After WWII - Hungarian inflation paper money, 1946

There is nothing wrong with this post. Do not attempt to adjust what you see. We are in control. The stories you are about to read are true. They are six examples of ridiculous things that happened in the history of finance. This is… The Outer Limits Of Finance…

I Hope You’re A Collector

In the history of the world, there’s an endless supply of stories where central banks have mismanaged the money supply. It’s almost seems inherent. When money is mismanaged, it collapses and is basically worthless unless you like to collect old, pretty-looking pieces of paper. To date, there have been 3800 currencies that are no longer in circulation.

I’m A Quintillionaire!

When the Hungarian currency was re-introduced in 1942, it was actually worth something. Due to political turmoil and hyperinflation, the government constantly printed higher denominations until it produced the highest denomination ever printed: a $100 quintillion bill. They didn’t even bother showing the number on the bill since it was so high.

Now THIS… Is Hyperinflation

Hungary also holds the record for highest inflationary rate of all time. During post-WWII, the rate of inflation was 41,900,000,000,000,000%… A MONTH. Zimbabwe comes in second at 5473%.

Go For Gold

The 2012 London Olympics broke the records when it used eight tonnes of gold and silver to produce the medals for the athletes. In today’s dollars, that works out to $200,638,512.

Luckiest Find EVER!

The largest gold nugget ever found weighed in at 2520 oz. Found in Australia by John Deason and Richard Oates, it would be worth $3.5 million. The largest bar is in Japan and it weighs 8818.5 oz. That makes it worth $12,345,900.

Default Is Good For Something

In 1932, a German carpenter made the equivalent of a million dollar business by using discarded German marks as wallpaper. The currency was worth so little that people used it as fuel for fires. Not this guy. This guy made his millions with worthless millions.

Never say never. In the world of finance, if you can think it, it’s probably already happened.