Your endowment provider may have been quick to point out that you can increase your endowment premiums to make up for the shortfall, but frankly this may well feel like throwing good money after bad.

BBC: NEWS | Programmes | Big Spender | Falling short

"There are no specifics in the speech and Arab countries are looking for specifics at this point, " said Marina Ottaway, director of the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

WSJ: Obama Calls for Unity With Muslims

There are other options for those facing a critical point in their finances, who face a shortfall, and who have not decoupled their endowment and their mortgage, according to Danny Cox, of financial advisers Hargreaves Lansdown.

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