Getting Started

The speed at which "loose change" can accumulate sparked my intrigue one summer long ago. As a 13 year old, I spent a month during summer vacation with my grandparents. Every night, we played quarter blackjack (with a $5 limit), and over that month I ended up with about $180 in winnings, all in quarters.

During high school, a good friend I worked with was a waiter. He used to receive quite a pocketful of change every night which he would dump into a huge pickle jar. Each month he’d take the jar to his bank and run it through the coin machine, ending up with about $100 in cigarette money. That’s $1200 a year, in change!

In turn, I saved my pocket change, and it became a habit. Back then I was not interested in investing, but all those quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies allowed me to make those indulgence purchases that would leave most people with a guilty conscience. Pocket change funded my clothes, electronics, and computer parts. I could buy them without feeling bad, because for one, I saved for those purchases and second, I just spent my pocket change… big deal!

Over that time, I learned that YES, pocket change is a big deal! Accumulated over all those years were hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in change. For the past few years, I still save my pocket change, but no longer am I buying electronics, I’m buying stocks. Constant savings and investing have not made me a millionaire (just yet), but it has provided me with a healthy hobby, and stock market returns that have not been too shabby.

So I ask you dear reader, what do you do with your pocket change?