Friday, 30 January 2009

Where have all the dollars gone?

Ten years ago, just before the birth of our first child, my wife decided to set up a school-fee fund for the little brute. Every month, £100 (Dh524) went out of our joint account. As we watched stock markets around the world soar and property prices double just about everywhere, we were reassured that even the most stupid financial adviser would have been able to do something impressive with our savings.

This week the policy matured. We threw aside the brochures from Marlborough and Roedean, and scanned the letter with some anticipation.

Even a personal finance editor could work out how much we had paid into the fund: 12 months x £100 equals £1,200. Multiply £1,200 x 10 and you get £12,000 (Dh62,290). That surely would be the minimum we could expect: we would have earned that by putting it under the mattress.

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