When I was in high school in the 1970s, a friend of mine inherited just shy of a half million dollars from his wealthy grandmother. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to touch it till he became 18. Unfortunate, because the broker who was holding it was given total control over how it would be "safeguarded" till then, and he invested it in such a way (high yield "junk" bonds, as I recall) that 90% of it was lost by that time.