LOOSE CHANGE: JANUARY 21, 2024

Back in the 1960s, it was easy to become a young coin collector. You could start by sorting through your pocket change to fill in the holes in the inexpensive blue folders. There were also a number of newspaper carriers who became collectors then (and later several of them became dealers) because they collected the subscription money from the customers on their routes. Coin clubs galore sprang up across America from the 1950s through the 1960s.

The reasons that children today become numismatists are different from those in the 1960s. Fewer than 10% of today's transactions in everyday commerce in America are settled with the use of coins or currency. Further, today's coinage no longer has a metal value close to the face value of the coins.

The company where I work has several teenage- and under-thirty employees. Primarily, they became coin collectors because they appreciate history—and coins are a tangible way they can hold history in their hands. A couple just like looking at all the different coin designs, shapes, and metal contents. Even though these younger collectors may not constantly carry loose change in their pockets, they have still found their way to numismatics.

To read the complete article, see:
Young Collectors: 1960s Versus Today (https://www.numismaticnews.net/collecting-101/young-collectors-1960s-versus-today)

How did the conversion of millions of coins into 0.900 fine gold bars take place?

The primary consideration was security. Not merely the usual protection of gold from loss or theft but also the influence of international politics on America's national security.

To safeguard America's gold, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau's staff developed a three-step plan. The first step was to move gold in all forms away from the lightly defended West Coast.

The second step was to reduce the volume of vault space required to store gold. This was accomplished by having the Philadelphia and Denver mints melt coins into bars without extensive assays or reweighing.

And finally, the third step was to build a central storage facility for gold on land at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and a similar facility for silver bullion at West Point Military Academy.

To read the complete article, see:
Converting Gold Coins Into Bullion Bars After 1933 (https://coinweek.com/converting-gold-coins-into-bullion-bars-after-1933/)

Two dozen women gathered in a California living room one night in 2018, ready to talk money.

Britt Williams Baker, a Harvard Business School graduate and former consultant, had been offering friends how-to sessions on investing when she realized that many needed to start with the basics of budgeting. So, teaching alongside her that night was best friend Laurie-Anne King, a women's empowerment coach who had been on a personal finance journey of her own: paying off $40,000 of debt.

The name Baker gave the circle? Dow Janes.

In the years since, Dow Janes has grown from a small group of friends helping friends into a business that offers paid online courses. Baker and King teach women across the United States and Canada how to take control of their money, with a bold mission at the heart of their work.

To read the complete article, see:
The wealth transfer from baby boomers mostly benefits women (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/16/women-economic-power-demographic-shifts/)

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