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In what can be called a true modern day miracle, 5 year old
Toby Cahill successfully deciphered and explained a detailed
company benefits package to his awestruck parents just seconds
before they were about to sign the contract.
Helen and James Cahill listened with amazement as their
son explained the terms and conditions of a pension plan sold
to them by National Provident, one of the world's largest
financial corporations after repeated explanations by company
representatives failed to uncover the true picture.
Alan Bravic, the insurance salesman responsible for the
policy was stunned when he realized the child may have prevented
him from closing the deal which stands to earn him and his
company tens of thousands of dollars over the course of the
Cahills' lives.
"I was well into the second hour, explaining the index-linked
ratio of the standard time-earned share-based portfolio that
pays on a per-term basis," Bravic explained. "The
Cahills had gotten that glazed-over look, indicating complete
submission and utter helplessness. I was getting the final
agreement ready when that little kid wandered into the room
looking for some juice."
Bravic noticed that little Toby began tapping random numbers
on the desk calculator, which everyone agreed was really cute.
That is, until Toby explained the calculations to his incredulous
parents.
"Our research has shown that using randomly-generated
figures, there is an extremely small chance that the true
cost of a pension plan can be calculated." Bravic said
afterwards. The salesman's fears were confirmed when Helen
Cahill calmly asked if her son's figures were right.
Despite a complete lack of understanding of compound interest,
loss-adjusted stock trading, long-term bonds and basic multiplication,
Toby Cahill had correctly estimated the sum his parents would
generate for the company over the course of their working
life. But this was nothing compared to the shock when Toby
went on to deduce the actual amount they would receive
from the policy.
Fortunately for the financial services industry, incidents
like this are extremely rare. It is estimated that only 2-3%
of pension plans are even partly understood by adults, and
children are usually too busy urinating on themselves to notice
discrepancies in the policy.
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