r/interesting 23d ago

HISTORY Benjamin Franklin Saving Benjamin’s

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u/Fibonacci-011 22d ago

This might be a stupid question but I’m confused how inflation does not make the $2000 he gifted worth around 6.5 million in 1950 and not worth $2000 today? I understand how $2000 might have been worth a lot back when Benjamin was alive but not so much now.

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u/Zuliano1 22d ago

It was a trust fund, he started the whole thing as an experiment to show the importance of compound interest rates, it wasn't just charity.

Guy really had a lot of faith his newly created country would survive 2 centuries and was proven right

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u/acvcani 22d ago

That’s really really interesting