Agency officials say they have no interest in seeing that portfolio grow.

Over the seven years of the contest, their portfolios grew to $138,500, on average.

If the plan generated an annual return of 8 percent, the portfolio would grow to $54,545.

At the same time, the portfolios have grown.

"Their portfolio grew by a bit over 10 percent on average, which was good but not astounding," she said.

A well-balanced portfolio of stocks, bonds and money market accounts would probably have grown by 10 to 12 percent a year during this period.

His portfolio has grown from $50,000 when the contest began on July 7, 1993, to $70,000 - a gain of 40 percent.

Actually, it was a lot of bucks, and his portfolio was still growing.

Our portfolio for the year grew from $100 million to $710 million.

Its portfolio grows at an annual rate of about 10% compounded.