Value of money over time

[misoandpickles]

I know people here will get a kick out of this story.

My acupuncturist inherited his father's estate last year. While going through all the important papers, he discovered a letter stating that a part of one of his fields had a collateral obligation on it against a loan of 28 yen, from the Meiji era. It wasn't clear who the debtor or creditor was, or whether the loan had been repaid.

I asked how much 28 yen was worth in the Meiji era and he wasn't sure, but he said that common wisdom is that 100 yen would build a house in the beginning of Showa.

Although the risk to the property was exceedingly low, the guy wanted to clear all obligations. So he hired a scrivener to petition the court to nullify the obligation. The scrivener had an accountant calculate the present value, and successfully petitioned the court to nullify any connection to the loan, which would now be worth ... 326 yen.

[FIRE-Rookie]

That is a fortune!
It grew over 40 times during that time!

Morale: Pay your debts before they reach 40 times higher!