2008 was a watershed year for me.  One hot summer day, I walked out of my office with my old Nokia cell phone and called one of the smartest people I know.  I asked why the stock market was dropping like a stone every day.

She did not have any reassuring answers; I had to find my own way.

The internet is a weird and wonderful place; like the Wild West.  By putting words like “how can I prepare for the zombie apocalypse” into a search engine, a person can find interesting articles like this.  The article, about saving nickels, isn’t new.  I remember reading something similar in 2008 when I started my own coin cache.

Whenever I had some spare change, I would separate the coinage into containers; the nickels all went into an old Chock full ‘o Nuts coffee can.  I now have two cans of coins. Obviously, I didn’t take the advice of the author and buy rolled nickels from a friendly local bank teller, Mom &  Pop store owner, or vending machine magnate.

I did it my way, one nickel at a time.

These days, I’m thinking about selling The Coop and moving home.  When I think about these things, I think about all the meaningful stuff which might be worthy of lugging north.  I wasn’t sure the nickels were worth it.

When I’m not sure about something, I ask a lot of questions.  Sometimes, I make lists of questions before I meet with someone.  The people in my circle of friends and acquaintances have to be on their guard.  Recently, an old friend from a very distant past arrived on the scene and he’s always got a fresh and interesting perspective on things.  He always has time for my questions, too.

The other day, I got up the gumption to ask Reginald Black whether I should keep saving my nickels.  Always thorough, Reggie shot back quickly and pulled no punches.  He outlined how one savvy investor had made a nickel play; it required a bit of “slide” and a bit of space.

Reggie’s honest, though, and he knows a lot about me.  He knows I live in a chicken coop-sized condo.  After outlining the potential for nickel and diming my safety through the apocalypse, he got right to the best answer, which was “coins made with base metals aren’t worth the bother.”  Then he addressed me personally with this funny ending:

“I don’t think it’s a promising path for you.”

For the next few weeks, I’ll be rolling nickels in my spare time; that’s my five cents worth on saving nickels for the zombie apocalypse.  Saving friends and friendships seems like a more promising path for me.  Friends are silver and gold, remember?   Not nickel.