Make Money Through Buying Money
Buying and selling currency can actually be a means of regular income, and there are those who make a living in this practice primarily. But as many have found, in life there are few, if any, shortcuts. Being able to turn this into your primary trade isn’t easy, and will require that you do your homework, and remain cognizant of geopolitical trends.
The idea is to buy low and sell high, this facilitates ROI, or Return On Investment. It can be difficult to tell where trends are going to go, however. That said, if you do make a mistake, it doesn’t mean your operation is sunk; it just may mean that you have to get creative in order that your losses may be recouped.
An Applicable Example
One way to understand this is through the Zimbabwe economy. Between 2006 and 2009, a period of hyperinflation caused the value of notes to deplete so substantially that outlandish denominations of the trillion dollar variety were printed in the millions.
According to BankNoteWorld.com, 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars used to be encapsulated in a single note until 2009, but: “It has been out of print since then, and finding the originals can be quite challenging.”
Though millions were printed, and that printing only stopped eight years ago, they are becoming scarce. Now, if you invested in the Zimbabwe economy between ’06 and ’09, you likely lost a great deal of money. However, by retaining this outlandish currency, there is a chance you could get some of it back.
The Details
Since the Zimbabwe dollar is out of circulation, it has transitioned from having value as a currency to having value as a piece of history. Currently you can buy this bill for around $80 online. In ten years, what was purchased today will be even more scarce, meaning its actual value will have increased to some degree.
Determining what that increase will be can be difficult or impossible, but it’s very likely you’ll see some maturation of your investment given time. In a hundred years, this particular note will likely be much more valuable than $80. Today, a moderately-maintained US silver dollar from the 1800s is worth about $20.
Now it’s not likely that a 100 trillion dollar note from Zimbabwe will suddenly be worth twenty times that sum in Zimbabwe dollars by 2100. However it is likely that it will be worth twenty times your initial investment of $80; or maybe even more, depending. It’s not likely people are actively seeking this denomination in high numbers.
By purchasing out-of-print and continually scarce currency, you can make money with time. While the Zimbabwe 100 trillion dollar bill may not represent the soundest big-ticket investment, at the very least its historical value will be retained, meaning there’s a high likelihood you’ll break even.
Beyond that, though, how cool is it to give such notes as gifts? The novelty of the bill is exceptional and interesting. It’s certainly worth buying for the historical idiosyncrasy it represents regarding inflationary economies, if nothing else.