Los Angeles Stylist Saves Coins For Clips

COSTA MESA, CA – September 14, 2006
Hairdresser Christopher Hall, 33, exchanged $2,123 in coins at an Albertsons Coinstar machine in Costa Mesa recently, a sum he intends to invest in starting his own hair salon. This is the fourth time in the past nine years Hall has cashed in coins for a major purchase or investment. Previously, he used change to record a music album and make a down payment for a new car and a house.

His Secret to Wealth
His secret coin-saving strategy? Hall uses cash for nearly all of his day-to-day purchases and saves the change he receives each time he breaks a bill. After the coins accumulate for several years, he cashes them in and then invests.

“Keeping every coin speeds up my rate of accumulation, so every two or three years I have $2,000 - $3,000 to leverage,” said Hall. “It’s a savings plan that puts absolutely no strain on your budget. Most people don’t see the value of coins because of their low purchasing power but I think of coins as money, no different from larger bills,” Hall said. Coinstar estimates there is $492 million in idle change in the greater Los Angeles area, or about $99 per household ($10.5 billion nationwide).

Hall researched other ways to redeem his change including weighing it, selling it to laundromats and calling his bank, but he ended up at Coinstar. Three years ago, Hall had converted $972 in change at a Coinstar machine to pay for nearly half of a pre-construction down-payment on his new home.

“It was like holding a winning Lotto ticket,” Hall said.

His coin value will pay to furnish his hair salon and do some interior decorating. “Split ends” will open in November in Costa Mesa.