Written by 
I love money, you love money, in fact, you’d be pretty hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t. So in light of my more recent serious and controversial posts, I wanted to talk about something a little more fun this time around. I think money and finance is fun and interesting, but if you don’t, here are the ten most AMAZINGLY interesting finance-related facts that I bet you didn’t know…
The original two currencies of America was the Sterling Pound, and the Spanish Dollar. In fact, the first type of U.S. currency to ever be issued was a mere $2,000,000. It was issued in 1775 by the Continental Congress. Every new issue of this currency steadily devalued it against the Sterling Pound, and the Spanish Dollar.
Did you know that money has a short life span? On average a $1 bill lasts only 18 months, a $5 bill will last two years, and a $10 bill will last three years. This is why the U.S. Bureau of Engraving & Printing has to reprint $541 million worth of currency each year.
The largest numerical bill ever to circulate in the world was 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, and it was the Millard Hungarian Pengo, issued in 1946. At the time, it was only worth $.20 in the U.S.
The first ATM to ever exist was at Barclays Bank in London, in 1967. It was invented by John Shepherd-Barron while bathing in his tub, or so he claimed. Guess what else? That ATM didn’t charge a fee…
The U.S. “$” sign has long been in use to represent foreign currency prior to the the issue of the first U.S dollar in 1875. Not only that, but the “$” symbol never has, nor does it now, appear on any U.S. currency.
On September 30th, 1980 (just 12 days prior to when I was born, 10/11/1980) the U.S. national debt was $907 billion. Fast forward 30 years later, and the U.S. national debt is over 14 times larger. I’m scared for what the next 30 years might bring.
Disregard the overall national debt for a moment, and consider that the amount of debt the U.S. owes to China only equates to an average of $10,000 for every American family.
American’s currently owe about $875 billion in student loans, which is more than our country collectively owes in credit card debt. Shocking since the average college student spends less than 30 hours a week on academics overall…. remembering my college years, I would say 30 hours is quite the generous number.
Student loan debt is increasing at a rate of $2,853.88 per second…. this this might eventually outpace our national debt???
Currently, there is more steel created per hour than the amount of gold that has been dug up in our entire history. Steel jewelry anyone?
The fact the worries me the most is that the amount of debt we owe China is equivalent to $10,000 for every American family.
We should have never put ourselves in a situation in which we rely on China to finance everything……
A good point that I heard is the fact that China relies on the U.S. to buy most of the goods it produces. So China isn’t exactly eager to clamp down on the loans to the U.S. But I do agree: the debt is way too high.
The dollar sign isnt on the dollar. That’s crazy. Why did I never know that? ha.
Interesting facts. Is there any good news out there for the U.S.? Haha
The $ sign fact is my favorite one.
The debt is a bit out of control. At some point it’s going to become an issue. Imagine if US debt got downgraded. Hopefully everything stays ok but it could get bad pretty quick
Our debt is out of control, no question there. We need drastic spending cuts, and an entire change on fiscal policy. We will never see a full repayment of debt in our lifetimes, but it would be nice to see it topped off and reduced a bit. The important thing right now is that the gov’t doesn’t cap us at a debt ceiling until we get it all figured out…otherwise we would be hit by a prolonged recession.
Well, money evolved as the President changes. And there are still a lot of things that we need to discover. And your post today really amazed me. Thanks.:)
Your first AMAZINGLY interesting finance-related fact that I didn’t know just happens to encompass two of my favorite things… money and history, specifically revolutionary- era history, which I also write about from time to time at Go Be Rich. The issue we’re having today with inflation and our currency being devalued is NOTHING compared to how it was for years and years right before, during, and after the revolutionary war.
I love history as well, and as far as American history goes, the times immediately in and around the revolutionary war interest me the most as well. I really hope you have some posts that combine those, Ill be eagerly awaiting them.
That student loan debt is a beast. I think the push for every student to go to college is so that we can create more debt for our country, so the banks can make more money lending to the gov’t.
I sincerely believe in the need for a good education, at the same time I’m not saying college is for everyone necessarily. However, I’d rather see more education on the types of loans students should take, and colleges/programs better suited to what they want to do as a career. Some smaller and less expensive schools are adequate depending on what your aspirations are.
These are all very interesting facts! I never knew about the dollar sign. huh? I am not surprised about the national debt, will it ever be gone?
That $$ symbol sure gets around on all those children’s FAKE dollar toys! Pretty interesting, I like facts.
I was surprised to find out the $1 bill only lasts 18 months. Too bad the $1 coin never caught on. It would probably save tons of money on printing costs. I was recently in Europe and everyone was fine with 1 & 2 Euro coins.