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Ever since I started trying to go cash only I have naturally started to collect more and more coin. I thought that it might be an interesting experiment to see what the average age of each type of coin I come across is. My theory is that the more a coin is worth the older the average age will be. I think that pennies will have a relatively short longevity.

So far I have collected 69 coins over the past couple of weeks. I have calculated the average mint date for these coins to be 1993.12.

Here is a breakdown of each particular coin:

• Quarter 17 coins, average mint date 1995.18
• Dime 18 coins, average mint date 1994.39
• Nickel 9 coins, average mint date 1987.11
• Penny 25 coins, average mint date 1992.96

As you can see, my hypothesis is clearly wrong. Nickels and Pennies had the oldest average age of all my coins. This could be due to the fact that my sample size is so small. I will try and periodically update my coin count so that we can see what age of coins are circulating through my possession. In the end I think that I will be proven right.

Today is May 15th, and most coin collecting enthusiasts should recognize today as the day that the latest edition of the Presidential Dollar Coin Series gets released to the public. We have actually had these coins sitting in our vault for a week or so now, but we were not allowed to give them out to the public until the 15th. Let the feeding frenzy begin! This is the sixth coin in the Presidential Series that began in 2007.

It may be interesting to note that John Quincy Adams was the son of the second President, John Adams. Quincy Adams only served one term in office, but later went to serve nine terms in the US House of Representatives. He and Andrew Johnson are the only two Presidents to have done this.

On May 19th, 1828, Quincy Adams set forth a Coinage Legislation that provided the following according to the US Mint:

• directs the location of the United States Mint to remain in Philadelphia indefinitely;
• establishes a standard weight for the Mint’s use;
• makes provisions for payment for the testing of silver bullion brought to the Mint for coinage;
• authorizes employment of clerks at the Mint; and
• authorizes the Director of the Mint to assay bullion not intended for coinage and to issue certificates of fineness at the owners’ expense.

You can read the Act in its’ original form here.

Believe it or not, the US Mint has a presidential dollar coin screensaver. You can download this here. The download comes in .zip format from the US Mint website so you know that it is safe.

Living in a state that borders Canada, it is not uncommon to see many Canadian license plates as you drive around. Lately though, it seems like I have seen an increasing amount of Canadian license plates. Last week I was shopping at a local outlet mall and I noticed that about every other car had a Canadian license plate.

There are a couple of factors that contribute to the increase in Canadian visitors to our state.

1. Their dollar has reached parity with ours, and we sell many things for cheaper prices than they would find in their homeland.
2. Our state has much lower sales taxes, thus lowering the purchase price.
3. Not all American brands are sold in Canada.

I am not the only person who has noticed this. In a recent article in the Bellingham Herald by Dave Gallagher (Bellingham is about 20 miles from the Canadian border), they state that “we have the Canadians to thank for strong retail sales numbers during the holiday shopping season.” In college I worked at a restaurant that was near the mall (2004-2007), and observed each weekend the large number of Canadians that would come in to eat after they were done shopping for the day. In December of 2006, the exchange rate hovered around $1.15 CAD per $1 USD. Back then there were a lot of Canadian shoppers. Today the two currencies are as close to equal as you could possibly get. Today’s prices are about a 13% decrease from what they were a year and a half ago for them.

The closer a town is to the border, the greater the increase in total sales were. “While the state average increase (in sales) was just 2.7 percent, Bellingham was up 7.4 percent. The border towns of Blaine (up 12 percent), Lynden (up 12.8 percent) and Sumas (up 18.2 percent) saw a big boost in sales during the holiday season.” For those not familiar with the area of Northwest Washington, the towns of Blaine, Lynden and Sumas are not very large at all, and are definitely not considered “shopping destinations.” I feel that a major reason that sales in those towns rose so much was because Canadians were driving across the border to fill up on the cheaper gas. According to the article, “The price of gas in Canada is around $1.19 a liter, or $4.50 a gallon.” While Whatcom county typically has the highest gas prices in the state, these prices are at least $.50/gallon cheaper than our neighbors to the north pay.

Any theories on how low the dollar will go against the Canadian dollar this year? My guess is $1 USD = $.85 CAD. This is not based on any intense calculation of any sort. This is just a hunch.

Here is a thumbnail of what Whatcom county looks like so that you can see the relationship between these border towns and Canada. This image was obtained from dickmartin.com.

Gas prices continue to rise across the country. Here in Seattle, a gallon of regular costs $3.51 at the local Shell station. Seems crazy to think that about a year ago the price was about a dollar less. We have a few factors that are contributing to this rapid increase in price.

First of all is the obvious. Refining capacities can only go so high, and the demand for oil continues to rise each day. Using the classic model of supply and demand it is very easy to see why prices have risen. If we put more fuel efficient cars out on the roads we would theoretically demand less gas because we would be using less of it. I think that when people have vehicles that get better mileage they will drive more. They will use the better mileage as an excuse to drive more and make more unnecessary trips, causing them to demand exactly the same amount of fuel.

The second main reason that gas prices have risen is because the dollar has decreased in value in comparison to other world currencies. Think about it for a minute. Most of the gas that we consume we import from other countries. When we buy foreign oil, we must convert our currency into theirs to make the transaction. If we assume that the price of oil remains constant in a foreign currency, and our currency is losing strength to the foreign one, it is easy to see why the price of oil would greatly increase for us.

Imagine that in 2007 $1 was worth $5 in a foreign currency. If a barrel of oil cost $100 in the foreign currency, it would cost us $20 USD to buy the barrel. Suddenly in 2008 our $1 is only worth $4 in the foreign currency. That same barrel of oil still costs $100 though. Because of the change in the exchange rate, it now costs us $25 to buy that same barrel although the price in the foreign country has remained the same.

It is interesting to see how supply and demand are not the only controlling factors on the price of gas in the United States.

It has yet to be released to the public, but was anyone aware that there was a new $5 bill in the works. Technically we should have, because the Federal Reserve first announced the new bill to the public on September 20th, 2007. I actually just found out today from a fellow co-worker. Apparently this bill has been in the works for a long time though. According to the press release by the Fed, “because the $5 bill is heavily used in vending and transit farecard machines, the U.S. government began informing the manufacturers and end-users of those machines about the upcoming new $5 bill more than a year ago, to provide ample time to adjust them to accept the new design.”

If anyone has seen the new bill, they will see right away that it is a fairly large change from the past bill. It even seems to have a bit more going on in it than the new $50, $20, or $10 do. The main reason for the redesign of the $5 was because counterfeiters were bleaching the $5 bill, and then reprinting it to look like the $100 bill. Because the security thread and the watermarks were in roughly the same spot and looked similar at a quick glance, it was easy for counterfeiters to accomplish this.

Here is a great site that gives you a more in depth look at what the new $5 bill will look like, as well as some of the security features that go along with it.

Here is a quick rundown of some of the new security features of the new bill. All of the images were taken from the above mentioned site.

This picture shows some of the new watermarks on the new $5. Notice the number 5 rather than a watermark of the President.

The new security thread will be located on the right hand side of Lincoln’s portrait, instead of on the left hand side where it previously was before.

Notice that on this new bill there is no oval outline of Lincoln like before.

Here we have what the Fed calls the “symbols of freedom.” These refer to the stars and the eagle which will be adorning the background of the bill.

Here is how the new serial number will look. As you can see, it is roughly the same, but will be aligned on the bill slightly differently.

Microprinting on the bill will make it harder for scanners to accurately recreate the design of the bill.

Here are the federal reserve indicators. The G refers to the fed that the bill was issued from.

Here is a unique a potentially controversial new feature for the $5 that other newer bills do not have. The exceptionally large purple five on the back corner of the bill was created for the visually impaired so that they can more accurately see what the value of the bill is. Personally, I think it looks a bit odd and out of place, but I can definitely see how it would help out someone with poor vision.

The $100 bill is slated to be the next US bill to have a redesign.

Don’t go throwing out your old $5 bills just quite yet! There is also no need to bring them into your local bank to exchange them out for new ones. They will still work just as good as they did before.

Here is a little known fact that comes from the previous web site. Did you know that “every U.S. banknote issued since 1861 is still redeemable today at full face value and will continue to be legal currency.” So go ahead and toss those fives back under your mattress. You can pull them back out in 2050 and they will be just as good as they are today!

Not all companies that trade on the NYSE or NASDAQ are American companies. Some are actually headquartered in a foreign country. Consider the company Cemex (CX) for example. Their company is headquartered out of Mexico. A good portion of their business will be conducted in Mexico, and therefore their payments will be made to them in pesos, the Mexican currency. When they do business outside of Mexico, they will likely be paid in the other country’s currency, which will later have to be converted to pesos.

The main issue with currency risk occurs when a company has to create financial reports for their shareholders. When a foreign company like Cemex creates a financial report for US investors, they list all of their earnings and expenses in US funds, although they are really in Mexican funds. Americans can made better comparisons from one company to the other when everything is in the same currency. The main issue here is that the exchange rate is not always going to be the same. This will create some discrepancies in the financial report that the company gives.

Imagine that in FY 2006, Cemex had total net income of $10 billion pesos. At the time that they reported, the exchange rate was 10 pesos per dollar. This means that on the Annual report to US shareholders, Cemex would report a net income of $1 billion dollars. Now, imagine that in FY 2007, Cemex has a total net income of $11 billion pesos (a 10% increase), but the exchange rate at the end of FY 2007 is 12 pesos per dollar. For FY 2007, Cemex would report a total net income of $.916 billion (a 8.4% decrease). To the Mexican investor Cemex had a great year, but to the American investor the year was a disappointment.

Not everyone invests in foreign companies, but if you are looking into one you should definitely take this into consideration. You could be in for a bit of a surprise if you don’t.