Should I stockpile nickels?
At one point it was illegal to melt silver coins in the US, but it is legal now.  I don't know that will happen with copper coins, but that's what happened with silver coins. Accumulating nickels and leaving them as-is (in their spendable state) is legal.  It's also a way to take physical ownership of copper. I expect to see more sales of nickels based on weight.  People are already selling high-copper-content cents on eBay, by weight.  There are machines in production that sort the zinc ones from the copper ones.  Gresham's Law has small business backing. ;) Copper cents are already worth twice their face value in the copper content.  Nickels will get up there, too. They are awfully heavy and bulky relative to their value, though.  Precious metals give you better bang for your ounce. Probably a big fat NO. Update re this edit: NOTE: I'm not suggesting that I melt the coins. I'm just suggesting that I hold onto the nickels and sell them later when they are worth more than 5 cents. For example, you can sell coins with silver in them for far above their face value. This is silly as an investment.  Right up there with stockpiling cars. :)   The increase in value will likely never be enough to make the cost/hassle of storage worth it.  As MrChrister states, it is a fine idea as a collection, but not as a stockpile. Edit (from the comments): I am surprised I did not latch onto this in the previous update.  Silver is considered a previous metal, nickel and copper are not.  BTW, the U.S. nickel is 25% nickel and 75% copper. Also, how in the world do you plan on actually selling a stockpile of nickels? Stockpile?  No. Keep a few around?  Sure, if you are a collector.  I used to collect pennies and I thought the steel pennies from WWII were neat.  I do believe I paid about $0.01 for them at the coin shop.  They might be worth $0.15 if in great condition today. No harm in finding $20 worth of really nice nickels, maybe in chronological order and from the different mints.  Put them in a collector case so they stay nice and chuck them in your fireproof safe with your house deed and insurance policies. But I don't think you are going to hit it particularly big, but it might be a nice thing to pass along as an inheritance. It seems like a lot of hassle to make a few bucks.  $1,000 in nickels would weight 100kg.  I'd rather put my money in ING or into a bond mutual fund like VBMFX. "The question I think is not: ""What is a certain material worth in a coin"" but ""What is a certain material worth in a coin and how much does it cost to get it out of there"". Just because something contains a certain element doesn't mean that you can get to it cheaply. Also as George Marian said: I don't think that it is legal to melt coins. So if the time comes you would first have to find a company willing to process the coins etc. Also you should not only compare what it is worth now and at a later time but also what that money would be worth if you put it into a high yielding savings account or something like that." Trying to engage in arbitrage with the metal in nickels (which was actually worth more than a nickel already, last I checked) is cute but illegal, and would be more effective at an industrial scale anyway (I don't think you could make it cost-effective at an individual level). There are more effective inflation hedges than nickels and booze. Some of them even earn you interest. You could at least consider a more traditional commodities play - it's certainly a popular strategy these days. A lot of people shoot for gold, as it's a traditional hedge in a crisis, but there are concerns that particular market is overheated, so you might consider alternatives to that. Normal equities (i.e. the stock market) usually work out okay in an inflationary environment, and can earn you a return as they're doing so.... and it's not like commodities aren't volatile and subject to the whims of the world economy too. TIPs (inflation-indexed Treasury bonds) are another option with less risk, but also a weaker return (and still have interest rate risks involved, since those aren't directly tied to inflation either). I agree with George.  I'll also add that you have to think about the cost of melting the coins for their raw materials.  Not exactly free in terms of equipment, facilities and energy costs. The collectible value of coins will probably increase with the underlying metal value. I'd collect coins for that reason and because I enjoy collecting them. I wouldn't recommend buying bags of rolled nickels or anything though. You would have to collect an awful lot to make it profitable. The melting process alone will cost an arm and a leg. Go silver hunting with rolls of Half dollars. You might strike it lucky with rolls of Kennedy's. Its good fun too :) 1964 Kennedy's 90% silver 1965-1970 Kennedy's 40% silver I go looking on ebay collecting for typo errors on pre 1920's British silver coinage. Picked up a George 3rd 1816 Shilling for £3....worth £30....but even if your doing it just for the silver content, you can pick up a real bargain. Just think of how your going to offload them. Here in the UK its easy because there is a huge market for Numismatic coins.
"Should is a very ""strong"" word. You do what makes most sense to you. Should I be making a single account for Person and crediting / debiting that account? You can do that. Should I be creating a loan for Person? And if so, would I make a new   loan each month or would I keep all of the loans in one account? You can create a loan account (your asset), you don't need to create a new account every time - just change the balance of the existing one. That's essentially the implementation of the first way (""making a single account for a Person""). How do I show the money moving from my checking account to Company and   then to Person's loan? You make the payment to Company from your Checking, and you adjust the loan amount to Person from Equity for the same amount. When the Person pays - you clear the loan balance and adjust the Checking balance accordingly. This keeps your balance intact for the whole time (i.e.: your total balance sheet doesn't change, money moves from line to line internally but the totals remain the same). This is the proper trail you're looking for. How do I (or should I even) show the money being reimbursed from the   expense? You shouldn't. Company is your expense. Payment by the Person is your income. They net out to zero (unless you charge interest). Do I debit the expense at any point? Of course. Company is your expense account. Should I not concern myself with the source of a loan / repayment and   instead just increase the size of the loan? Yes. See above." The first thing to realize is that MLM is not really a selling job, yes they all sell products but that's not how you make any money. And be careful not to stockpile inventory, you'll end up with $4000 dollars worth in your garage that you'll never use. MLM is really a recruiting and training sales people job. If you are willing and have the talent to recruit and train sales people then it may be right for you. The only people that make a good living recruit new sale people all the time, and have hundreds of sale people in there down lines. There is a lot of attrition and you have to keep recruiting to replace those lost. Don't think you are going to get rich at this part time. There are a lot of millionaires from MLM but they work a lot of hours recruiting and training. If you don't have a lot of time to devote to it I wouldn't do it at all. MLM is not for everyone, but the ones that are good at it and put in the time make a lot of money from it. First and foremost, I would warn about having to shell out your own money for start-up, inventory, or other sunk costs.  If I have to significant amounts of goods and stockpile them, that would be a warning.  Some goods-based MLM have significant start-up costs.  Along with this - how realistic are your time expectations.  Is this to be a part-time occasional endeavor - or your full-time occupation?  Do you know enough people that you believe you can recruit, as it is the pyramid that makes you the money, not the goods themselves. Secondly, market research.  Companies that I would consider real franchise-like companies generally either have, or demand you do, significant market research in an area before you start.  They don't want the good name of their company tarnished by having a venue close down.  MLM generally don't care as much (generalization).  Similarly, are there others in the same neighborhood/town already in the scheme?  If so, and depending on the size of your community, many of your potential target recruits may already either be in the scheme, or already scared/annoyed. Third, and last for my list are any kind of pressure tactics.  Again - franchisee companies and their ilk generally want a long-term relationship with the right people - not just more and more people as part of the pyramid.  MLM and the like tend to want expand at all costs. Go to your local credit union and open an account there! Why do people put up with banks? Big banks are for business not for regular folks, they will nickel and dime you all the time, and that's the honest ones, the scum like WF will just trash you. If you want to put in $1000 into penny stocks, I wouldn't be calling that investing but more like speculation or gambling. You might have better odds at a casino. If you don't have much money at the moment to invest properly and you are just starting out as an investor, I would spend that $1000 on educating yourself so that by the time you have more money to invest you can come up with a better investment strategy. A Yen is like a penny.  Buy a chocolate bar 100¥ or £1.00.  Should the UK get rid of pennies and only price things to the pound? "The goldbug crowd over on ZeroHedge's comments seem fond of reminding everyone that, while they might have bought and owned some gold in the past, they don't have it any more because they actually lost it all in a lake in ""a tragic boating accident"".  And who's going to prove otherwise? For that group, who are convinced cash (""fiat paper"") will at some point be worthless, the stockmarket will evaporate, the highest grade bonds will default and bank accounts and other personal assets will be subject to confiscation and ""bail in""... general bug-out apocalypse in other words... having a ""secret stash"" of high-value physical assets is obviously quite important and reassuring and presumably totally ""worth it""." "When the pie is being hoarded, this is what happens.  It happened in the 20's, it happened in the 1850-90's.  Great depressions don't cause poverty, they unveil the economic conditions that already exist and remove the safety nets that keep the problems from appearing catastrophic when in fact, they already are.  The current P/E of most of the stocks that under-gird our economy are so far out of whack that markets don't even consider them anymore, but the reality is that they are unsustainable.  To return to sustainable levels would require, in some cases, a 90% ""adjustment"" in values.  While the Dow Jones is not the economy, what do you think the economic effects of even a 50% drop would be on the 78% of the population that lives paycheck to paycheck?  Consider the knock-on effects?"