Wis. man unearths box filled with Depression-era cash

Can anyone guesstimate the amount of money if it had been left in a savings account all these years?

For easy figuring, I think investing with a 10% average return, your money doubles every 7.2 years. If we take 72 years (2008-1936), that means it would double 10 times, which I think comes out to about ...$1,740,800.

No guarantees on my figures though.

I heard the old owner robbed banks.

I wish i had found the money!

I checked the Minneapolis Fed CPI calculator http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/research/data/...
$1700 1934 to 2008 for a current value of $27,352.24

Current value of $27, 352 but that does not take 75 years of interest/investment into consideration which would dramatically increase the total.

Oh man, I'm not going to tell him but a mid 1930s S/C can be 'worth' 10-30 times face value depending on condition.

That is really cool, back in the depression alot of people buried or put in there walls money.
Durning the depression my Grandfather found in a wall in a house alot money that he spent keeping his family in food. My mother talks about those times when there was no food, they would fish in the Missippi River. They would sell there fish on the streets. Times where very bad back than.

H Smith wrote:

For easy figuring, I think investing with a 10% average return, your money doubles every 7.2 years. If we take 72 years (2008-1936), that means it would double 10 times, which I think comes out to about ...$1,740,800.
No guarantees on my figures though.

You're missing COMPOUND interest, so you're way too low. A 10% ANNUAL return would be $16.2 million after 72 years.[=1700*(1+(10%^72))] That's pretty good.

If this wacky farmer really feared the Depression and purchased Gold bars, he'd have profited $6700 after inflation.

Since he buried his cash in the yard, he has "earned" -$25000.

To quote Warren Buffet: "Be gready when others are fearful, and Fearful when others are greedy"

I would be counting it myself before I turned it over to the government. Some of those bills could be worth far more than face value by now.

Well don't forget, he'll probably have to report it as income.

Sparky wrote:

Oh man, I'm not going to tell him but a mid 1930s S/C can be 'worth' 10-30 times face value depending on condition.

I have a 1935 SC in good condition, where do you bring something like that for appraisal?

highland guy wrote:

<quoted text>
You're missing COMPOUND interest, so you're way too low. A 10% ANNUAL return would be $16.2 million after 72 years.[=1700*(1+(10%^72))] That's pretty good.
If this wacky farmer really feared the Depression and purchased Gold bars, he'd have profited $6700 after inflation.
Since he buried his cash in the yard, he has "earned" -$25000.
To quote Warren Buffet: "Be gready when others are fearful, and Fearful when others are greedy"

Where do you get 10% annual interest from a savings account? Even most bonds don't go over 6%.

JTY wrote:

<quoted text>
Where do you get 10% annual interest from a savings account? Even most bonds don't go over 6%.

Mutual funds - possible even in todays market. Commodities, if you're on top of your game......

Historical average stock market return
The US stock market has been said to have a historical 12% annual return. This rate is often used to help plan for pension funding, retirement planning, and more generally as a benchmark for investment and savings decisions. A reader from Japan asks where that number comes from, looking for a reference. Good question! The 12% figure is a nominal (arithmetic) average annual return as recorded for the broader US stock market (S&P 500) between 1926 and today. The compounded return is 10.7%; this is a more useful number to use, but the 12% rate is somewhat easier to plug into quick mental computation. For instance, the 12% rate compounded over 6 years roughly doubles your initial investment; a 10.7% rate has a 7-year doubling period.

This is information taken from: http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/2003/05/06.h...

Hope this helps anser some questions.

Sparky wrote:

Oh man, I'm not going to tell him but a mid 1930s S/C can be 'worth' 10-30 times face value depending on condition.

I am thinking the very same thing! What a fool! It's worth a fortune to collectors!

I sure hope he took photo's of that shed before he tore it down, photo's of the money in the box too for future generations that may live on that farm

plus.... it would be nice if he were to frame some of the bills with the photo's of the farm

sentimental fool.. yep, that's me. ;)

Silver certificates have a greater value to a collector and hence worth considerably more than the face value of the note... the guy who found the money i an idiot!

Icepick wrote:

Silver certificates have a greater value to a collector and hence worth considerably more than the face value of the note... the guy who found the money i an idiot!

"i an idiot"

That's just plain funny.

Just by looking at the picture in the article the bills are in poor condition, they would get that much attention from the numismatic community.. I would keep the old bills just because it's a pretty cool story...

someone finally found my lockbox!