Mislaid $50 note provides novel lesson on the power of inflation

not only have earned a bit of capital growth, but it would have saved, at an average borrowing rate of 8 per cent, interest of an average of $4 a year.

There aren’t many share funds that have been around for 20 years, thanks to the continual opening and closing of them thanks to fund managers shutting up shop, or buying one another.

One that has is OneAnswer’s single asset class New Zealand share fund launched in March 1991. It’s per annum return, after fees but before tax, since launch has been just under 11 per cent, a long way ahead of what the bank would have paid me.

Bank deposit, property, sharemarket – three places my $50 would have fared better than keeping my place in a novel I never finished.

On its own, the fate of my $50 doesn’t amount to much.

It’s the sum of the use of all the $50s that come a person’s way that really counts.