Nickels Are Now Worth More Than Nickels Are Worth

A long time ago Howtomakeadollar suggested collecting a bunch of nickels, holding them until their metal value increased, and then selling them as metal. We stated this prediction clearly, and we personally guaranteed that nickel prices would go up, over 5 cents. Well, they did. On October 12, 2010, the metal value of a nickel went up to 6.104 cents, meaning that the nickel in your pocket right now is worth more as metal than as money. And its actually worth quite a bit more. Right now the nickel in your pocket has made you just over 20% in profit, without you doing anything at all, except fishing around your pocket and smiling contentedly to yourself.

Since this awesome website is called How to Make a Dollar, I suggest you go clean out your car, look for an old piggy bank, and check under your sofa cushions. See if you you can collect five dollars worth of nickels (100 nickels). If you can find $5 worth of nickels, you actually have $6 dollars. Thats how you can make a dollar off money you already have, without doing any work or risking anything at all. Kind of cool huh?

Well, a dollar is all well and good, but its not an inspiring amount. Thats why we suggested buying several thousand dollars worth of nickels. Going from five cents to six cents is a 20% gain. A twenty percent gain on $1,000 is $200. Does $200 sound like decent money? Its certainly better than a dollar. 

But don't cash out now. Inflation is probably going to be a major theme in the world economy over the next several years. That means that metal prices are going to keep going up. Hold your nickels, collect more of them, and wait until they double up to10 cents in value. If you think that's far fetched, consider that in 2007 nickel prices were up over 7 cents, so its not a big stretch to think they could go higher in the future. A penny from before 1982 is now worth 2.5 cents, meaning it has more than doubled in value. Dimes made before 1965 are now worth $1.68. Nickels are following this trend as well. Right now they are up 20%, but they will eventually double in value at least.

In many ways this was the first "real" idea that we suggested, and we've suggested many other good ideas since then. However, this idea requires very little work on your part, and absolutely zero risk. Nickels are a completely risk-free investment. Worst case scenario, you still have the same number of nickels and the same amount of money. You haven't lost anything. 

Its easy to collect nickels. Just go to your bank and exchange $10 cash for $10 in nickels, or $20 for $20, or whatever. Of course, nickels get heavy when you start going up over $10 worth, so remember to bring a backpack or something, and don't try to buy like $100 (2,000 nickels) at a time. Also, the bank tellers will look at you like you are a crazy person, but you can always turn the tables on them and just look back at them like they are the crazy ones. That always gets them.

Make money by not showering

Easy way to make a lot of cash and save money and the environment by not showering!

Business plan:
1) Stop taking showers
2) Stop wearing deodorant
3) Stop brushing your teeth
4) Repeat steps 1 through 3 for at least 10 days
5) Become a really close talker with all of your coworkers
6) When people start complaining about your stench tell them it will cost them $1each for you to start showering again
7) Start showering again and collect money
8) When money stops flowing in from your coworkers repeat steps 1 through 7 (for step 4 increase duration of filth to 20 days.

Note: this may prohibit you from getting a promotion... so make sure you work the numbers to figure out which one will make you more: a raise or money from each of your coworkers everyday for the rest of your career.

Free Money

I don't know if you've seen it or not... but people literally throw away money everyday.  At most malls in America, they walk up to a fountain and throw money in it.  For some reason, people feel throwing money away gives them good luck.  Sure, it might only be a quarter here, a dime there, a nickel there... but it all adds up.  Millions of dollars every year.  So next time you are at the mall and you see a fountain with money in it.  Just reach in and grab it.  I'm about 78% sure the "finders keepers" rule applies.  I've never seen a sign that says "Money in Fountain is property of this mall, do not take."  As long as no such sign is posted...  you're good to go.  But, make sure you say "finders keepers, losers weepers" so everyone knows all you are doing is recovering lost money and not stealing.  Don't worry, you'll be okay.  Within about 30 seconds you will be $1 richer.

How to Make Money By Collecting Nickels

Bear with me on this one

Currently (Dec. 2009) U.S. nickels are worth five cents. The cost of the materials that nickels are made of (nickel and copper) comes to about 4.5 cents. So the face value of a nickel is slightly more than the cost of the materials. However, commodity prices are subject to fluctuation. In 2008 the amount of copper and nickel in nickels was actually worth about 6 cents. That means that if you had sold your nickels as metal, you would have made about a 20% profit. Not bad.

Commodities in general, and metals specifically, are expected to make significant gains in 2010 and for the foreseeable future as the dollar loses value. This means that the price of copper and nickel is likely to increase, while the face value of a nickel is likely to decrease. This means that in the future your nickels will be worth more for their metal content than as currency. In fact, I will go out on a pretty solid limb and personally guarantee you that sometime in the next two years, the value of a nickel will be higher for its metal than for its worth as money.

And its happened before too. Dimes used to be made almost entirely out of silver. However, in 1965, the cost of silver exceeded the value of the dime. So guess what happened? The government changed the makeup of dimes and started making them out of cheaper alloys. How much are pre-1965 silver dimes worth now? About $1.25. Imagine if you had stashed $1000 in dimes in 1965. A one-thousand dollar investment would now be worth $125,000. Thats hard to beat. Especially when you consider that there is no way to lose. More on this later.

Why does the price go up? Lots of reasons, but the big one is obvious. Once the government starts producing cheaper substitutes, the Treasury Dept. is going to start collecting all the more valuable originals to melt down and sell as metal. They aren't stupid. You can't keep producing coins that cost more to make than they are worth.

Once the majority of the valuable nickels are pulled off the market, the only ones left will be the cheap substitutes. Collectors will rush to get their hands on the original nickels. Other people will rush to melt them and sell them as metal. Either way, the nickel you bought for five cents will be selling for a lot more than that.

The best part about this investment is that you can't lose. Even if I'm wrong (never happened before) you can't lose. Lets say nickel and copper prices drop significantly and the government never starts using cheaper alloys. Well, your nickel is still worth five cents. You didn't lose anything. You can hold it for 50 years and never lose. Do you know of any other investments that can't lose value?

The downside is that you have to actually buy a crapload of nickels and keep them somewhere safe. To make it worthwhile you should probably buy at least $1000 worth, which would take up a lot of space and be very heavy.

You can go to banks and ask for $50 worth of nickels without attracting too much notice. Vending machine operators and fast food chains do this frequently. Just go to the bank once a month and buy a bunch of nickels. Eventually you will have a pretty big collection. Its an investment that can't lose, and will probably make major gains.