A Trump dollar? Plus: How to max your interest earnings

Welcome to MoneyNerd!

Rick here with some literal money news: A Trump dollar has taken a potential step toward reality, as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Wednesday that the U.S. Mint will move forward with a new $1 coin featuring our sitting president. 

That would break new ground, because no living person has ever been depicted on U.S. coinage — unless you count a short-lived Calvin Coolidge coin. And Bessent does.

The Trump coin could go on sale to collectors in fall, but faces numerous legal and legislative challenges along the way. Personally, I’m not a fan, but not for the usual partisan reasons.

If it were up to me, I’d take (and keep) all presidents off coins. I think the founders had this one right.

The United States could have put our first president on our first coins. It almost did. Designs were floated. The Senate passed a bill in favor, but in the end many thought the idea smacked too much of monarchy. 

So, Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1792, which required coins to bear an image “emblematic of liberty.” At first that generally meant allegory — lots of robes and flowing hair — until the first coin to depict a “real” person in 1909, the (now defunct) Lincoln penny, which paved the way for all the other familiar faces in your coin jar.

(And that Coolidge coin? Issued in 1926 as a non-circulating half-dollar, it showed overlapping busts of George Washington and the then-president. Just over a million were minted — and sales were so slow that more than 850,000 of them were returned to the Mint and melted.)

I collected coins as a kid (hey, I come by my Nerd status honestly) and those old coins were beautiful and interesting, some approaching works of art. Coin designs that have appeared since 1909 are … not.

Here’s my pitch: How about we take politics out of our currency and go back to making liberty the face of our coins?

But enough about me. This week we have:

- Spencer Tierney, banking writer

This summer, I embraced my inner spreadsheet nerd to figure out how much interest I’ve made since January 2023: $8,173. Why that month and year? That’s when my savings APY started to matter for my wallet: 3.30%. By December 2023, that rate jumped to 4.34%. It’s no longer as high, but writing about bank accounts for a decade has taught me how to recognize what’s in my control when I save money.

Here are three strategies that helped me earn $8,000:

Oh, but there was one thing I wished I’d done sooner … read my full experience.

- Erin El Issa, senior data studies producer

Ready or not (I’m not), back-to-school season is upon us! In truth, I still have a month and a half before my children re-enter the hallowed halls of our neighborhood elementary school, but I know many parents are within spitting distance of a brand-new school year.

NerdWallet’s annual back-to-school shopping report found something interesting — we’re actually spending less this year than last year: Back-to-school shoppers estimate they’ll spend $611, on average, on expenses such as clothing, supplies and books. That’s $130 less than 2025.

Costs haven’t gone down, so what’s up? A quarter of shoppers (25%) plan to cut back on back-to-school spending due to higher costs of living, and shoppers are more likely to seek out sales this year — 62% vs. 52% in 2025.

If you’re looking for ways to cut costs, check out these tips for mastering thrifty back-to-school shopping.

Back-to-school shopping is just the beginning of the school-related costs. There’s also the parent “subsidy” — $531, on average — for expenses that support the broader community. This could include things like crowdfunded classroom supplies, teacher wish list items, fundraising and school support. Many parents of school- and college-aged kids are over it — more than half (51%) feel overwhelmed by financial requests from their children’s school.

I get it, while also seeing the other side. I’m a board member of our school’s PTO (going into my third year) and the money we ask for is critical to fund field trips, stock classroom supplies and pay for school programming, like assemblies and events. But I also wouldn’t want any of our school families to put themselves in a financially precarious situation in order to donate. Give what you can, when you can, if you can. Have money? Donate. Have time? Volunteer. Have both? Do both. Have neither? Don’t stress.

- Tommy Tindall, personal finance writer

What’s one of the best ways to stress less about school spending? Scouting out good deals, of course!

I recently praised Apple for putting out a $599 MacBook laptop. One of the richest companies in the world was doing the average Joe a solid by offering a sleek and capable machine for a good price. But, even Apple isn’t immune to the AI-driven memory chip shortage. At the end of June, the company raised prices on many of its products. The same base MacBook Neo is now $699, for example.

Apple’s actions illustrate the broader problem with consumer tech inflation, and it probably won’t get better for a while. But what if you could offset some of that extra $100 on a MacBook Neo, or save on another PC? One way to do it is to buy during your state’s sales tax holiday (if it offers one and includes computers). Tax-free weekends typically occur in July or August, in conjunction with back-to-school season, and can save you some serious money. 

Does your state participate? Check the list. 

Senior news writer Anna Helhoski is joined by data studies producer Kurt Woock to explain why gas prices alone don't tell the full story. They break down why certain states saw the biggest increases in weekly gas spending this year despite relatively low gas prices, and why total spending—not the price per gallon—is what matters most when budgeting.

Also, hosts Sean Pyles, CFP©, and Elizabeth Ayoola answer a question from a 50-year-old listener named David, who's trying to reset a lifetime of impulse spending and build a real retirement plan on a later timeline. 

Your MoneyNerd team: Courtney Neidel, Anna Helhoski, Rick VanderKnyff.

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