When Ira Keys was in high school, his father told the 17-year-old one thing: Whatever you do son, save your money. Keys took that piece of advice very seriously. He didn't have much money back in the 1950s, so he saved all of his pennies. Arguably worth a lot more back then, but throughout the years — that's 65 years to be exact — he kept saving.
Year after year, he would keep his pennies in Folger's coffee cans. Until finally, in 2015 he decided to cash them in. The pennies weighed a whopping 500 lbs. as he carted them into the bank. The tellers were blown away.
"We take pennies for granted," personal banker Kari Lewis told KCBD. "You see them on the ground and you're kind of like, 'Oh, I'm not picking that up,' but for him to collect it for years and years was pretty amazing."
In total, Keys managed to save 81,600 pennies or $816. Not bad. I think we could all use an extra $816. Keys plans to build a room divider and decorate it with the shiny pennies to commemorate the good advice his father gave. However, he plans to start up a new piggy bank.
"It's just a habit I've got into, and habits are hard to break sometimes," he joked. "But I don't think I'll have this many when I cash them in again."
