A "Seven Bagger" and Playing the Market

The photograph is a "two bagger" with change.

Journal Entry, June 23, 2009: Weight = 176; Coinage = $.36, 11 pennies, 1 quarter; glass bottles = 6; Ground Scores = 3; Best coinage find = an old quarter nearly black from exposure, found on a curb in front of a community college drop off.

Journal Entry, June 22, 2009: Weight = 174.0; Coinage = $2.67, 22 pennies, 2 dimes, 9 quarters; Glass bottles - 11; Ground Scores = 6. Best find = seven quarters in newspaper vending machine.

Feature Entry: As an ‘ol ball player, I have always liked the baseball expression “bagger.” For example, a two bagger means a double. Peter Lynch of "Fidelity Magellan" fame uses the baseball metaphor in his book "One Up on Wall Street". The book's main objective is to instruct readers on how to find possible "ten Baggers" that is, achieving a ten-fold appreciation in a stock selection.

For moneywalking, I like the baseball metaphor of “bagger” to define the number of quarters found on a given walk. I am disappointed if each walk is not at least a one bagger. Today’s walk was such a walk, but with zero dimes and nickels and only 11 pennies, it still amounted to a “low growth” walk.

Now yesterday’s walk was better, a nine bagger, seven quarters from one newspaper vending machine. Lynch is a clear advocate of investing in what you know, and the more familiar you are with the company, the better you will understand its business and competitive environment.

It is the same with finding money during walking. I know my “hot spots”, “money spots”, and lucrative curbs and parking lots. I know my competitors and when they look and where they look. This knowledge leads to a higher probability that I will make lucrative coinage returns in my walking investment of time to say nothing of the calories expended.

By being fully aware of each pay phone booth, newspaper vending machine, pay drink dispensers, coin operated car washes with vacuum machines, and coin exchange tenders in my savanna, the expectation is frequent two or three bagger finds. Walking and finding coins is like playing the market, both require careful planning, knowledge, and persistence. I know that if these machines are systematically “mined” and by careful curb and parking lot scanning, most days will provide a two or three bagger with change to spare.

So what is the MoneyWalker'average daily coinage return? About a buck a walk. How about his market scores? The MoneyWalker thinks he will stick to walking.

MoneyWalking