No doubt that, along with all of the commissions he pocketed from selling them to mugs like us left him very nicely off indeed.
I got a little endowment policy in '95 when I bought a half share in a house, and then another one came along a little later when we moved in here. Roll the clock forward a few years, and the "red alert" letters started arriving on the mat at regular intervals.
Well, this year I've finally given up on them. Both of the lame policies have been cashed in. It depresses me to report that whilst the smaller one did eventually crawl its way into the black, the larger one, despite being around for well over ten years, didn't quite manage to pay back as much as the amount of contributions that had been paid in, never mind any interest.
So, today I had an appointment at the building society, and the proceeds of the policies have been applied to reduce the balance outstanding on the mortgage. So rather than earning no interest, at least we will now be saving some.