200 Year Thinking - Benjamin Franklin Style

When Benjamin Franklin passed away, he set up two trust funds to benefit his two favorite cities: Boston and Philadelphia - the cites he called home - and who looked up to him. 

He wanted these trusts to benefit the apprentices and trade-smiths of America. When he died April 16, 1790, he left 1,000 pounds sterling (roughly $4,500 at the time) to each city — but that money came with one big stipulation.

 Each sum had to be placed in a trust and invested for 100 years, after which around 75 percent could be used to help tradesmen and fund civic projects. The rest was to be invested for another 100 years; at which time it would be given in full to the cities.

 After the first 100 years, thanks to compounding interest, the trusts in Boston and Philadelphia were worth almost $400,000 and $100,000, respectively, prior to any disbursements. (The amounts differed due to each city’s financial strategies and investment paths.) By 1990, the remaining amounts had grown to $4.5 million for Boston and $2 million for Philadelphia, as a result of compounding.

 The Philadelphia Foundation is helping students like Hakim Ben-Abdou become an electrical engineer — a trade close to Franklin’s heart. “It’s great how 200 years later I’m able to go to school thanks to all the money he saved up all those years ago,” he says.

While the gift has provided for many students in Boston and Philadelphia, Anthony Benoit, president of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, understands that it won’t last forever.

“What we really count on now is current-day Franklins — the other people who have worked hard and have invested in ways that allow them to be generous to the next generation.”

That type of long-term thinking has impacted thousands of people, letting it grow for 200 years, then it ever would have if the money would have gone anywhere else.

Can you be a modern-day Franklin?

What impact do you want to make 200 years from now???