When Ben Franklin died in 1790, he left two trust funds who gained interest for the next 200 years …

Benjamin Franklin is easily one of the five largest US presidents of all time. Fittingly, his face today adorns our most common paper grade, the $ 20 bill. You probably have some in your wallet.

Ok, before we go on … did I have something I just said for you?

Think about it …

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Readers with eagle eyes may have noticed that Ben Franklin does it NOT appear on the $ 20 invoice (this is Andrew Jackson). He appears on the Hundred dollar bill. Aka of the Benjamin. The Benji. The Franklin. The dog. The dog. The C-Note.

Oh, and I'm also sorry that Benjamin Franklin was never president. Be honest … does your fifth grade teacher do a wall? 🙂

Anyway. Although Franklin's face never held the presidency, it has the highest denomination one alluding to how deeply he shaped America. Inventor, diplomat, writer, philosopher, founding father … and, as you want to see, Financial Mastermind.

When Benjamin Franklin died in 1790, Franklin left two trust funds £ 1,000 For his beloved cities of Boston and Philadelphia. But he didn't want the money to be spent immediately. He wanted to be interested in a few centuries with interest to edit his magic.

From apprentice to icon

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706 and was the 15th of 17 children in a family of working class. He left school at the age of 10 and became an apprentice printer of his older brother. At 17, he moved to Philadelphia with little more than the ambition and a hand for self -education. In the next few decades, Franklin built up a print empire, published newspapers, books and the wildly popular poor Richard -Almanack. His business success – and later government positions – made him one of the richest and most respected men in the colonies.

But Franklin didn't hurt his wealth. He withdrew from business in early 40 and dedicated the second half of his life to the public service, science and diplomacy. He helped to found the first public library in America, the University of Pennsylvania, and what the US mail service would be. He also served as an ambassador in France, helped develop the declaration of independence and negotiated the peace treaty, which ended the War of Independence.

When Franklin died at the age of 84, he was comfortably wealthy. As we already mentioned, he was comfortable enough to go £ 1,000 To his two beloved cities Boston and Philadelphia. The money came from his salary as governor of Pennsylvania from 1785 to 1788 – a sum of which he believed that he should not have been paid primarily. As is well known, Franklin argued that public employees should not earn salaries in a democracy, and even (unsuccessfully) tried to involve this idea in the constitution.

By the way, Why did he use pounds of sterling instead of US dollars? At that time, the American financial system was still in its infancy. The US dollar would only be officially determined in the County Act of 1792, two years after Franklin's death. Therefore, he chose the most stable of the many currencies that were in circulation.

The long game

Franklin's idea for the trusts was not accidental. It was triggered by a satirical essay from the French mathematician Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour, who wrote about the idea of ​​growing money through interest for centuries. Franklin saw the potential to transform theory into real philanthropy.

He instructed the money to be borrowed to young craftsmen – “young married artificial throws”, as he called them – who were able to repay the loans over ten years with 5% interest. After 100 years, some of the funds for public work could be used. The rest would continue to worsen for 100 years, everything could be distributed at this point.

Boston's big bet

Boston followed a brave approach to manage his trust and enabled the investments in the stock exchange. After 100 years, the fund had grown to 391,000 US dollars, some of which contributed to founding the Franklin Union, a commercial school partially financed by Andrew Carnegie, which today still acts as Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology.

By 1990, Boston's Trust was worth almost 4.5 million US dollars. But when it was time to distribute the means, things became chaotic. A law of Massachusetts from 1958 had tried to spend the money for the Franklin Institute Technical School, but the state's highest judicial court later decided that the trust could not be terminated prematurely. Right -wing struggles broke out about who had the lawful claim to the millions – civil servants, the state or school itself. Finally, the Attorney General of Massachusetts decided that 26% in the city of Boston and 74% should go to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as Franklin originally sketched.

Ultimately, both the city and the state used its shares to further finance the technical training and training programs, and to support Franklin's vision, business and applied sciences.

Philadelphia's slower growth

The fund in Philadelphia grew more slowly – he had reached $ 172,000 in 1907, and a large part of it was used to support the Franklin Institute, the city's iconic science museum. The fund had reached 2 million US dollars by 1990.

As in Boston, arguments broke out about what should do with the money. The proportion of the city – over 520,000 US dollars – was finally intended for grants for high school gradations for graduates of the trade career, which fulfill Franklin's original wishes. The remaining 1.5 million US dollars were assigned to various community foundations in Pennsylvania by the state legislator and formed Ben Franklin funds that support educational and community initiatives such as literacy for early childhood and vocational training.

Inheritance of a financial visionary

The next time you discover Ben Franklin's face on a 100 dollar bill, remember -that's no coincidence. Franklin was not just a founding father; He was probably the first American who really learned the power of long -term investment. He understood the value of the money, the value of time and above all the extraordinary things that can happen when the two are combined.

His rejection of 2,000 pounds rose over two centuries to more than 6.5 million US dollars. And it wasn't just in a vault. It financed schools, scholarships, scientific institutions and vocational training programs. It helped real people, as well as Franklin intended.

He not only shaped one nation. He developed a financial heritage that still pays off 200 years later. He was a legacy. And more than 200 years later, this legacy still pays dividends.

Would you like a modern example of how strong things can be? Here is what would be invested in different ways, what would be invested in different ways would be worth today:

• S&P 500 (since 1957): 70,000 US dollarsAssuming reinvested dividends
• Google at IPO in 2004: approximately 4,000 dollars
• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 1965: approximately 2.6 million US dollars
• Bitcoin in 2010: an amazing $ 81 million