Merchant cash advances can be higher: They charge annual rates up to 70%, collecting a slice of credit-card receipts in return for a lump sum.

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But some firms, most famously Matsushita, a big electronics manufacturer, have introduced a new scheme in which employees waive the lump sum at retirement in return for a higher salary.

ECONOMIST: Still work to be done

Whenever someone in the working poor or middle class receives a large sum of money, such as a tax return, he will usually spend all of that money.

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The five-year performance quoted above (like the ones in the tables beginning on page 136) is a time-weighted return, measuring results for a hypothetical investor who put in a sum at the beginning and stood pat.

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Currently run by Severn River Crossing Plc, the bridge will return to public ownership when the firm has collected a fixed sum of money from tolls, expected to be around 2017.

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Then, if such a family's tax return suggests its income is substantially lower than that sum the authorities might get suspicious.

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That sum includes return airfare for three weeks spent in Germany and for a two-week European brewing study tour, which often goes to Belgium and the Czech Republic.

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The church is offering a four-figure sum of money for information that leads to the return of the jewellery.

BBC: Ring

But a lump-sum investment at the beginning would have earned you an annual average total return of 3%.

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