian pennies and 1 Guatemalan penny
- 11 wheat pennies
- 548 pennies that were 95% copper (including 54 pennies was 1982)
- and a whole bunch of pennies that have a face value of 1 cent
An 18% ROI is not bad, but it is probably not worth the number of working hours we invested in the project.
What was priceless was the time spent with family and the lessons we learned together. I was able to teach about intrinsic value, sorting, teamwork, time management, and thinking about the future.
My oldest daughter summarized the day with the following statement - "It is an important day when an 11-year-old works hard for the possibility of a gaining something in the future." Still makes me smile!
Final Thoughts
Will I buy another box of pennies for the financial ROI? Probably not!
Would I buy a box of pennies to spend quality time with my family and invest in my kiddos? Absolutely!
I want to hear from you.
- Did you know about 95% copper pennies before reading this post?
- Do you check your pocket change for hidden treasure?
- What lessons are you teaching your kiddos?
Thanks for stopping by!
@SumatraNate
Image Source - All the photos in this post were taken by me on my iPhone.
Special Bonus
Do you want to know how we determined which 1982 pennies were made from 95% copper?
First, we create a balance from an old gift card, a piece of a straw, and tape. We placed a 97.5% zinc penny on the balance.
Then we tested the balance by placing another 97.5% zinc penny on the balance. No change.
Next, we placed a confirmed 95% copper penny on the balance, which lowered that side of the balance to the table. This was the expected result.
Finally we tested all of the 1982 pennies.
What a fun and educational experience with your family!
When we have enough saved up, we'll get a big box of $0.50 pieces, looking for silver. We usually will find at least a few hiding in the box. I found that the bank is not too excited about taking back a giant box of half-dollars, though (we are careful to replace any silver we find).
Half dollars are my favorites. I have purchased two $500 dollar boxes and then $200 from a sealed box.
My best find was 3 coins from the $200 dollars. The last time we opened a sealed box we did not find any treasures. I never take the coins back to the bank branch that I get them from. I find other ways to use them or take them to another branch.
What a great way to spend the day with your kids and provide some sound financial learning. I didn't know about the change in pennies but then I'm not from the US so it might not be the case in the UK or Ireland. I'm going to check though. You've peaked my interest.
By the way, at the moment my time is being invested in learning all about Steem and Steemit. Your course, Steem Markdown, is helping greatly with this.
So thank you for both this interesting post and your course.
According to Wikipedia, the UK started using copper to make UK pennies in 1992. I am not sure what the current composition is.
It is a great thing to know. Glad I peaked your interested.
And thanks for joining Steem Markdown. I am glad you find it helpful. Keep in touch!
Well, jeez, thanks for that. I hadn’t got round to checking myself yet.
Now that I have though, I can tell you the UK 1p and 2p are made from copper plated steel and this happened like you said in 1992. Before that they were made from a bronze alloy.
Interestingly though, your weighing technique wouldn’t work for finding out which coin was which, as they are both the same colour, diameter and weight.
There would still be a nifty way to experiment with said coins though, as it is only the copper plated ones that are magnetic.
This is a really cool life lesson and sounds like a great day spent with your kids! I had heard about the difference in pennies before but you have explained it in so much more detail. It sounds like a memorable day that your kids learned so much from :)
Ivy
It was a great day, and I hope that we can create many more memories like this one. Thanks for stopping by. Always glad to hear from you.
What I love to see is you and your family happiness my friend @sumatranate, it call friendship, I miss the time of talking to each other in the comment for a while, I don't even know what happen to me for meanwhile, but remembering you and the baby brought me again to your post. I have no doubt that you are a great father for you kiddoes. wish you and family all the best. I thing I miss to read about the baby boy, do I??
Thanks for your kind words. I too have been away from the Steem community for the last two weeks. We go to the hospital tomorrow. And yes, it is a baby boy.
I hope every thing going to be fine, wish you all the best @sumatranate
I love this!! I need to do this for my kid. Maybe quarters next time??
My favorite coin is the half dollar. My local bank does not usually have them available that day, but I can order them. The boxes cost $500, but the nice thing is that the dates are much easier to see.
Coins before 1964 are 90% silver and coins from 65-70 are 40% silver. The only problem is that it is harder for my kiddos to buy a share of the action because of the total cost and because all of the gains happens with just 3-4 coins.
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