Assignment nearer home for the financial advisers: Sue Fieldman hears how some of the professionals would handle their children's pounds 100 Christmas presents

Spending money is child's play. If someone hands you pounds 100 just before Christmas then, any two-year-old will tell you, you take the money and run to the nearest toy shop.

Give pounds 100 to their parents and the children do not even have a whiff of the readies. The money is invested in some boring building society or unit trust before you can even say the word 'Nintendo'.

The financial professionals - accountants, stockbrokers, bank managers - spend their lives telling other people what to do with their money. But, when it comes to their own children, their financial advice leaves their offspring decidely unimpressed.