A few weeks ago, on a particularly frigid and windy Omaha day, I attempted to withdraw $200 from a drive-through ATM. As the money was coming out of what my children seem to believe is “the magic money machine,” a freaky gust of wind came between my hand and the ATM, literally blowing my ten $20 bills into the air and across the parking lot of the bank. After failing to get my car door open with the 2 inches available between my car and the ATM, I pulled forward, jumped out of my car and proceeded like a chicken with my head cut off across the parking lot chasing my money, much to the amusement of the guy in the car behind me. Surprisingly with a 40MPH wind at my back, I recovered $160.

Envisioning the joy that I had created in some anonymous person’s life as they are walking their dog and find $20, led me to wonder how much money is really blowing around (or I guess in the case of change, laying around) in the world.

The answer is no one really knows. The Federal Reserve’s 2009 estimates of the M0 money supply, or hard currency in the U.S. economy, is somewhere around $900 billion. Even if 1/1000th of 1% is “lost,” that’s $9,000,000. Plus the $40 I know about.

While I couldn’t find a good estimate on how much money is out there to be found, I did discover in my web search a number of active discussions about the best places to find money (even a hobbyist site dedicated to the activity), as well as a number of ethical debates on keeping versus attempting to find the owner of money that you find. This gives me hope. If you find a $20 in the vicinity of 114th & Dodge in Omaha, give me a call at Bozell.