Box of cheques

Sheldon is busy sketching out Feynman diagrams for a possible boson energy change that was not making sense, it seems to have lost energy somehow.

Penny walks in, puzzled. She's dressed for work at the Cheesecake factory but clutching a letter that she waves at Sheldon. "Sheldon sweetie, I've just got a letter from our landlord. Why do you want to take over paying my utility bills?"

"You expressed it as the condition for me controlling your apartment thermostat."

"I did? Oh, the agreement thing. That was more sarcasm than anything, you don't have to do that. You and Leonard already have to share this place to afford bills."

Sheldon shrugs "When I moved in here 46.9% of my income went on monthly expenditures such as rent, food, insurance, money sent to family, regular comic books, etc. The remainder was divided between a savings account and a jar of peanut brittle, guarded by snakes as you recall, which I was saving to purchase items that have sadly not been invented yet. "

He stretches out his arm, flexing nonexistent muscles as if popping wolverine claws "I was saving to have adamanium bones, though I now realise I don't have the healing factor or increased strength needed to use them effectively. My aim is now a neural interface so I can download my brain into a computer, something Elon Musk is working on."

He points to his desk "Initially I also had savings in a drawer of uncashed cheques as Howard discovered , but after I found out most cheques lapse after 6 to 12 months I had to have the entire drawer re-issued and paid into a bank account. From there I've moved on to a proper savings account, making a few small investments in technology companies I think will do well, in coin and several other crypto-currencies and a low risk long term investment portfolio.

"Though last thanksgiving when I went home I did fulfill a childhood dream and bury 10 gold coins in my mother's back yard, next to the radiation warning signs. It made me feel like a pirate. " He smiles happily.

"As part of my personal expansion and diversification I've been looking at potential applications of my theories. I simply find a useful part, list off a few possible applications and pass it to the university patent office. The Bayh-Dole act, granting universities the right to make money from the intellectual property of their researchers, has a clause that they must share royalties with the inventor. So if someone manages to find a real world application I get a royalty check. "

Overall I've reduced my monthly expenditures to only 12% of my income, so your utilities will not be a problem.

"Why did you never mention any of this?"

"It's hardly relevant, more engineering that proper pure physics. and it's nothing I've actually done, just derivative works, someone else building on the fruits of my genius. when I make a discovery worthy of publishing, you'll all know"

"So why do you stay here? "

"I hate change. And I like the company. "

He leans close and whispers "And I fear Leonard would go crazy on his own."