Why This Hedge Fund Manager Skipped Gold And Bought Nickels
Kyle Bass is a world-famous hedge fund manager who predicted the 2008 financial collapse. He’s also the owner of 20 million nickels — those 5 cent pieces that most people would never associate with wealth.
Why does Kyle Bass own so many nickels?
Because he believes they are a safe, asymmetrical bet.
Nickel coins actually contain more nickel than their face value.
According to USA Coin Book, a modern nickel contains 7 and a half cents worth of nickel. This means that nickels are actually worth 50% more than their face value.
Kyle Bass isn’t the first investor to profit off of coins, either.
Until the 1960’s, all United States paper currency was redeemable for a fixed amount of silver. And most coins contained silver too.
When the United States exited the gold and silver standards, US currency slowly began losing value. Meanwhile, precious metals kept up with inflation.
As such, pre-1964 quarters have a melt value of $4.07.
