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Cashing in
By Daphne | October 11, 2007
Last week, I talked about doing something with the money that I had found over the past eight years. This was a bank with just money that I had found, nothing else. Yesterday, I took it to the bank and deposited in an account so I could get the free coin counting and then transfer it into an interest-bearing account. There are no specific plans for the money right now. Even while I was waiting for the machine to count the coins, I found a Brazilian 50 centavos coin and another US penny. So my grand total sans the 50 centavos piece was $100.75. That wasn’t bad considering all I had to do to get the money was pick it up. There were a lot of pennies in the lot, but I also had $20 in bills - ten ones and two fives.
Before I took the money in, I sorted though the coins to see if there were any interesting coins. I save wheat pennies in a small bank. I also like collecting coins so I was looking for some that may potentially have value or ones that I didn’t have. The coins that I took out, I replaced with exact change. I only took out twenty cents, a dime, a nickel and 5 wheat pennies. The nickel is about sixty years old and might be worth a little more than face value. This wasn’t an investment thing; it was a curiosity thing.
One hundred dollars will not make me quit my day job but I can use this money for a treat that could last a little while. Yesterday in the mail,  I received a subscription guide for the Goodman Theatre and I can actually get a three-play subscription for as little as $45. So my hundred dollars could go a long way. Or if I wanted a four-play subscription at the Goodman in a different theatre, different plays I could get a subscription for more of my found money but not over - $88.
Later this month, Phoenix is sponsoring a prosperity campaign called “Save Your Change Week.” This is part of “Arizona Saves, Build Wealth Not Debt.” During that time, select banking institutions are going to offer free coin counting and residents are urged to take in their change that they lying about the house and cash it in. I wonder if people actually use the coins that they have lying about for “wealth building” or if they will use it for something more frivolous like I am thinking of doing.
If I had actually made a point of saving all of the change that I accrued over time and put it into a savings account I would have more. Some people claim that having a change jar costs you money, not just in the interest that you would have earned, but in the cost of taking it to a coin counting machine and then having to pay a fee. The fee that my bank charges for non-account holders is similar to the fee than a non bank related coin counting machine. That’s a simple solution to get around. If you really want to use that change, open an account with that money.
This has also made me look around and see if I could get a little more interest out of my savings. When the Fed cut the rate, online banks dropped their rates too. Their rates are still much higher than you could get with a traditional bank but I want as much as I can get in interest - legally.
There are some accounts that do earn a little more interest but you have to have a minium. After reading the reviews people who have used these banks have found that they are difficult to use or have fees. The main reason I have a savings account is to save some cash temporarily, earn a little interest and then transfer it to my main checking account to pay for the purchase. Some of the accounts require a minimum of $1500 to open the account. I would rather try an online bank with a small amount first, even if it is FDIC insured,before trusting them with a lot of my money. I found one company that had a good rate but it only allowed deposits to be made by check, ATM or mail. If you are searching for a bank or comparing rates, try Emoneycentral or Bankrate.
After searching around and toying with the idea of opening a new account, I still haven’t decided. The found money may be the catalyst to try something new and shake things up. Besides, the money is money that I found. Is it worth it to open a new online account just to earn an additional 43 basis points (.43%) on my money?
I haven’t spent the money yet.
Topics: October 2007 |