Man Saves Pennies For 45 Years and Rakes In a Fortune
He walked into the bank, a trolley rolling behind him, the sound of coins clinking drawing the attention of everyone in the room.
Otha Anders, known as the “coin master,” was a supervisor on the Jackson School Board. Children who had been suspended were often sent to him, and they grew quite fond of his unique approach.
Anders had a wife and children who supported him in every way, but his hobby was a bit unconventional—an activity that started as a simple pastime but eventually grew into an obsession.
For Anders, every penny he found was a message from God, a reminder to be grateful. On days when he forgot to pray, he often found a penny. He believed it was God’s way of prompting him to give thanks.
“Spotting a lost or dropped penny became a sign, a reminder from God to always be thankful,” Anders shared with USA Today. “There were days I missed my prayers, and more often than not, a penny would show up to nudge me back to gratitude.”
For 45 years, he collected pennies, stacking them in five-gallon plastic water jugs. He estimated that he had accumulated hundreds of thousands of pennies over the years, but he was about to find out just how much they amounted to.
One day, Anders brought the jugs to the bank. The employees were in for a unique experience as they spent hours breaking open the jugs using hammers and axes. After five hours of cutting, sorting, and feeding the pennies into a coin-counting machine, they finally had a number.
The total amount of pennies Anders had collected over those 45 years came to $5,136.14. That’s roughly $114 per year. Who would have thought that collecting pennies as a hobby could lead to such a sum after 45 years?
But rather than keeping the money for himself, Anders decided to put it to good use. He spent it to pay off a dental bill he had recently received.
Happy with his decision, he used the remaining funds to sponsor a family trip and make donations to his church. It was a rewarding way to spend his years of collecting, showing that even the smallest gestures—like picking up a penny—could have a meaningful impact.
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