It is no longer really a penny for your thoughts. To be precise, a thought is now worth 1.67 cents. And when someone offers you their 2 cents, they are really giving you 3.34 cents’ worth of advice.

That is because the government shells out 1.67 cents to manufacture one penny, up from 0.93 cents in 2004, according to The United States Mint.

It costs a mint to make pennies. Case in point: The U.S. Mint produced billions of pennies in the last fiscal year, costing taxpayers about $130 million; the coins have a face value of $80 million.

If you think this is crazy, consider the nickel. Every five-cent piece costs almost a dime (9.5 cents) to make. That means last year, more than $120 million was spent to produce about $65 million worth of nickels.

From INVESTMENT NEWS by Jim Pavia - Read Full Story