Daffodil Lane

Simple investment calculation: I divided the 14,075 by 34 years and got approximately $414 per year. If he took that and invested it with these returns, look what he might have earned: At 5% per year, $37,392. At 6%, $46,133. At 7%, $57,230. And at 8%, $71.339.

While collecting spare change is cool and can make headlines, think how much better he (or his heirs) would be if he had invested moderately!

I'll put the disclaimer up for you Tom.

**Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The asset class returns reflect the reinvestment of dividends and other earnings. These results are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent actual or future performance of any investment option.**

Did he need the extra money for anything? Obviously he's didn't need the money or he would have already cashed in the pennies for whatever it was that he wanted. My point is making money for the stake of money really doesn't do anything for you. The guy had a hobby that made him happy. 14k is a testament that American's can save money if they ever actually tried. If anything this kind of behavior should be encouraged. Gambling "savings" on the pipedream that is the stock market can't really be considered a useful exercise.

I actually think this guys way of saving is a good way to do it and I'll tell you why. I myself have a collection of state quarters. I call them my "Ireland Fund" and the reason I haven't rolled them up and put them in the bank is this...1) I'm not worried about earning interest and 2) If it's in the bank you end up having an emergency like an air conditioner breaking down or a car repair and that money is gone. You can tie your money up other ways that make it harder to get to but I don't like the penalties that come with getting to your money if you really need it. Plus I don't put money in anything that has the chance of losing anything so I don't do stocks. So I'm completely happy with my quarter stash as it is. :o)

Thanks for the disclaimer, ManDrake, I don't see it nearly enough! :)

My numbers, however, are simple arithmetic, not representative of any investment. All of those numbers are well within the realm of past performance possibility and were only intended to illustrate what might have been. I understand that this was a hobby, you didn't need to tell me that.

But it's not so obvious that he didn't need the money. I don't know of anyone who doesn't need the money. If you have money, you can give it to charity if you don't need it immediately. Having money is not evil, it's what you do with it.

This type of behavior should NOT be encouraged. You want to save bottle caps, fine. But if Americans don't invest, the economy will falter, and worse, they will have zero shot at retiring comfortably, if at all.

That $14,075 is worth $3,434 in 1970 dollars using a .244 CPI factor. That's $100 per year of saving. So actually he LOST $314 in purchasing power per year (in 1970 dollars, you can inflate the rest for yourself), not even taking potential investing into account. It had better be a hobby; it certainly isn't SAVING.