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I still have some rolled-up pennies of my mom’s from her last apartment when she was able to live independently. Yup, pennies.

Yesterday I picked up a penny off the parking lot while pumping gas. Yup, a penny.

One of my dad’s regular pieces of financial advice was, well, let’s get this outa the way first —

Pennies and nickels cost more to produce than their face value. This has been a known issue for several years. The production cost of these coins often exceeds their nominal value due to the price of raw materials and manufacturing expenses.

As of recent reports, the cost to produce a penny has been about 2.1 cents, and the cost to produce a nickel has been about 7.6 cents. This discrepancy results in a financial loss for the U.S. Mint, which produces the coins.

For instance, in 2021 alone, the U.S. Mint reported losses of approximately $83.6 million from penny production and $120 million from nickel production. Similar figures have been reported for subsequent years, leading to substantial cumulative losses.

— One of my dad’s regular pieces of financial advice was: “Watch your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.” Pause, then: “And watch your dollars and the pennies will take care of themselves.”

I heard that, and even had that memorized, long before I knew what it meant.

Now I do.

So do you.