Currency , or money, can

1. Money wears out from being handled and is sometimes accidentally damaged or destroyed. The average life span of a $1 bill is about 21 months, or two years. “Paper” money is made up of 25 percent linen and 75 percent cotton. Red and blue fibers all different lengths are put evenly throughout the paper currency. Money did not always exist.  Prior to money, bartering was how things were purchased. However, bartering was not very useful as trading animals for other goods proved inconvenient and risky. The first use of paper money in North America was by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1690. In 1877, the Department of Treasury created the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to produce all of the currency in the United States. Some people use credit cards to purchase things. This is a form of borrowing money. People agree to pay back the money they borrow. They are charged interest, or a fee, to use these cards. Currency, or money, can be different all around the world. In Japan, money is called a yen. Mexico’s unit of money is called a peso. Each has a different value.

2. The country of Lydia was the first to stamp metal with the king’s symbol. It meant that each piece was worth exactly what it said. The bald eagle, our national emblem, is found on money holding an olive branch and arrows. The eagle is facing the olive branch, meaning the U.S. wants peace not war. The earliest known use of wampum, a form of money which are strings of beads made from clam shells, was by North American Indians in 1535. An entrepreneur is a person who uses his or her own money to start a business. Madam C.J. Walker was America’s first female self-made millionaire. Bill Gates is a philanthropist. He is a person who shows caring and concern for others by using his wealth to help them. The Great Depression began in the United States. It was a time when banks collapsed and people lost the money they kept there. It lasted from 1929 to 1939.

3. People can use money in their accounts by using a debt card. A person must have money in their account to use this card. The amount of purchase is deducted, or taken away, from the account. The expense or cost of running a business is called it’s overhead. The money made after expenses is called the profit. Counterfeiting is forging or making an illegal copy of a coin or bill. People spend some of their money on goods and services. Goods are things like clothing, houses, or toys. Services are thing that are done for someone like doctor visits, waiters, and education. Some people get loans from a bank to buy things like houses or cars. They promise to pay an agreed amount to the bank, called interest, for using the bank’s money. U.S. coins are made in a mint. It is a factory for making coins. Letters on the coin tell you where they were made –”D” is Denver and “P” is Pennsylvania.