How a Found Aldi Cart Equals 26.5 Cents

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Welcome to another wild and zany episode of how Porwest thinks about money. Hey, it may sometimes be a bit twisted, even at times borderline ridiculous, but I can also say, with absolute confidence that these are basic money principles that work. What I generally focus on are the pennies and the importance of the smaller wins when it comes to money as it applies to adding up to bigger savings. Because as I always like to say, "If you never mind the pennies, you'll never have dollars to mind." Take a quarter and my incessant quest for abandoned shopping carts in an Aldi or Ruler Foods parking lot which require a quarter in to get one that you get back when you return it. Many people think, "It's just a quarter. Big whoop!" And then they just leave their cart by their car and someone like me comes along and finds it, and takes the quarter they obviously couldn't give two hoots about. Is it really a quarter gained when I find one? Well, it is if I ONLY consider the 25 cents. If I consider the hidden value, which of course is only hidden if you don't consider the way Porwest thinks about money, that quarter is actually worth 26.5 cents, because based on a conservative (very conservative actually) expected 6% return if that quarter is invested, it will earn me 1.5 cents. When you start to think of money in terms of what it can produce, it changes the way you think about even a penny. How much is a dollar worth according my thinking? 6 cents. Or, more specifically $1.06. How much is $100 worth? $6. Or, $106. How much is 1 cent worth? 1.0006 cents. The bottom line is that every single penny you leave behind has an opportunity cost attached to it. If you don't mind the penny that gets left behind, you lose the opportunity for the penny to be worth more than its face value. Very simply put, I hear a great many people say to me, "I need the money," and yet, at the same time, say, "It's only a penny, who cares?" If you need the money, you can't say that. Because every penny matters, and every penny is worth more than the penny says it's worth when you consider what it generates every time you keep one in your pocket and put it somewhere that offers it the opportunity to become more valuable.