From my own experience of two years ago, when I received my first such letter, I calculated that from the time in 1991 that I took out my endowment to the time I was sent the my first "shortfall warning" letter my policy had performed far, far better than the letter was suggesting.

BBC: Endowment misery grows

Chiefly, however, during this time Harvard managed its endowment assets very conservatively.

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Mr. Theil said management "feels strongly" that it should put one-time gifts into the endowment instead of using them to pay for continuing operations.

WSJ: San Francisco Symphony Strike Drags On

Finally, if you shop around for a better deal, you could actually cover your endowment shortfall and save money at the same time - giving you the best of both worlds.

BBC: NEWS | Programmes | Big Spender | Falling short

At least one endowment manager recently surveyed by Preqin suggested that as big investors abandon the asset class it was a good time to invest.

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