Bond. World's oldest living bond.

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hidden deep in an archive in New Jersey is the world's oldest living bond. Originally issued to fund a dike in the Netherlands after a big flood, these days, it's gearing up for its 400th birthday and still paying interest. Today on the show, we visit this elder bond and hear its story.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:03.0	Back in the...
0:05.0	Back in September,
0:11.0	back in September, Robin Wigglesworth got to serve as master of ceremonies at this
0:16.0	fancy Wall Street gala.
0:18.0	I was in there, luckily not a tucks, but I was kind of suited to booters in this one say in the UK.
0:23.2	Robin is an editor at the Financial Times and when he showed up at the dinner
0:27.3	he was pretty excited because he had requested a special plus one
0:31.9	in exchange for M seeing the event.
0:33.7	I said look I'll do it if I can invite a guest of honor.
0:36.8	That guest of honor, a 400 year old piece of parchment made of goat skin and covered in handwritten ancient Dutch. It is a bond, a
0:46.3	document that was issued when someone borrowed money and promised to pay it back with
0:50.6	interest. But this is not just any old bond, it is a bond that is a bond that still pays out interest every single year.
0:57.3	That makes it the world's oldest living bond.
1:00.3	This bond, which Robin really wanted to see for himself, is currently owned by the New York Stock Exchange.
1:06.0	He got the exchange to bring it to the dinner to be his guest of honor.
1:09.0	In my world, I don't care about King Kardashian or Brad Pitt, but a 400-year-old bond that really rocks my world.
1:15.8	It really rocked my world too because I got to go see this bond in person.
1:21.8	This is the indicator from Planet Money.
1:24.0	I'm Brittany Cronin.
1:25.1	And I'm Wailen Wong.
1:26.2	Today on the show, the story of the world's oldest living bond.
	...

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