One of my favorite things about collecting coins is that they all have their very own personal history.

First, in regard to their original minting and place in our country’s story, but also in the different places they’ve traveled and hands they’ve passed through over the years – all coming together to eventually land in my very own collection in my very own home!

So in effect, my collection of coins is really a collection of *everyone else’s* coins, that I just so happened to put together and now claim as *my own* collection.

I find that so cool :)

And like a true nerd, I document where each of these coins have come from too (the “provenance”) to always pay tribute to their origins. I just counted, and almost 54% of my coins came from other collections! With the rest coming from dealers or shops or places like Ebay where the provenance is long lost (they rarely note it unless it comes from a famous collector, so all that lineage up to that point gets erased with history :( )

This “Collection of collections” can be found in a multitude of other areas as well.

The things in your home, the books on your shelf, even your circle of friends! They come from all different places and walks of life, which you’ve collected and formed into your very own group of friends :)

This is the same with knowledge too. Take, financial knowledge for example. Did everything you learn come from one central person or place or book in your life? Of course not. It was accumulated over the years by different people at different stages in your life. “A collection of advice,” if you will!

Here’s a breakdown of my own financial roots and the people responsible for them:

******

Frugality — My mother! Having raised a family of 5 on a meager military paycheck, it was not only a necessity to stretch her dollars as far as she could, but she also found immense joy from finding deals and shopping second hand. Something also very much passed down to me through her genes :) Here’s an interview I once did with her that captures a bulk of her philosophy on money: Interview w/ My Mom Who Just Found Out She Can Retire Anytime She Wants.

Retirement investing — My dad. Another person who’s been hugely influential in my life, outside of literally creating me! From day 1 of starting my first job he preached signing up to the company 401(k), and while it took a few years for me to finally listen to good ol’ Pops, I finally did and the momentum only grew from there. And since retirement accounts are hidden behind a bunch of rules and fees, they’re much harder to pull from and thus the only route for them to go is UP over time! No touchy, more growy!!

Debt — Mom and Dad. Whose favorite line was, “don’t put anything on your card you can’t pay off!” Which most times I listened to pretty well, but there were certainly others where my eyes were bigger than my wallet :) Still, without their early persistence it wouldn’t have become such a strong compass in my life which I’m forever grateful for.

Net Worth Tracking — Jonathan from My Money Blog – the very first blog I read! Many of you know my story of buying a home on a whim with no money down or no real financial knowledge back in 2007, so when I Googled “how to budget” I was surprised to find so many places sharing their financial journeys and how they saved, invested, paid off debt, etc. One of these places I ended up getting hooked on was My Money Blog who did something I’d never seen done in the history of my life – share a real life net worth!! I was GLUED!!!! Sure we talk about money with our peers and family, but never do we *really* talk about money. And no way would we ever share our actual numbers.

Seeing this from Jonathan was an epiphany for me, not only for my own finances (I started tracking my own net worth from that point forward – going on 15 years in a row now!), but eventually leading me to start this blog and completely changing my life/friends/career and best of all – my mindset. All because one person decided to share their most intimate financial details with the world. So thanks dude!! And his blog is still around too, btw, if you’re interested in checking it out – he covers a lot of immediate news going on which is super helpful, esp since people like me don’t :) –> MyMoneyBlog.com

(And btw – your net worth is a “collection of collections” too! A collection of savings, a collection of investments, a collection of debts – all combined to give you your collective financial snapshot! Heyoooo!)

Early Retirement / FIRE — ERE Jacob and Mr. Money Mustache. The first people who a) taught me FIRE was even “a thing”, but more importantly b) SHOWED us how it can be done by sharing their own journeys with the community. I had already been blogging for a number of years before they even came on the scene, but as soon as they did it opened up a whole new world for me (and challenge!) and I’ve been soaking it up ever since. No more was I just chasing money so I can one day call myself a millionaire because “it’s cool,” but there was actually a *point* to it all! And a number I could work towards! Plus it’s always fun to just use the fire emojis.

Minimalism — Leo Babauta. One of the original minimalist bloggers on the scene, whose book, “The Power of Less” hit me at the exact right time in my life (when I started making more money and tempted to use it for more and bigger and better things!). Then mix in Joshua Becker and The Minimalists, and countless hours of free time, energy, money!, and of course *freedom* opened up. One of the best things I’ve ever focused on to this day, and something I *still* work hard towards daily as Lord knows I still have a ways to go in some departments… Namely, around my kids

(Though I did have an epiphany this week while decluttering – if you can get rid of areas where things naturally want to accumulate – like baskets or ledges or shelves, etc – then they magically won’t! My wife keeps bringing home more and more storage units, but I keep telling her that only encourages MORE STORING!! If you get rid of the storage, you get rid of the STUFF that tries to go into it! You still need to find *a place* for that stuff, but at least you keep the areas around you clean and tidy.)

Index Investing — JL Collins and The Dough Roller Podcast. I credit the Dough Roller podcast first because it was on that show that it struck me I should finally do something about my haphazard investing strategies… Rob had asked me how I invest and why, and like a stuttering fool I had to admit that I really didn’t know. My investing up to that point was more like a hodgepodge of ideas from “investing in what I love and use” to “copying Warren Buffett” and a half dozen other strategies I had read about and thought sounded smart over the years.

So the next few weeks after recording the show I started paying more attention to what all my blogger friends where doing (i.e. my “circle of trust!”) and it was immediately clear how a majority of them invest: through index funds. And in particular, total market funds with Vanguard. Then after devouring JL Collins’ stock series and peppering him with a million questions, I knew it was the right move for me too so I cashed out of alllll my random baskets of funds (many with insane admin fees!) and went “all in” with VTSAX.

You can read more how it all went down here:

• Say Hello to Vanguard’s Newest Member!
• My New [Lazy] One-Fund Investing Strategy

Lifestyle Design — I can’t really pinpoint *one* person who started me down this path, it was more a collective of different bloggers out there, but I can say Derek Sivers and David Cain of Raptitude are the ones influencing me these days. Always getting me to think – and challenge! – what I’m doing and why, and if it all aligns with what I say I want out of life. Highly recommend both of them, as well as a little Tim Ferriss too if you’re just starting out in your journey (he’s a bit “much” for some, but I think he can be a good jolt for those who really need one!). His book, “The 4-Hour Work Week” really opened my eyes years ago and helped me realize there is more than one path to live out there! We just gotta be brave enough to go after it!

*******

So basically the first half of my financial foundation was shaped mainly by my parents (how to save, stay away from debt, start investing), and the second half was influenced by the blogging community (tracking net worth, FIRE, minimalism, mindset).

Pretty cool… My collection of knowledge!

A fun exercise to go down too if you’ve never thought about where your own roots came from… We may think of our beliefs as *our own* now, but they all originated somewhere! And we should be so thankful for them!!

So thanks everyone listed above, as well as those reading this right now. Without this blog I’d be half as interesting or successful with things, and I certainly wouldn’t be as good looking ;) Y’all are constantly pushing me to be better and I appreciate it!

Here’s to more collecting

*Links to books above are Amazon affiliate links

[This post, Collections of Collections, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Good morning!

I have a story to share with you today that I stole from our good friend Joel :)

See if you can catch the lesson(s)!

*******

A father told his daughter, “Congrats on your graduation. I bought you a car a while ago. I want you to have it now. But before I give it to you, take it to a car dealer in the city. See how much they offer if you sell it.”

The girl came back to her father and said: “They offered me $10,000 dollars because it looks very old.”

Father said: “Ok, now take it to the pawn shop.”

The girl returns to her father and said: “The pawn shop offered $1,000 dollars because it’s a very old car and needs a lot of work done.”

Next the father told her to join a passionate car club with experts and show them the car.

So the girl drove to the passionate car club. She returned to her father a few hours later and told him, “Some people in the club offered me $100,000 dollars because it’s a rare car in original condition!”

Then the father said, “I wanted to let you know that you are not worth anything if you are not in the right place. If you are not appreciated, do not be angry, that just means you are in the wrong place. Don’t stay in a place where no one sees your value.”

Know your worth and know where you are valued. A diamond doesn’t shine at the bottom of a cave.

*******

Boom!

Though I have to admit I was hoping for an even better lesson at the end, lol… Something along the lines of:

“You’re always worth a lot no matter where you are! Your worth is inside YOU –
not what anyone says!”

Or where I *actually* thought this was going because I’m a hustler:

“Always take the time to figure out the best place to maximize your profits!”

Which I’ll admit isn’t as beautiful as the inner worth analogy, but still – just as true ;)

And I have the perfect example to show for it this week!

As I was heading out of an antiques store searching for more vintage rings, I overheard a dealer offering a customer a price for his entire coin collection, to which the customer politely said thanks-but-no-thanks and went on his merry way.

As we crossed paths outside I asked him what he was trying to sell as I’m a curious little lad like that (and also smelled an opportunity!), and he then did what all collectors love to see… He opened up a binder full of 100 year old coins!! Which were obviously all for sale! *Drool…*

He had recently inherited them from his grandfather, and not wanting to continue the family hobby at 20-something years old (weird?), he was looking to trade them for some cash money.

We talked for a bit and I gave him my best advice on how to sell them for the most profit, and in return he gave me a great price on one of them that I needed for my collection. (My ultimate goal is to get *one* of each major type of coin from the United States dating all the way back to the 1700s, and then display them at a local museum!)

Here she is in all her beauty:

[1914 “Barber” U.S. Quarter – the first coin I ever bought “on the streets!” Lol…]

Now similar to the story above, this one also greatly hinges on *who* and *where* you’re trying to hawk your valuables to get the most value!

Taking them to a dealer will differ greatly than taking them to a pawn shop vs taking them to a collector friend you might know. Not only that, the value that’s assigned to them will vary wildly as well – even though it’s always exactly the SAME COIN!

For example, this quarter here can be valued in three unique ways:

Face value — When the U.S. minted these from 1892-1916, they were assigned a face value of 25¢. And if you didn’t know anything about coins or collecting or anything, you’d at least be able to tell that since it literally states “quarter dollar” on the reverse of the coin :) So to all “normal” people, this coin is worth $0.25 and you can actually still spend it as it’s still considered legal tender!

Silver value — Many don’t know this, but all U.S. dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars (coins) minted in 1964 and earlier contain 90% silver. And at a current rate of about $19.32/oz, that means each of these coins contain at least a few dollars worth of silver in them! This is why so many of us tell people to always check their change to see if they have anything good in there!

Now this Barber Quarter specifically (named so after the engraver, btw) contains approximately 0.18 oz of silver which equates to almost $3.50 (.18 x $19.32). So the “melt value” here is already 14x its face value!

And btw, this is the value that most pawn shops or jewelry stores give you where you see those “we pay cash for silver and gold” type signs posted. They don’t care about the type of coin or jewelry or silverware you bring in and will just weigh it, figure out the % of bullion each contains, and then spit you out a % of the total as your final “offer”. Which is usually 80-90% of the silver or gold value. From there they will bulk it all together with others they bought and cash it in for the full 100% value of the silver and gold – OR (if they’re smart and know what they’re doing) – they will sort through it all first and see if there’s anything valuable and rare and *then* ship it all off to be melted.

This was the case for my new friend here, who was offered probably around $3.00 per quarter which he (rightfully) turned down because each one was worth multitudes more than that, and some even in the hundreds of dollars due to collector value! But if you didn’t know about that third valuation, which we’re slowly getting to next, haha, you’d probably think this is a good deal and take it. So again the *place* matters where you go to sell this stuff!

Collector value — Lastly, coins or other items that are collected are assigned a whole other set of values depending on its rarity and popularity and condition. Some cool old things aren’t worth jack, and some boring new things can be worth a killing – all depending on the hobby and trends and a number of other variables that come into play.

With this quarter in particular, it’s not very rare (over 6 million were produced!), but it is collected and in decent condition (grades conservatively as “Fine” and generously as “Very Fine”) and is worth around $35.00 according to our hobby’s price guide. Which now puts its value as 140x face value – a huge difference from $0.25! But again only matters if you’re talking to a *collector* as no normal person would ever pay such a premium ;)

So TL;DR the 3 values that can be assigned to this coin are:

• Face value: $0.25
• Silver value: $3.50
• “Collector” value: $35.00

All drastically different values, and all for the exact same coin!

So again, *where* you take stuff to sell can matter greatly. If you have the time and energy to explore all the avenues, it’ll almost always net you more profit in the end. But if you’d rather unload them quickly for some fast cash, well, there are plenty of ways you can do that too, and which is why pawn shops are still all over the place! You’ll just have to be okay with getting substantially less in return going that route and more than likely getting ripped off.

We’ll see how our friend here makes out in the long run, but it was a fun random bump in and love that it was a real life example of the cave story up there :)

You may be worth a million bucks, but if you don’t know where to go you might end up selling yourself short! And you’re worth every penny of your sexy smart self, so be sure to max yourself out!!

PS: You can see my full guide on how to liquidate a coin collection here if you ever need it: How to Sell Your Inherited Coin Collection. The general applications can also be applied to baseball cards or marbles or anything else that’s collectible for that matter!

[This post, A Diamond Doesn’t Shine at The Bottom of a Cave 💎, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Morning!!

Just a quick note today on something cool our coin hobby is doing for National Coin Week this week :)

For today and tomorrow only, if you use code NCW20G. you can get a FREE YEAR of membership into our national association! The ANA! (American Numismatic Association)

Which gets you the following goodies:

• Online access to every issue of The Numismatist from 1888 to the present — our hobby’s premier magazine. (Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money and other related objects)
• Free admission to the annual National Money Show® and World’s Fair of Money®
• Discounts on seminars, hobby publications, collection insurance and more
• Access to ANA videos, Money Talks radio archives, blogs, coin collecting tips, and the ability to join ANA’s members-only Facebook group
• And fun quizzes, games, and teacher tools for parents (or grandparents) with kids at home

This is pretty cool for the magazine alone which is super good, so if you’ve ever been curious about collecting coins or learning about the hobby, now would be a good time to puruse it!

You can learn more about our association here –> Money.org (how’s that for a domain name!)
And then more about this free membership offer here: info.money.org/free-membership

And if this isn’t for you, no problem at all! Maybe you know of someone else in your family or circle of friends (or kids?!) that might like this? Just pass them the link to this article and hopefully it turns into a fun hobby for them! :)

For more coin related resources around:

• CoinThrill.com — my almost defunct blog on coin collecting, though still chock full of fun articles and pictures ;) (Still waiting to “trade up” my $50 bill btw for the next item!! If you got anything you’d like to trade for it, lemme know!)
• How to Sell Your Inherited Coin Collection — a guide I put together if you must depart with your acquired coins… *tear*
• Tips on how to get started collecting if you’re new (article here on this blog)

Come join the fun! We’re cool – I promise! ;)

[This post, Free 1 Year Membership for Coin Lovers!, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

INSIDE: In this guide, you’ll learn how to sell a coin collection you inherited for maximum profit. It’s all depending on how much time and patience you have, of course :)

Morning guys!

Been getting a lot of emails about how to liquidate coin collections lately, so thought I’d finally put out a piece on it in case it helps anyone else out there too :)

In a PERFECT world, whoever inherits these blessings would continue building out the collection and passing it down through the generations!, however we all know it’s not the most sexiest of hobbies these days, so if you have to get rid of them for whatever reason, here are the best ways to do so.

Feel free to send over any other questions/ideas you might have and I’ll continue to update this over time so it becomes a nice resource!

5 Tips for How to Sell a Coin Collection

Here are my best tips for how to sell a coin collection, ranked in order of getting the most profit for them, but also proportionate to the amount of *time* you want to spend too ;)

Hope this helps!

#1) Value and sell the coins yourself!

This is by far the hardest and most time consuming method there is for how to sell a coin collection, but profit-wise you’ll get much more bang for your buck taking the time and selling them one-by-one yourself (not to mention learning a ton in the process!). And while it might be tricky at first, the advent of the internet and books over the years have made the process as painless as possible once you get going.

Just start yourself a spreadsheet, grab a copy of the “Bible” of coin guide books – The Official Red Book®, A Guide Book of United States Coins – and then start inventorying each and every coin along with the estimated value so you have a good sense of what you have on your hands!

You’ll learn quick which types/years of coins are literally worth pennies and which to spend more time on to better gauge values.

The Red Book lists almost all U.S. coins ever minted since our country was born, but it’s the *details* to pay attention to like the year and “mint mark” of each coin, as well as the estimated “grade” of them (i.e. their condition) which can be the difference between a $1.00 coin or a $10,000 coin. Although unless you’ve inherited your collection from Scrooge McDuck, chances are the one in your hand is the $1.00 one ;)

(Here’s a good book on *grading* coins too if you really want to get your hands dirty: Grading Coins by Photographs: An Action Guide for the Collector and Investor. I use both this and the Red Book in conjunction for valuing all my coins.)

Other ways to quickly value a coin is to pull up Ebay.com or NGC.com once you have your inventory and see what others are buying and selling them for. Though again it’s the details that can make all the difference in the world…

Once you know what you have in the collection, it’s then about finding the *best ways* to hawk them! Which can be done using any of the methods listed below, or in combination of the good ol’ fashion way of listing them methodically online (Ebay, Craigslist, Facebook groups, auction sites/houses that specialize in coins, etc).

It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s the method that will bring you the most money and skills! And not too bad if we’re talking smaller collections! :)

**Note: valuing U.S. coins and currency is MUCH easier than valuing *foreign* coins, so if that’s what’s in your collection I’d recommend going with one of the below options unless you’re super interested and/or curious about them yourself. Sites like Ebay and NGC can also point you in the right direction to see if you have a treasure on your hands or not…

#2) Take them to a local coin club

Next on the list of tips for how to sell a coin collection would be taking the collection to the nearest coin club in your area who can much easier – and faster – tell you what you have on your hands. as well as guide you through the process without having to worry about being ripped off!

People like myself who spend their free time attending these clubs LOVE learning and helping others in the hobby, and not only could we help you value the coins (often for free, or for a small donation to the club), but more often than not we can also help sell them through our internal auctions or other means of distribution as well (like direct purchases from members or through our network of trusted dealers).

This route won’t get you an offer or valuation right away, but it’s one of the best ways trust-wise to pass your collection to someone who knows what they’re doing – and enjoys it! – in the process. Just do a quick search online to find the nearest club in your area, and then reach out to the president of it who can best advise you on how they can help.

Better yet, bring your collection to the next meeting for all the members to gawk at! Maybe you’ll make a friend or two in the process ;)

UPDATE: here’s a good place to find local clubs in your area –> money.org/club-directory. This directory is maintained by the American Numismatic Association and you can search for your city or state to see all the ones listed (if your city doesn’t show any, go right to the state as often times there’s only one club covering multiple cities and might only be listed under one city)

#3) Take them to a local coin shop/dealer

If you want to know how to sell a coin collection quickly and easily, this is how to do it.

While the clubs will spend more time pouring over the coins, and often for free, taking them to a dealer will usually get you an offer right on the spot – but at a hefty discount for doing so. Since after all, dealers are in the BUSINESS of flipping coins! Most however are pretty trustworthy and will tell you how they value/price coins (usually depending on how fast they can flip them and/or how common they are), and it can also be nice to just sell them all at once and be done with it.

This is where knowing the estimated value of the coins *ahead of time* though would come in handy so you can gauge how fairly or not they’re treating you! They also tend to eyeball collections and not dissect each and every one, so if you knew there were a handful of coins that require more special attention, you could bring it up to them to make sure they’re not lost in the shuffle.

And FYI: the more modern the coins are (outside of those containing silver/gold, which we’ll get to in a bit) the less odds you’re going to get rich off them as the industry is saturated with ’em.

Still, reaching out to a dealer will give you a quick idea of how much you can get on the spot, as well as if you’re holding anything super valuable or rare – again provided they take the time to search for them. (Often times you can also schedule an appointment to drop off the coins to allow them enough time to really pour over them – which can be another option to consider if you’re not in a rush and you feel like you can trust them)

#4) Take them to a local coin SHOW

If you think taking coins to a dealer or club with multiple members is helpful, just think about taking them to a place where 100+ dealers are – and all under one roof! Haha… This is essentially what coin shows are, and it’s another great choice for how to sell a coin collection quickly and easily.

At these shows, all types of transactions are going on from buying to selling to flipping to trading. So if one dealer low balls you for your collection, you can easily just go right to their neighbor and get the next available offer ;)

The downside to this is that the shows only come around once or twice a year and the dealers don’t always have the time to value a collection right on the spot, however they typically have experts in all kinds of different coin (and currency) fields, so no matter what you’re trying to offload there will be someone there that can tell you exactly what you have and if it’s valuable.

I tend to sell more of the common/less valuable stuff to other collectors or club/dealer friends, and then save the Big Boys to shop around the shows where you have a better shot of getting top dollar, as well as *authenticating* a coin and learning more about them from an expert in the field.

(FYI there are also 3rd party grading services you can submit coins to who will grade and authenticate them for you at a small cost (usually $30-$40), but unless you think you really have something good on your hands it’s probably not worth the effort… Although at coin shows some of these services will set up a booth so you can get them done right on the spot without the hassle of mailing them in which is usually required… Two of the more popular grading services are PCGS and NGC)

#5) Hit up a pawn shop/jewelry store with those “we buy gold and silver” signs in the front window

I hate to list this one here as it’s usually a last resort, but it *is* an option when it comes to tips on how to sell a coin collection, and again just really depends on how fast you want them gone and what you’re willing to receive for the honor ;)

Most silver-looking coins made before 1964 (except for nickels) are comprised of the precious metal silver, just like many gold-looking coins from the 19th and early 20th century are made of precious gold, so regardless of the *collector* value of these coins you will always find a place that will pay you a % of “melt” value for them on the spot. (I.e. the value of silver or gold in weight of each piece, based on the market’s value that day which fluctuates much like the stock market. Currently silver is at $15.04 an ounce, whereas gold is going for $1,288.85/oz)

So for example, if you have some old silver dollars from the early 1900’s they might be worth $30 or $40 to a collector, however they also contain precious *silver* too (quite literally) making it worth something on that fact alone. If you sell these to another collector or dealer you might get $25-$35 for them, however if you hawk them to a pawn shop or jewelry store you’re more than likely getting about $11 a piece for the silver contents. Unless it happens to be a more rarer coin, and they also happen to know about it and/or tell you about it ;)

So still a way to liquidate your collection, but I’d exhaust all the top ways first for a better shot of getting the best pay out… And dealers will also pay for the silver/coin contents too btw for the more common/beat up coins referred to as “junk silver”, and typically more of a % of the “melt” value.

And those are the main options you’re looking at! I’m sure I forgot a bunch of other nuggets as well, but I’ll continue to update this post as time goes on so hit me up with any other questions/tips/ideas you might have so we can make this a valuable resource for people :)

And if none of this above looks appealing to you and you still feel stuck with your collection, send me a note directly and I’ll see what I can do about personally helping you out.

I’ve liquidated a handful of collections over the years for family and friends – ranging from a few coins to collections worth north of $5,000 – and I’m always happy to help inventory/buy/sell/provide opinions on them for people :) Nothing’s more exciting to a collector than going through an old box of coins looking for treasures!! Especially if you tell us it’s been sitting in an attic for over 100 years! Haha…

Hope this helps!

Back tomorrow with our regular personal finance chit-chatting…

*****
PS: For more coin insight, check out my hardly-updated-but-still-pretty-awesome blog on coin collecting here: CoinThrill.com. Maybe it’ll get you interested in the fun before you cash out?! :)

***ADDENDUM***

Here are more updates about how to sell a coin collection since the initial publishing of this post:

#1. You can typically get *more* selling your coins if you do them individually than in lots or trying to sell the entire collection all at once. Of course you might not want to spend the time doing it, but it’s something to consider. Or at least plucking out the super good gems and selling those outside the collection to maximize profits.

#2. Be sure to ask all your FRIENDS and FAMILY members if anyone is a collector!! That could be another excellent route to unload them faster, while also bringing joy into their lives… Especially if you end up making it an early Xmas present ;) (Conversely, if you’re a collector *yourself*, be sure to remind everyone you know that you collect!! That way when *they* come across any collections, they’ll know exactly who to tap first. And believe me – you’ll be the only one they know and will get first dibs, haha…)

*** For those interested in learning more about the hobby or joining it! ***

While this guide is mainly for helping people know how to sell a coin collections, I’ve started getting a lot of requests for info on great resources and ideas on starting collections whether for themselves or others (like kids), so I thought I’d add a section here for anyone looking to go down that path as well… Which of course is my preference because it’s a super fun hobby!! :)

Here are a handful of ways to get started in the hobby:

#1) Pick up a few coin boards and try plugging all the holes from pocket change! You learn a TON by doing that alone, and it’s super fun and easy too (until you get to the last remaining slots and go crazy trying to find them, haha…)

#2) Pick up a copy of the “Red Book“ – which will run you maybe $12 or so, but will give you ALLL you need to know about what coins are worth, and what to look for, and a bunch of back history on the hobby as well. Makes for excellent light reading :) (Another book that helped me a lot in the beginning was also Coin Collecting For Dummies)

#3) Join your local coin club! They usually meet once a month, and it’s fun to be around others (in real life!) who share similar interests and are full of *knowledge* you can tap. They only cost $15-$30/year to join, and typically host coin auctions for their members where you can pick up new coins for your collection relatively cheap too. Plus – every meeting there’s usually a presentation of some sort to learn from! It’s very fun, I promise! :)

#4) Follow some coin blogs! There aren’t too many in the space, but here are a couple I enjoy:

• Coin Collectors Blog
• Coin Update
• CoinThrill (okay, that’s my flailing blog, but gotta plug it any chance I get ;))

#5) Lastly, if you think you’ll enjoy it enough to stick around, join the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and you’ll get all kinds of resources for learning and enjoying the hobby. Including an excellent monthly magazine to your door every month which covers coin news, trends, and other in-depth research.

#6) Oh, and there are plenty of other magazines out there too on coins that are great, such as Coins and Coin World, but the ANA’s is my personal favorite.

Lots of easy ways to get started! I hope you go for it!

// Links above to books are affiliate links through Amazon

[This post, How to Sell Your Inherited Coin Collection, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

What up, what up!

Been getting a lot of great questions in my inbox lately, so thought I’d showcase a handful of them here in case you were wondering similar things…

If you like these, check out our last round we did too on a variety of other topics: A Bunch of Questions on Debt, Investing, and Blogging.

Keep the curiosity flowing! “The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.” – Claude Levi-Strauss ;)

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The Age-Old Retirement Question

“Hi sir, Ive been working my ass out as a casino cage coordinator and I am fed up in 7 years of service. May I ask what are your metrics in resigning? I mean, I wanna resign, but don’t know how to test if I can or if my side hustles are enough.”

My response: Oh wow – that sounds like an interesting job, at least from the outside! I bet you deal with all kinds of crazy people, huh?

Metrics – it really comes down to how much you need to survive off of – AND – how comfortable you are in doing so. Most of us in the $$$ space use the general rule of thumb that says if you can amass 25x your yearly expenses, you can more or less retire okay and live off your investments (in theory, at least).

So if you don’t need much to survive the # will be much smaller you’ll need, but if you spend a lot you’ll need a lot in order to maintain that lifestyle!

So lots of priorities and comfort levels involved… but hopefully this gives you some sort of idea :)

(And no shame btw in just finding a different job or side hustle too if this one isn’t making you happy. Most of those who are “retired” still work – they just do it on more fun projects, and on their own accord!)

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Hustling & Taking Breaks

“I’m writing a post tonight for publication tomorrow where I discuss beating procrastination by taking a break. I’ll focus on some of the things I do in my personal and business life to recharge my batteries. I’ll even talk about Elon Musk and his challenges with a busy schedule. But I also thought about how you sign out on the weekends from your blog and take weekends as a refreshing break. You’ve accomplished a lot in this demographic and would love to hear how you take a break from the blog and other work to keep your life vibrant and meaningful.”

Response: Yeah man – going into our 12th month here of not working a single iota on the weekends anymore!  Something that once felt impossible, but now is super easy!

And all you have to do is not open your laptop! Haha… Well, that and actually DO YOUR WORK during the work week and cut out all the distractions ;) But amazingly time magically opens up when you commit to it.

Here are some articles I reference this if it helps:

• The Triad of Hustling
• When You Find Out You’re Having Another Baby (!!!)

And then here are a bunch of interesting side effects so far from no longer hustling on weekends:

• I read more! Physical books!
• I started taking naps – hah! (The best is falling asleep to reading a physical book :))
• I’m more alert and conscious around my kids
• I don’t have to rush anything to hurry up and “get back to work”
• I’m much more *excited* now for Monday so I can work!
• And overall I feel like I’m just *living* more

There are some cons to it too, like having a backlog to wake up to first thing Monday – or God forbid your projects explode while you’re gone – but overall it’s been one of my best new habits. Highly recommend!

(And btw – even if something does explode, it’s not the end of the world… People don’t revolve around us as much as we seem to think!)

Here’s the article that indeed got published the following day if you want to take a look: Beat Procrastination and Get Rich by Taking a Break via The Wealthy Accountant

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The Security of Online Apps & Services

“Is Personal Capital really safe? I mean, you are putting all your vital info in there and you link it to your accounts?? Right? I want to do this, but I am just concerned about all my info being in one easy to access place.”

(This is a question I get asked allllll the time, not only about Personal Capital, but any other popular fintech app or service out there… So here’s my two cents in case you wonder the same ;))

My response: It’s as safe as any other big sites you connect your money/accounts to online :) Meaning, they use the best technology and security offered these days, but nothing is ever 100% hack-proof. (Unless you want to stay offline completely?)

Here’s a link to Personal Capital’s security page if it helps: https://www.personalcapital.com/financial-software/security

But honestly, if you’re really worried about it I just wouldn’t sign up to them or any other apps/services for that matter that link up your accounts. People have been managing their money just fine using pencil and paper for thousands of years! Haha… As well as spreadsheets in modern times ;)

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Buying a House or Upping Investments?

“We are a military family, so we will be getting a pension. We have been trying to save for a house, as we haven’t been able to buy one yet. Would you advise us to keep saving for the house, or up our retirement contributions? These are quite pathetic at the moment…. only about $640 a month. I realize this question is super broad, but I wanted a quick opinion – I have had one other person say up the retirement contributions.”

My response: As someone who is not the biggest fan of home ownership – and also someone who comes from a military background and likes to move a lot! – I second that notion of upping the retirement contributions. Especially if you’re not getting the free matches already that your employer(s) may offer :)

That being said, if owning a home is #1 priority for you guys and you’re super pumped about it, then by all means go for it! You’ll push yourself much FARTHER when you really want something bad enough.  It’s all about aligning our goals/dreams with our actions. And with money stuff there really isn’t a “right” answer, outside of the one that’s right for your family.

Not sure how helpful any of this is, haha, but I do love that you’re asking these questions and thinking about this stuff! Not many people hang out on money blogs for fun – so welcome. You’ll fit in here! :)

(And btw, saving $640/mo is not pathetic!! That’s gold for lots of people – be proud!!)

Another idea: what about putting the extra money into *savings* until you decide one way or the other? That way you have the money if you wanna jump on the house, and if not you can always move it to investments or any other goals that may come up? Not every dollar needs to be maximized 24/7.

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Getting Started With Coin Collecting!

“Hey, if I’m interested in getting into coin collecting, and I know absolutely nothing about it… what are my best resources? Have an awesome weekend!”

My (VERY excited!) response: Heyyyy I like the sound of that!

Here are a handful of ways to get started in the hobby:

#1) Pick up a few coin boards and try plugging all the holes from pocket change! You learn a TON by doing that alone, and it’s super fun and easy too (until you get to the last remaining slots and go crazy trying to find them, haha…)

#2) Pick up a copy of the “Red Book“ – which will run you maybe $12 or so, but will give you ALLL you need to know about what coins are worth, and what to look for, and a bunch of back history on the hobby as well. Makes for excellent light reading :) (Another book that helped me a lot in the beginning was also Coin Collecting For Dummies)

#3) Join your local coin club! They usually meet once a month, and it’s fun to be around others (in real life!) who share similar interests and are full of *knowledge* you can tap. They only cost $15-$30/year to join, and typically host coin auctions for their members where you can pick up new coins for your collection relatively cheap too. Plus – every meeting there’s usually a presentation of some sort to learn from! It’s very fun, I promise! :)

#4) Follow some coin blogs! There aren’t too many in the space, but here are a couple I enjoy:

• Coin Collectors Blog
• Coin Update
• CoinThrill (okay, that’s my hardly-ever-updated blog, but gotta plug it any chance I get ;))

#5) Lastly, if you think you’ll enjoy it enough to stick around, join the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and you’ll get all kinds of resources for learning and enjoying the hobby. Including an excellent monthly magazine to your door every month which covers coin news, trends, and other in-depth research. Oh, and there are plenty of other magazines out there too on coins that are great, such as Coins and Coin World, but the ANA’s is my personal favorite.

Lots of easy ways to get started! I hope you go for it!

[Hipster collecting]

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And that wraps up this Q&A round! For more juicy questions and answers, click here: A Bunch of Questions on Debt, Investing, and Blogging.

And then here’s another I stumbled across circa 2008! –> Does the financial crisis have a silver lining? (Q&A). Pretty wild to re-read and compare to how different times are today! Also a great reminder that no good or bad times last forever, so always smart to be mentally prepared for any future swings – especially in the markets.

‘Till next time!

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Links to coin books et al. are Amazon affiliate links…

[This post, Some Q&A’s: Retiring, Resting, Investing, Coin Collecting!, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

“My favorite things aren’t things any more” – Courtney Carver

Last month I almost did something crazy. I almost gave away my entire coin collection.

That’s right – the guy who only has one main hobby left, and created an entire blog dedicated to these historic beauties, almost gave up collecting entirely.

Why? Well, as odd as it sounds, my collection was the last remaining “thing” I owned that I was still overly attached to and didn’t want to be anymore.

You know that question of “if your house is burning down, what would you go run and grab?” For me, it would be my box of coins once I knew my wife and kids were safe.

Nothing too terrible about that I don’t think, especially as they’re the only thing left I care about in our house of a thousand+ things (which I attribute 100% to last year’s Challenge Everything mission btw, – it got me detached from all kinds of bills AND “stuff!”), but the idea of being free from *everything* was even more desirable from the ownership of them. And if I’m being completely honest with myself, a few cracks had started to emerge in this beloved hobby of mine as well…

(ATTENTION all numismatists*, avert your eyes now!)

#1. I never seem to be content

When I first started collecting, I was happy with ANY coin that graciously made its way into my possession. I was just stepping into the brand new world of coin collecting – the “hobby of the kings!”- and I was grateful to just have a collection. Not unlike attaining your very first car or apartment, for that matter – any is better than none at all!

As I grew into the hobby, however, I quickly noticed my desire to “need” bigger and better coins in order to continue to stay excited. The $20 or $30 items I was first so fascinated with soon became commonplace, and I started desiring even older – more valuable – coins to keep me riding high. It wasn’t that I had stopped appreciating these smaller ones as their history is equally as interesting as their counterparts, it was just that there were always better – more juicier – ones around the corner. The possibilities never end!

Case in point: a few months back I learned that a friend of mine had a $500 bill he was looking to trade away. I wasn’t necessarily on the hunt for one, but as a lover of anything “odd” in the currency world (my favorite coins to collect are half cents, 3 cent pieces, 2 cent pieces, and gold dollar coins – typically from the 1800’s and older!) I was soon adamant about getting one. I showed my friend a few pieces and some cash I was willing to give up for it, and shortly thereafter I was the proud new owner of a $500 bill – woo!

Here’s what one looks like in case you’re interested (and I know you are ;)):

As fun as it was to stare at, however, the excitement was gone about a week later… I still very much appreciated its beauty and place in our history (they were discontinued in 1969 due to “lack of use”) but the Greed Man inside of me quenched for more… Whispering things such as “That bill is OK, but imagine how a $1,000 note would make you feel!” and “You need to keep on climbing, you’re just getting started!” And just like that, I was back in the trap of wanting more again…

Though in Greed Man’s defense, these bills are pretty spectacular looking ;) Just look at that ‘stache!

Now fortunately I have rules in place that force my obsessions to be only that – obsessions – but this new pattern of thinking was starting to get out of control. After getting my hands on the $1,000 I’d only then want to shoot for the $5,000 bill, and then after that the $10,000 bill (real currency!), and eventually the ultimate bill of all – the $100,000 gold certificate! A note only used to transfer money between Federal Reserve Banks, and one I’d die trying to get as they’re impossible to own as a collector. Or legal, for that matter.

Here are the rules that have served me well so far:

1. All coins must fit in my little box
2. I’m not allowed to buy anything with more than $1,000 cash (see problem #3 below)
3. I’m only allowed to use money I get off trades, or from those coins/bills I sell from my own collection or those whom I help liquidate. (Think – dusty boxes in attics of grandparents, the best!)

Pretty good barriers to keep my wallet and addiction safe, yet still no match for the “wanting of more.”

#2. Anyone can buy stuff with enough money

While finding deals and getting your hands on the more rare coins/bills out there takes a level of skill plus some luck, by and large if you have a purse full of money you can snatch up almost any coin your heart desires. Money talks, and almost anyone will give up a coin for the right price.

Now this shouldn’t mean that no one’s ever allowed to use their hard-earned money to add to their collection – it’s your money, spend as you wish! – however, the idea that any Joe Schmoe off the street can simply write a check to score a million dollar collection on a whim leaves me with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth… rightfully so or not. There are many reasons to get into the hobby of collecting, but one of the worst is to just scoop them up simply because you can or to show off. To be said of nothing of experiencing “the journey” – and culture – itself.

And you see this in many areas of life too – not just with collecting.

Remember that saying, “anyone can buy that“? Which I devised to keep my sanity in check? :) It’s what I say to myself any time I come across a Porsche or multi-million dollar estate or anything else fancy that I catch myself getting jealous of within seconds of seeing. It reminds me that *anyone* can buy that stuff as it takes no particular skill whatsoever. Just piles of money or a comfortable penchant for debt!

And to me, the power of *being able* to buy something vs actually pulling the trigger are two completely different things. One much sexier than the other. (Though again, people can prioritize as they please!)

#3. It’s starting to feel wasteful

As much as I appreciate the history and uniqueness of all that’s our country’s currency, it’s not lost on me that it seems ridiculous to spend hundreds – or even hundreds of thousands! – of dollars on tiny pieces of metal. Even if it’s technically worth that in the industry.

The plus side is that unlike many other hobbies, decent coins can double as an investment at the same time. And if you didn’t want to hold onto them for generations after generations to watch the values grow more, there’s an active enough market out there that you can flip them while still retaining a sizeable portion of their value. So it’s not a total “waste” even if you are dumping gobs of money into it, but of course there are a slew of other ways to put that money to more beneficial use.

For most, however, collecting is simply a hobby.  And the problem becomes, of course, when it starts adding the opposite of joy to your life and brings out some less than stellar qualities in you. It’s one thing to pick up a coin or a stamp or heck – even a beanie baby! – when you’re in the mood every now and then, but it’s a whole other when you start plonking down good money for something you’re not sure is adding value to your life anymore.

And that right there is the biggest red flag of all – whether something is adding value to your life anymore. Whether it be things, occupations, people, ideas, etc.

When we catch ourselves doing things just because we’re so used to doing them, it’s smart to take a step back and ask whether it’s still worth it to ourselves anymore. Do we still want to participate in this hobby we were once so excited about? Do we still want this big house of ours even though at one point it might have made sense? Are my friends still truly my friends, or have we gone our separate ways in life, or worse – have they become toxic?

While I focused on coins today, this is the main takeaway of the post – to be cognizant of ALL things we bring into both our lives and our homes. I’m pretty sure we all have our “collections”, whether we want to admit it or not, but if you haven’t thought about it lately let this be the push to do so!

What’s the one thing you’re still attached to in your life that may not be worth it anymore? How does that make you feel?? What would you grab if you only had a few seconds in a house fire?

As for me and my glorious coins, well, I’m still going to participate in the hobby because it brings me more joy than it does envy (at least for now), but I’m not going to be adding anything new to the collection for a while and just focus on the parts I enjoy the most – the community! As nerdy as it sounds, one of the most pleasant parts of the month is attending our local coin club meetings :) And perhaps just being surrounded by them will be equally as pleasant as actually *owning* any of them?

We don’t need to own everything we love, right?

And thanks to a dear friend of mine talking me off the ledge, I’ve also decided to not just give away my collection either. Instead, I’ll keep it in our family and pass it down to my boys when they’re old enough to appreciate things more. Perhaps they’ll think it’s as lame as most people do under the age of 65, but it’s at least worth finding out :)

All I know for sure is that my coins are done taking over my emotions, and after 36 years of being on this planet I am finally, and officially, detached from every last thing I own! WOO!

Freedom time, here we come!

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*A numismatist is our fancy word for coin collector, pronounced “new-miss-mah-tist”. Which also includes the collection – or study – of tokens, paper money, stock certificates and all other objects relating to currency.

[This post, When It’s Time to Detach From Your Things, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

If someone were to ask you the one thing you spend a lot of money on that you probably shouldn’t, you’d know the answer right? It would take you approximately 2.3 seconds to come up with?

Well, apparently for me it takes about 23 minutes. I was recently asked this question on an upcoming podcast* that’ll be dropping soon, and I literally had NO answer for it at first! I racked and racked and racked my brain literally for over 20 minutes – no joke – and finally I landed on a suitable answer that didn’t make me look like a complete ass hat. At least on that question ;)

At first I felt pretty lame not being able to answer one of the easiest questions IN THE WORLD, and consequently wondered if I was just leading a pretty boring life, haha., but the more I thought on it the more I realized it was probably a good problem to have. If I’m not pouring my money into something that I shouldn’t, it means it’s going to a more financially prudent cause, right? And I’m awesome for controlling my “wants?”

Well, the truth is yes and no in my case. Yes I’m not spending as freely as I used to, but no it’s not because I’m better at controlling my “wants” (at least initially). It’s because we have a lower income than usual and I’m watching all my little money soldiers better ;) I still very much believe in having padding in your budget for “blow money” not only to enjoy your life more, but to keep your sanity and away from burn out. I find it perfectly fine – and smart! – to let loose a little within reason! No shame in that at all.

The interesting thing I’m noticing, however, is that I’m slowly moving farther and farther away from these things I used to love splurging on. I still want the ability to buy them anytime I should choose, but amazingly enough I don’t really miss them much and life continues to go on. In fact, I haven’t been this free from want in a while! I believe people call this having enough ;)

Back to the original question though. Here it is again:

My biggest guilty pleasure that I spend a lot on is ____.

In the 20 minutes I scoured my brain, here were the usual culprits that have since been shut down:

1. Lottery tickets — For as long as I can remember I’ve been enamored by scratch off lottery tickets. I used to get them from my parents, and then from my grandparents, and even nowadays in my stockings from my not-so-secret Santas. I used to love them so much, in fact, someone once turned me into a comic book! Now I still have love for them even though they’re bad for you and for society, blah blah blah, but now I get free entertainment from my kids. They dream better than I do anyways.

2. Domain names — This is the bane of all online entrepreneurs, haha… We think we’re so clever with ideas and companies and all kinds of random names we just *know* will be a blockbuster so long as we build them out one day. With “one day” being the operative phrase there. As my man Derek Sivers once said, “Ideas are worth nothing unless executed.” And a good one at that is only worth $20, compared to $10,000,000 brilliantly executed. Gone are the days of snatching up 4-5 urls a month and dropping over $1,600 a year.

3. Clothes –– I used to go shopping every time I was bored. Then one day I tried a “no spending month” and realized I was spending over $200/mo by doing this (!!) and it really didn’t make me all that happy one way or the other. So I quit making the mall a destination, and decided to spend time blogging instead :) It’ll be 7 years come February since this challenge, and it was one of the best things I could have ever done for my money. My friend Cait’s doing it for a year right now btw.

4. Vending machine snacks — Similar to the mall situation above, it helps when you just DON’T GO NEAR THESE!!! ;)

5. Starbucks/fancy coffees — I’ll still pick these up when out and about or working from a cafe like I did over the Summer, but by and large I stick to my homemade coffee at home. Mainly out of convenience more than anything. I’ll be the last person to shun you for splurging on caffeinated gold! It’s on the top list of necessities right after a roof over your head ;)

6. Eating out — We’ll pick up take out every few weeks or go out to dinner/dessert on a date, but 99% of our meals are made or cooked at home. And 50% of those involve peanut butter & jelly sandwiches as my work lunch (hah).

7. Uni-Ball EYE Rollerball Pens — I used to be OBSESSED with these and refused to write with anything besides them. It was an expensive habit at $3/pop (and when you had a budget of -$5.00 in college, haha…) but thankfully I outgrew this. I still have a few that I use and love, but now I’ll take any decent ink pen as long as it’s not Bic :)

8. Yard sale splurges — You show me a good deal at a yard sale and I’ll show you someone who will bite – regardless of whether he needs it or not ;) Or, at least I used to be able to show you this person. This recent Craigslist Habit of mine has gotten me all kinds of conscious of what I’m bringing into our house! If there’s a slight chance I’ll just be turning around to sell it in a few weeks/months/years, then it ain’t coming in anymore. Unless I strategically pick something up to sell for a profit – the one main reason to continue hitting up these yard sales outside of looking for hidden coin treasures!

And that leads us to the one thing I’ll still splurge on, and the answer I gave on the podcast:

Old coins from the 1800’s :) I cannot, and shall not, deny adding to my collection regardless of financial revenues, haha… Now I won’t spend $100 like a dummy if I can only afford $10, but it’s the last remaining thing I enjoy that actually costs money. And in a funny way, I’m kinda just re-investing it into money anyways! Unlike with most hobbies that just suck it up… In fact, you could even make the argument it belongs in our net worth since it’s an asset that will most likely appreciate over time. A pretty nice side effect to the hobby! At least with the types of coins I happen to enjoy.

[My 1806 “Draped Bust” half cent – Ow ow!]

(Also important to note – I always try and trade away coins from my stash that I could care less about in order to score those I want to add to my collection. So 75% of the time I don’t actually ever drop any modern currency on them, and if I do, I tap my can of cash that came from selling some of those coins in my trading binder. It takes a while to tap that off so in reality my podcast answer is half-false ;))

Anyways, interesting how your lifestyle changes over the years, isn’t it? And fortunately for us money lovers, they change for the better :) Of which I attribute to the following:

• Taking on a “no spend” month
• Sticking with the Craigslist Habit
• Having kids (harder to spend money you don’t have! ;))
• Tracking my net worth (you questions your spending more when you know it’ll affect the numbers!)
• And most importantly, realizing what money truly gives you

Again, no shame in splurging on the things you love, but definitely something to consider if you happen to be a Spendy McSpenderton… The nice thing about saving your money is that you can always dream of the possibilities of what to do with it later! Which is often more gratifying than the actual items you want!

What are some of the guilty pleasures you have since crushed? Which do you still hold onto?

—-
*That podcast I went on? Farnoosh Torabi’s new “So Money” podcast. Def. one to check out whether you listen to my show or not. In fact, tons of more awesomer, bigger, folks on there than me! I was honored to be asked. And glad I looked at some of the questions before the show which I typically don’t. Imagine listening to a podcast where the guest stammers on for 20 solid minutes like a donkey??

Photo by Sonny Abesamis

[This post, My Biggest Guilty Pleasure I Spend on Is ______?, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

By now most of you know how much I love me some antique stuff. Whether it’s sexy coins, baseball cards, books, baby prams, or any other interesting collectibles I come across at yard sales and thrift shops.

Most times I usually look to add stuff to my own collection, but others I’m out on the hunt for items to flip and (hopefully) make a tidy profit from. Especially during fits of minimalism :) (Do you know how hard it is to hold back when you’re a natural collector of things?? It takes some major willpower!)

This brings us to a couple of stamp albums I picked up years ago mainly cuz they just looked so freakin’ cool, but also because one day I figured I’d probably try and sell them and see how much I made on the transaction. And this magical day is coming sooner than later because I can’t help my curiosity anymore as to what – if anything – they’re all worth!

All I know is the following:

• They’re all super old, like from the 1800s and early 1900s
• There’s *hundreds* of them, if not *thousands*
• These “modern” books/albums were printed in 1915 and 1937
• And the lady who consigned them – in her 60s her self – said they had belonged to her grandfather who collected for over 40 years while flying all around the world in the military. So not only do we have tons of US stamps in these books, but also hundreds from dozens of other countries too!
• Oh, and I paid $20 in total from them :)

So I feel like there’s GOT to be some good money in these bad boys – at least more than my piddly $20 bucks right? RIGHT??? Any stamp collectors out there want to chime in and help a brother out? (I”ll pay you in beer?!)

Something else I know – or, I should say, heard of – was that stamps printed in the past 80-100 years usually aren’t worth much, but those before that have a better chance of being valuable. So I really think I’m sitting on a gold mine here. Or at least that’s what I’m going to pretend until someone proves me differently ;)

Here are a few of the inside pages… Tell me they’re not awesome??

It’s pretty interesting to see all the different kinds of denominations. We’ve got some 1 cents, 3 cents, 7 cents, and even some 1/2 cents scattered about. And then there’s some funky looking ones too like those elongated vertical George Washington strip stamps. Imagine what 50 cents was worth 100+ years ago?? I wonder what they were trying to ship with it?

And then we have the famous “air mail” stamps too – with the most famous one being that upside down plane that sold for hundreds of thousands a little while back. That’s literally the only stamp I’ve heard of before being worth anything, haha… But we do have some of these air mails in the book too:

Outside of that, though, I’m really at a loss… Unlike coins and other collectibles, there aren’t any dates on these guys so every time I try to look one up online I can never tell if it’s the same one or not! And there’s like a billion different variations of each old stamp! I don’t know how collectors do it… But I would like one of them to size up my collection for me and then provide me with lots of cold hard cash, thank you very much ;)

The History of Stamps

My only success so far has been learning about the history of how stamps came around back in the day. And it’s actually quite a fascinating story. Here’s a clip from the American Philatic Society (aka stamp collecting club):

“The birth of the postage stamp dates back to May 6, 1840, when Britain issued its first stamp, the “Penny Black”… In the early days of the postal service, stamps and envelopes did not exist… When you wanted to send a letter you would fold it up and seal it shut, and the person who received the letter had to pay for the delivery costs. Since rates at that time were very high, many people refused to accept letters. In fact, many people developed secret codes by which they could cheat the postal services. They would place secret marks on the outside of the letter that conveyed their message and all the addressee had to do was read the secret message, refuse to accept the letter, and thus not have to pay for it. Mainly for this reason, postal services turned to a means of prepaying postage.”

Kinda reminds me of the days of calling “collect” where you’d dial up a friend/family member and in the part where you’re supposed to say your name, you rattle off a quick message and then hang up once you know they’ve heard it. (For example – “Mom, pick me up!” which I used a solid 4 days a week during after school soccer practice ;))

Anyways, the entire history of our stamps is pretty neat, and you should def. check it out more some time when you’re bored or just want to learn something new.

As for my new interest in these tiny pieces of sticky paper, well, I hope to have an answer for you soon as to whether I’ll be a millionaire or not ;) I’ve asked a couple of coin friends if they have any connections to stamp dealers, since there often tends to be a cross over in the hobbies, but so far I’ve only got one response and for an evaluation it’ll cost me $160. And perhaps more, depending on the time involved.

I’m not sure I’m willing to pony up that much quite yet, unless they can tell me I’m DEFINITELY sitting on that gold mine (hardly likely), so for the time being I have ordered a stamp book on Amazon to see if I can decipher the code more myself. It’s called, “The Official Blackbook Price Guide to United States Postage Stamps” and it cost me a whopping $8.00 :) Figured this way I can learn a lot more about the hobby, as well as what to look for at future yard sales/shops/etc too. With any luck I’ll determine a good chunk of my stamps’ worth as well!

But please – cross your fingers for me! I’m half excited about the process, but also very much half scared too, haha… I’ll be in deep doo-doo if I get addicted to yet another hobby outside of blogging and coins… And WHATEVER I do, do NOT – I repeat, do NOT – let me start a blog on stamps, okay?! I mean it! My street cred’s already shaky now with that coin blog ;)

Anyways, I’ll keep you posted on my findings…. If you don’t hear from me for a while, it’s because I’m chillin’ on the new island I bought…

[This post, Stamp’in My Way to Millions??, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Yep – I went out and did it. I created that coin collecting blog I’ve been flirting with! I know you’ve been on pins and needles over the past few weeks just waiting, so today’s your lucky day ;) And, by lucky, I mean your choice of “nerdy” or “boring” – depending on what excites you in the morning…

Regardless though, go check out my site and tell me awesome things about it! You have to support me because we’re friends here!! ;)

CoinThrill.com

It’s my new place to discuss coins, currency, and, well, any other types of numismatic awesomeness. It’s basically my way to not drive all you non-coin lovers crazy on this blog here, haha… But I’m also secretly hoping to “bring it back” to the young crowd too. I genuinely think it’s an amazing hobby to get into, especially with everything you learn about the history of our great country!, and, really, I’m tired of being the youngest collector around, haha…

Coin collecting is cool, dammit! Why won’t anyone listen?? ;)

So while I am hesitant to yet again dive into another project, I finally just decided to go “all in” and see what the potential is. I’m one of those people who needs to just DO IT, as Nike says, and put things out there into the “real” world. Sometimes this results in utter nonsense and I scrap it months later (remember GiveawaysAreSexy.com?), and other times – like in the case of Elite Edge Money – it completely, and utterly, changes my life. The only problem is that you never know *which* project will ever hit big and stick! So for now, we pretend this one will :) I’m on a roll with Rockstar Finance so far!

Also, something we don’t talk a lot about here is what happens once your side hustle turns into your FULL-TIME hustle? Yeah you’ve now replaced your day job with (hopefully) a more fun and potentially better one – which is incredible – but do you fill back up the side gig space? Or do you just focus on the one main project now?

A friend once told me that you always have to have “something sexy” on the side. (Sexy in the sense of something you’re passionate about, not necessarily hot women and/or budgets ;)) And that when most people turn their hustle into a day job, they forget to replace the sexiness in their lives and get overwhelmed. I can definitely relate. I still love Elite Edge Money to death, but it’s def. not the same as it was in the beginning. When it was purely for fun and no mouths needed to be fed off it :) So I think my friend has a point. We all need something “sexy” in our lives, whether business-related or not.

Coin Thrill is my new sexy.

I’m treating it solely as a hobby too. Only blogging when my heart desires and not getting all strategy- like up in there. It’s coins and fun – that’s it! And if it takes off, it takes off. Or maybe I get lucky like Dave did and it’ll cover my coin addiction hobby completely? :)

Anywho…

Here are some articles I’ve written that may interest you:

• My latest 2 Cent piece!
• An interview with fellow pf blogger, Len Penzo (and how he collects in case zombies come around ;))
• A cool story on how I came to own some “Widow’s Mite”
• And a break down of a recent coin package another blogger sent me…

If any of you ever want to participate in it, please let me know! I’m still in the initial stages of everything, so who knows where it’ll all go… I’m always looking for more coin collector stories and coins themselves too, if you ever want to pass any of those over? ;)

Please share with your other coin & currency collector friends too! I actually haven’t found any other blogs I really like or relate to with this stuff yet, so any tips there would also be immensely helpful.

Thanks guys! I’m pretty excited about this one… Who knew a chance meeting at a flea market years ago would send us down this path? Life sure is interesting :)

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PS: We’re also on Facebook, if you like that sorta stuff: facebook.com/cointhrill
PPS: Twitter too: @CoinThrill

[This post, Introducing CoinThrill.com!, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

It’s been a few years since the bill was first announced (the treasury was having some issues with it), but now the newly designed $100 bills as shown above will be going into circulation today… With all it’s sexy security updates and all :) Which include:

• Portrait watermark
• Security thread
• Color-Shifting 100
• Raised printing
• Gold 100
• Microprinting

So don’t any of you ballers get any funny ideas! It’s not as easy to fake these like those racketeer coins we were talking about yesterday ;) If any of you come across these in the real world now though, please let us know! It’s always fun seeing new currency in circulation… And I hear if you can find serial #1 you may be able to make some dough off it!

“I would wager a guess that [the number one] note will bring between $10,000 and $20,000 in uncirculated (mint) condition,” said independent dealer Scott Lindquist.

That’s pretty crazy… Here’s what the last two $100 bills looked like for comparison btw:

Personally I prefer the old school design a lot more, but I suppose you’ve gotta keep up with the times… If you want to learn more about these new guys, here’s the official website on ’em: http://www.newmoney.gov/

[This post, New $100 Bill Dropped in Circulation Today!, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]