Saturday, December 19, 2009

How The Rule Of 72 Is Used By The Banks To Rob You

By Zigfred Diaz

There was once an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who worked abroad for several years. At the age of 29 his savings already amounted to P 100,000.00 (Philippine peso)

Since the only investment vehicle he knew about was putting his money at the bank he went to the bank and deposited his P 100,000.00. The bank manager gladly accepted the money and even recommended that he put it at a time deposit account so that it would yield a higher interest rate at 4 % per annum.

So the money remained in the time deposit account until the OFW reached the age of 65. At that time, he then went back to the bank to withdraw the P 100,000.00. He was amazed when he learned that the P100,000.00 had already grown to P 400,000.00. He was quite happy with the growth of his money. He then withdrew the money from the bank, enjoyed life and lived happily ever after.

Is this a "live happily ever after" story or not? Do you consider this OFW as somebody who has "wisely" handled his money? Is he really earning the maximum potential for his money or is he making somebody else rich.

Under the rule of 72, in order to determine how many years it takes for your money to double you only need to follow this very simple equation: 72 / interest = No. of years it takes for your money to double

Since the OFW deposited his money in a time deposit account, at 4 % per annum, his money will double every 18 years. (72 divided 4 % per annum = 18 years.) Since he deposited P 100,000.00 at age 29 add 18 years to that and his money will become P 200,000.00 when he reaches the age of 47. Add another 18 years to that and he reaches the age of 65 wherein this time his money becomes P 400,000.00

Now that the P 100,000.00 is in the bank's hand, what do they do with it ? Well they basically invest it in other vehicles of investments which gives them a higher interest rate such as mutual funds, the stock market, the money market, government bonds, corporate bonds etc. They even use it to loan it back to the depositors at a much more higher interest rate. But let's just say that all of the bank's investing activities gave a return of 12 % per annum. Using the rule of 72, it can be determined that the same amount of money will double every 6 years. (computed as follows: 72 divided by 12 % interest = 6 years)

After 36 years of waiting, the OFW claimed his P 100,000.00. You wouldn't be surprised why the bank manager willingly and gladly gave him back the P 100,000.00 plus the interest of P 300,000 amounting to a total of P 400,000.00. No sweat, they already made more or less a total of P 6,400,000.00 from the OFW's P 100,000.00 deposit. Now you tell me if that isn't hi-way robbery !

Think like the bank if you want to be more wealthy and a more better steward of your money ! The Rule of 72 works ! Make it work for you ! - 23309

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