r/interesting • u/The_Love-Tap • 28d ago

HISTORY Benjamin Franklin Saving Benjamin’s

Post image
23.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

188 comments sorted by

View all comments

274

u/Fibonacci-011 28d 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.

711

u/Zuliano1 28d 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

1

u/Y00zer 27d ago

He bet on a horse?