Penny Fun Facts

  • The official name of the penny is the one-cent coin. The name penny comes from the British pence.

  • The one-cent coin was first distributed by the United States in 1793.

  • Pennies were composed of 100% copper until World War 2. Then they were changed to zinc-coated steel.

  • Originally, Lady Liberty was the face on the penny. In 1909, Abraham Lincoln became the first real person on a U.S. circulating coin.

  • If you save a penny a day from the day you are born, the grand total after 80 years would be $292.20, give or take a few, depending on leap days. (Don’t worry, I have much better ways of saving!)

  • It is said that when you find a penny on the street, the heads up is for luck and tails is for bad luck.

  • The Beatles released "Penny Lane" as a double A-side with "Strawberry Fields Forever" in 1967, becoming one of their most popular singles.

  • National Lucky Penny Day is May 23, and National One Cent Day is April 1.

I tried to make a pun about coins, but it didn’t make any cents

A penny for one’s thoughts

To ask someone what he or she is thinking about. The phrase was popular in the 16th century, when a penny was worth much more than the trivial amount it is today.

A penny saved is a penny earned

Saving money from not spending is the same as earning money from working. Though Benjamin Franklin's original phrase was "A penny saved is two pence clear," it became a great inspiration for A Penny Saved Financial Coaching.

Give a penny, take a penny

A small dish placed near a cash register, allowing customers to make exact change for a small purchase by adding a penny or taking one to complete their payment. It was a small gesture of convenience and trust within a community to "pay it forward".

In for a penny, in for a pound

To continue with something even if it means more effort or money - spending or owing a small amount of money (a penny) is sometimes the same as a larger amount of money (a pound).

Penny-wise and pound-foolish

To be careful or thrifty in small expenditures but careless or wasteful in large ones. We don't want to be focused so intently on saving small amounts of money that you miss out on bigger opportunities.

Pinching pennies

To be careful with money or very thrifty. It comes from the 16th-century word "pinchpenny," referring to a miserly person who held onto money tightly, and became more common in the early to mid-1900s, possibly due to the Great Depression.

To put in one’s two cents

To humbly add one's comments or opinion to a discussion. It served to lessen the impact of a possibly contentious statement or to deprecate the value of one's opinion, suggesting it is only worth "two cents".