I could sit down and have an ale with George Washington. Or wine with Thomas Jefferson. Did he go by Tom? I believe he made his own wine. And maybe the most interesting – I’d like to have a cider with Ben Franklin.
I grew up close to Philadelphia and heard a lot about Ben and his achievements. I knew he was a printer, a scientist, and a politician. But I recently heard about a financial experiment he started that amazed me. Here’s the story.
Ben Franklin published an annual booklet called Poor Richard’s Almanack. It was hugely popular and had a following outside the country as well as in. A French admirer named Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour (the French have so much fun with names!) sent him a letter with a parody on Poor Richard called “Fortunate Richard”. In the letter Fortunate Richard leaves small sums in his will to gather interest for 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 years and then the money is used for wonderful projects. Franklin liked the idea so much, he decided to do a version of this himself.
He left in his will 1,000 pounds (about $112,000 in 2011 dollars) each to Boston and Philadelphia. The money was to earn interest and be used to loan money out to small business craftsmen for 200 years.
Franklin died in 1790. By 1990 Philadelphia had opened a science institute (one of my absolute favorite museums) and lent money to countless citizens. With the $2 million they had left, they gave college scholarships to young Philadelphians. Over that same time, Boston had opened a Technological Institute and had $5 million left which they contributed to the Institute and its students.
In 1790 the country was less than 15 years old. Franklin couldn’t even imagine what life would be like in 1990. And yet, he knew that money growing over time has amazing power. Think of the number of lives he touched with this bequest. He could have left the equivalent of $112,000 to be used for whatever was needed at that time. Instead, he left what turned out to be so much more because it was allowed to grow and be used over time.
This is a great lesson for all of us. Time creates leverage when added to money. Give your money as much time to grow as possible.
Imagine if he had left another bit of money for 500 years. Way to go Ben!
Kristin Rodriquez