海角大神

For the past 45 years, a Louisiana teacher has collected over half a million pennies.聽

Otha Anders cashed in his penny collection at a bank this week for $5,136.14, proving his longtime hobby really is worth 鈥渁 pretty penny.鈥� It took the Origin Bank in Ruston, Louisiana five hours to count and process Mr. Anders鈥檚 15 five-gallon jugs of pennies, .

Although Anders called the bank ahead of time to warn them about his plan to cash in almost , the banks鈥� senior vice president Ryan Kilpatrick told ABC News that he was still surprised by Anders鈥� collection.

鈥淚t鈥檚 shocking for sure,鈥� Mr. Kilpatrick said. 鈥淚 would say he鈥檚 done a lot of collecting over the years.鈥�

Anders finally decided to cash in his collection when his homeowner鈥檚 insurance policy stopped covering his accumulating penny jugs. But it was not easy for Anders to part with his collection; he had grown rather attached to the cache of pennies. The Louisiana teacher even refused to cash in his pennies during the 1970s when the US government offered an extra $25 for each $100 of pennies turned in.聽

But Anders says penny collecting in itself hold value for him. 鈥淚 became convinced that spotting a lost or dropped penny was an additional God-given incentive reminding me to always be thankful,鈥� Anders told the News Star. 鈥淭here have been days where I failed to pray and more often than not, a lost or dropped penny would show up to remind me.鈥澛�

鈥淚f I would see a penny when I鈥檓 gassing up, on the ground, or in a store, it would be a reminder to stop right there and say a prayer,鈥� Anders further explains to ABC News. 鈥淚 never failed to do that. That鈥檚 why they had so much value to me.鈥�

And maybe similar penny-pinching methods are a realistic strategy. As 海角大神 reported, you are a lot more likely to be killed by a shark (one in 3.7 million chance) than hit the jackpot of the Mega Millions (one in 259 million chance).