This hobby is hard for teens

khalleyplayer

Im a teenager and i have no income. (i get some cash sometimes for shoveling snow) Well with out cash i cant buy coins(Im to young to get a job) any suggestions for how to get money?

JrGMan2004

I'm 17... and it can be hard... I'm lucky in that my parents give me an allowance that comes to $80 a month, plus I can skim an extra $60 a month of my lunch money But still, compared to how much many of the guys here spend a month, what I spend is just a drop in the bucket... look at Mark Feld, Laura of Legend, Jason Steven, Rick Kay... the stuff they deal in is usually pretty high dollar stuff... Jeremy's a teenager though, and he's done pretty good! He told me he's had to work for all his money, and he has a pretty impressive business going!

kamehameha00

How old are you?If your old enough you can get a job.You can also mow lawns and in the summer detassel corn or other stuff like that.

Rampage

1) How old are you?

2) Depending on where you live, and what age you are, you might be able to get a job at a younger than normal age, 14 in some states I think and I know 15 in others. With this, you would need your parents or legal guardian to sign some sort of form.

3) Do little odd jobs here and there. Five or ten dollars to do something for someone? Five bucks for a car wash maybe?

Placid

Rob a bank,beg at a mall,find your mothers purse

goose3

yep!
depending on age.

paper route
lawns and shrub trimming
leaves
odd jobs such as painting, car washing/waxing window washing etc....

kieferscoins

I got past it. You just have to spend more time reading and enjoying coins instead of buying them. Wait till you get a girlfriend. She can drain you and you will have even less time and money for coins.

Cameron Kiefer

goose3

<< <i> She can drain you and you will have even less time and money for coins. >>



Only if you're a SAP!

JrGMan2004

Painting a house sucks... but I did it for a Hang-Glider Ride, which was $75...

airplanenut

<< <i> He told me he's had to work for all his money, and he has a pretty impressive business going! >>

Yup, I work like made, and I save my money... do it long enough, and the rewards are nice. My parents also stopped giving me an allowance, so what I spend is what I make (less what goes to college savings, which is a good deal).

Jeremy

Skipper53

It may be tough for teens but it's also tough when you're
in your 20s, 30s, etc. House payments, car payments, phone,
groceries, insurance, and many more responsibilties make it
a challenge to find the money for coins.
Just keep educating yourself about coins so the money you
do come up with is spent wisely.

Skipper

ccr

Maybe if you or your parents know some farmers, You can be a hired-hand on weekends or during the summer. A couple of friends of mine did that for their grandfather every summer for extra money. It isn`t easy work but, you`ll learn to have respect for money. A brother of mine use to work at a corner store when we where kids. Basically for a couple of hours 3 or 4 times a week he would go and broom up the floor or put things on shelves.

clackamas

Most of us when were were teens were not collecting high grade mint state coins from 150 years ago. I started with Lincolns that I could find in change. Start collecting by cherry picking rolls. You can get new rolls for face at the bank. Cherry out some of the best ones and start a collection. 25 years from now those coins may be worth quite a bit. The rolls I saved when I was a kid are worth quite a bit (1982). You don't have to have an MS66RD 09-S VDB but you may save for one in G-4.

Brian

Barry

My 14 year old daughter has been babysitting for 2 years, and just started working in an office on Saturday mornings.

I delivered newspapers when I was a kid, had summer jobs, and some part-time jobs in late high school.

1234567890

Yea... getting cash for coins is hard... sometimes I even have to beg my mom for the extra 10 bucks to get the coin I want...

oreville

khalleyplayer: Ask your parents to be really generous with you. Here is the plan:

Ask your Mom to lend you a lot of money but that you will pay her all back immediately.

Tell her you want to go to the local bank and get a $500 bag or two $250 boxes of half dollars. Search them and keep the silver 1964 (and prior ones). It is even worth saving the 40% silver ones from 1965-1970.

Do the same with $25 boxes of rolled cents. Keep the wheaties. The wheaties are worth at least 3 times face value. In no time, will learn about the different coins there and have fun too.

Of course, keep paying your Mom or Dad back!!!

Little by little, you will accumulate a good collection of cents and halves. You have to start somewhere! We all did!

hookedoncoins

I remember when I was there. Did the same thing with my lunch money. I solved the problem by getting a job. Now I don't even have a job anymore and have nearly 2 grand put away for coins and college money. Get a job that pays tips if you can. My last job only paid $6 an hour, but I averaged around $20-25 with tips (non-taxable I might add). The only bad part is that I wont get as big of a refund this year.

Work sucks, but the rewards can be plentiful. I think this summer I'm going to try to get a job at a bank so maybe I can make some circulation finds.

-Jarrett Roberts

relayer

Great advice Orville!

sborder285

Turned 14 last April and had my job by May. I work in the local bagel shop and I bring home about $120 a week plus tips. 40% of that goes to a savings account and the rest is all mine I usually wind up spending about 40 on coins and the rest paying off my dad from what I borrowed from him to buy coins the pervious week. Last’s total was up to $90 . Going to Baltimore for the long weekend and there's a coin shop .3 miles away from my hotel!! Looks like I might just be adding to my debt. I’m sure that if I didn’t have a job then my interest in coins would be about the same, it’s just my collection would be sliced in half.

Wil

website with a paypal link for donations...

Elcontador

I had one advantage that you don't in that when I started collecting in the early 1960s, you could still find lots of neat stuff in change. Found a few IHCs, Liberty Nickels & Barber coinage. Silver coinage was still circulating, so I also found all but the most expensive Mercs, all Jeffs except the 39D and most Buffs as well. Biggest find was a 32S quarter.

Still, collect some coins that you find attractive and suit your budget. Perhaps you can focus on modern varieties. This material requires a trained eye to spot it, and most of us don't have a clue when it comes to these coins. If your budget is too small, work part time.

As you don't have much re discretionary funds, I'd tell you to first buy books that focus on the coins which interest you. Look at as many of these coins as you can before buying anything. Learn how to grade them. Never buy a coin based on the number asigned to it on a slab. Most old farts like me are happy to share what we know when we see someone much younger than ourselves showing a genuine interest in our hobby.

Above all, if you have money to spend on coins, don't feel obligated to buy something just because you can afford it. If the coin doesn't "have your name on it," pass.

XpipedreamR

This hobby is hard for adults, too...Believe me!!!


(Especially when you have, as they say, champagne tastes on a beer budget. And I'm talking Milwaukee's Best, here!)




Just hang in there. Satisfy yourself by learning about coins...read, etc., as Cameron suggested. Study pocket change. Participate in forums such as these. Appreciate what you have. Don't worry; the coins you want have been around a long time, and they're not going anywhere soon. They'll still be here when you've got the big $$$ to spend.

I know, it's easier said than done. Just hang in there, you won't be young forever. You can definitely count on that, unfortunately!

GottaGetCoins

My 10 year old son collects change. He got so excited yesterday when he ran accross a 1930 penny. To him it was great, maybe like some collector finding a MS67 expensive coin.

Isnt that what coin collecting is all about?

coppercoins

<< <i>I'm 17... and it can be hard... I'm lucky in that my parents give me an allowance that comes to $80 a month, plus I can skim an extra $60 a month of my lunch money But still, compared to how much many of the guys here spend a month, what I spend is just a drop in the bucket... look at Mark Feld, Laura of Legend, Jason Steven, Rick Kay... the stuff they deal in is usually pretty high dollar stuff... Jeremy's a teenager though, and he's done pretty good! He told me he's had to work for all his money, and he has a pretty impressive business going! >>



I'm lucky at times to have $80 a month to spend on coins, and I'm married with a combined household income of over $120,000 per year. It's not that I'm cash poor, I budget wisely. I have a sum of money that goes here, some goes there, some pays bills, some feeds other hobbies, some goes to my son for allowance, some for savings, etc...what's left goes into coins, usually between $40 and $100 per month, mostly at the low end of that. Of course if I wanted to kick some other habits and stop saving money I could probably afford $2-$3 thousand monthly, but I see coins as an unwise investment - it's a fun hobby for me and I don't need large sums of money to spend on them. I chose an area of the hobby that's very challenging, fun, and very inexpensive, and I'm perfectly happy there. I don't need a return on my money nor do I hope to get one. I'm having fun with it...investments can be found in much better places.

Compa

Collecting isn't all $500+ coins! Collect within your means. You can have fun and build a nice collection from circulating coins. Pickup an older roll here and there. You don't have to have money to collect coins.

You can find MS65+ coins in rolls from the banks. They don't need to be slabbed - conserved yes.

Enjoy the hobby, for that is what is supposed to be ... a relaxing diversion.

hookedoncoins

One more thing. If you want to stretch your coin budget further and still get top notch coins, I would check out The Darkside. There are some seriously nice coins that can be had for very little money. For example, that gold coin I have for an icon (1917C British sovereign) cost me barely over gold melt (less than $100 and it is the size of a $2.50 gold eagle).

-Jarrett Roberts

Merc

Yep, it's not called the hobby of kings for nothing. Coins are expensive.

I didn't get any allowance when I was a teen. At least my parents fed me and didn't charge me rent. I had a 1 day a week paper route that paid me about $30 a month and I mowed yards in the summer. That gave me a bit of money.

To buy coins, I would go to these coin auctions at a downtown dept store. They would buy out someones collection and auction it off. They had several books and you wrote down your bid. Only coins over $10 went on to the oral bidding. That let me buy several nice collector coins for not much.

I would also recommend joining a coin club. Mine has meetings for the kids and gives them coins. Plus they earn money by being runners during the auction.

MrEureka

Try to get a part time job at a local coin shop. If they don't need any help in the shop, offer to sell stuff for them on eBay. If you're working closely with a coin dealer, you'll learn faster and get offered more coins at better prices.

Also, try to get to some major shows and work as a page. They make surprisingly good money, especially in a hot market when the tips are good!

JoshL

<< <i>

<< <i>I'm 17... and it can be hard... I'm lucky in that my parents give me an allowance that comes to $80 a month, plus I can skim an extra $60 a month of my lunch money But still, compared to how much many of the guys here spend a month, what I spend is just a drop in the bucket... look at Mark Feld, Laura of Legend, Jason Steven, Rick Kay... the stuff they deal in is usually pretty high dollar stuff... Jeremy's a teenager though, and he's done pretty good! He told me he's had to work for all his money, and he has a pretty impressive business going! >>



I'm lucky at times to have $80 a month to spend on coins, and I'm married with a combined household income of over $120,000 per year. It's not that I'm cash poor, I budget wisely. I have a sum of money that goes here, some goes there, some pays bills, some feeds other hobbies, some goes to my son for allowance, some for savings, etc...what's left goes into coins, usually between $40 and $100 per month, mostly at the low end of that. Of course if I wanted to kick some other habits and stop saving money I could probably afford $2-$3 thousand monthly, but I see coins as an unwise investment - it's a fun hobby for me and I don't need large sums of money to spend on them. I chose an area of the hobby that's very challenging, fun, and very inexpensive, and I'm perfectly happy there. I don't need a return on my money nor do I hope to get one. I'm having fun with it...investments can be found in much better places. >>



Eek what habits cost 2-3000 a month?????

cladking

There are dozens of great collections that can be formed on a shoestring. An important
collection of tax tokens for instance can be assembled for a few dollars- - literally. These
are much more difficult to find in nice condition than most realize and they are for practical
purposes US coins. The secret service thought so and shut them down. There're also many
different exonumia collections that can be formed for a few pennies each. Usually this will
requiring trading for needed pieces but this in itself is a hoot too. Classic US coins can be
acquired in low grade for quite nominal amounts in many cases and virtually untouched mod-
erns can form important collections right out of circulation. If you have a little more money
then obsolete series can be put together in collectible grades cheaply or many moderns can
be found in scarcer high grades. There are world coins which sell for very nominal amounts
for old high grade coins.

Not all rare coins are high priced and not all desirable coins are rare.

coppercoins

<< <i>Eek what habits cost 2-3000 a month????? >>



Of course if I wanted to kick some other habits and stop saving money I could probably afford $2-$3 thousand monthly

Read the WHOLE sentence. I save close to $2000 monthly in different forms...mostly for retirement, my son's college, and my wife's tuition for college, but also for a $10K trip we take annually to Greece to visit family. If I were irresponsible enough to stop all that, I could spend all that on coins...but that would never happen in my life. Coins are lower in priority than most other things in my life, monetarily speaking. I can keep myself plenty busy with my budget for coins - I don't need coins worth hundreds to be happy.

clackamas

>n my opinion, you should forget about coins, at least for the most part. I'm not kidding here. Enjoy what is and for the next few years will probably be the most enjoyable time in your life. Go to keggers, BBQ with you homies watching ball games, hang out at the beach, go hit on every good looking girl you see. FORGET ABOUT COINS. They'll ALWAYS be there when you're ready. You will NEVER have these years back again. Use 'em for what they were meant to be used for.

That is the best advice so far. There will be plenty of time to sit indoors and search rolls. Go have fun.

Sequitur

First, if you can, get some high-grade mint-state coins. Hold on to them. They should appreciate nicely as you grow into adulthood.

Second, never forget the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.

canadiancoinguy

When I first really got into coins at around 10, the first 5-6 years was virtually all reading/learning and searching rolls. Then when I finally got some odd jobs now and then, I made the ocassional trip to localcoin stores and picked through their junk boxes for neat stuff. I still do that. I don't really have any expensive coins, I usually go for the cheap, but historically significant/interesting pieces, which world coins have alot to offer in, as Jarrett mentioned. Knowledge is very important, and I'm more than glad I spent several years reading some textbook references over and over.

ibzman350

<< <i> (non-taxable I might add). >>




Yea that's what I'm trying to get also

Robgetty

When I was in high school, collecting current coins from circulated rolls
was my major thing, with a part time job subsidizing an inexpensive
type set. Just realize that you can't start out with a goal of an MS65
set of $20 gold pieces. Heck, most adult collectors wish that they had
a bigger budget. I'm swapping down in grade of some of my collection
to pay for some new pieces. Would I prefer to keep my higher grade
coins and just buy the new ones? Of course, but there are a limited
number of things that your resources can handle. Just be patient for
a few years.

IndianHeadMan

Tips are taxable and should be filed on your income tax form. If you don't you are considered a tax evader. Which is a felony.

coachleonard

i agree that you shouldn't blow the majority of a part or full-time job paycheck on coins-- but i do remember my college days when i was on a limited budget. I decided to spend a bit more than I normally would for a coin ( $19.95) and send off for a Poor (maybe slightly above) Liberty Cap Large Cent. Now I have coins a good deal better, but I've never been more thrilled at a coin purchase as I was when that old copper arrived in the mail.

ealandg

When I was a teenager I babysat, but where I really earned some cash was stuffing envelopes. There are a few businesses in my area that would have these mailings (mainly non-profit organizations) and I would stuff envelopes and do odd jobs after school for them. It didn't pay much, but it was better than nothing. Another lucrative thing I did as a kid was dog walking for some elderly neighbors. I walked 2 different dogs after school for about 1/2 an hour each. This is something that a pre-teen can do. You have to be resourceful.

LovethoseIndians

Go to your mommy and daddy's wallet and purse, pull out those little green pieces of paper and mail them to me right away and then I will send you some coins

Dennis88

I know it's frustrating. I finally found a job about a month ago, and I'm now delivering papers every morning. I make about $80 each month, and I'm now able to buy some real nice coins. (I want to buy a 1C 1909 VDB PCGS ms66rd)

Keep looking, you will find something for sure!!

Dennis

ARCO

Focus on sets that are affordable and beautiful.

What about a Walker short set in VF or XF. A lincoln set post 1931 in AU. A jefferson set, Mercury dimes from the thirties and fourties. VG buffalo nickels. There are lots of options for those with less cash.

If you are frustrated because you cannot afford MS coins of the 19th or early 20th century...well join the club as even those who make a lot of money are still priced out!

Start where you can start and have fun.

Tyler

photog

The advice here has been great. Buy yourself a book or two on the series you are most interested in. Read and read and read until you have enough money to start making little purchases. Just because you bought something doesn't mean you have to keep it forever, you can always sell it later and use that money to put towards something else. If you are young enough (I don't think I saw your age stated) you could try to be a page at a convention. The tips are good if you hustle! And you'd get to be at a show! I know in NH you can work in a non-hazardous job at 14 but the hours are limited to X number per week because of school. Heck, a lot of kids work at horrible summer jobs (like raking blueberries in the heat all summer which does a number on your back), and as mentioned it can't hurt to get CPR certified (most places like the Y offer courses) and babysit. First of all, chicks dig that willingness to play with kids, second off, if you're good, you'll get recommendations and have work every weekend. Mow lawns, clean out garages (which could be profitable as you could turn some of that "trash" over on eBay- people will buy anything), walk dogs for old neighbors. It's small income, but it's worthwhile to get some work ethic which is something seriously lacking in today's society where parents are afraid to say "no" to their children. You'll be so busy reading up on your chosen area and so busy working small jobs before you know it you'll have some nice money to spend. And it DOESN'T get any easier as an adult- your first job will likely be low-paying, you'll have student loans, credit cards from college spending, maybe a car payment, car insurance, health insurance, rent, food, you can't be a shut in so you'll spend some money on going out, and before you know it budgeting for ANY hobby can be tough. So don't feel it's because of your age! Good luck!

GaCoinGuy

Lots of great advice here........another thought, something I did as a teen once to raise some cash......talk to any relatives who live close and see if they have any "junk" they need to get rid of and have yerself a yardsale. I did that once, made about $200 and cleaned out my parents attic and the grandparents basement.

Elcontador

it DOESN'T get any easier as an adult

That's right. Sure, you're making more $, but you have far more responsibilities. The 09s VDB in RD 5 is probably 10X now what it was then. I couldn't afford it in the late 1960s & won't spend that kind of $ on it now.

One more thing. If you want a girlfriend, I'd agree that you should probably forget about coins. Girlfriends are often pretty high maintenance (at any age).

Barry

<< <i>Go to your mommy and daddy's wallet and purse, pull out those little green pieces of paper and mail them to me right away and then I will send you some coins >>


Is your real name Soupy Sales?