To be fair, it would go a long way now, invested astutely. But the intervening decade has seen obvious changes.

In 1993, 50,000 could have bought a house. Not just some dilapidated barely recognisable cotter's cottage on a patch of boggy land where the rain for some reason seems wetter than usual.

No, back then 50,000 could have bought a well appointed home in one of Dublin's well-to-do suburbs. Elsewhere in the country it could have bought an even bigger home.

But 50,000 in cash could have been used to buy an awful lot more. Had a 10% deposit been paid on a house worth 50,000, there would have been enough in the kitty to become part of the landed gentry. In fact, 50,000 cash could have been used back then to fund deposits on ten such homes.

The mathematics is easy. Even the dogs on the street are talking about how property prices have soared. They can't even afford kennels. But even those lacking the prescience to buy into property might have gone for stocks. And there have been some real stars.

A 50,000 lump sum could be worth millions of euro by now if it had been stuffed into the right stocks. Even in a well managed fund the returns should have been quite respectable.

Equally though, 50,000 invested in haste during the dotcom boom is likely to have evaporated quickly unless taken off the table very quickly. We look at some of the options for investing 50,000 back in 1993 and what it might be worth now.

HOUSE Then: /65,000 to /70,000 Now: /1.2m to /1.3m Talk about price appreciation.

When the Taoiseach bought his home in Drumcondra (right) cost roughly the same as a property on Beresford Avenue - about 70,000.

The street is just around the corner from Ahern's house. The homes now sell for a multiple of 17 times their original value.

It's paydirt for owners lucky enough to buy just before the property market took aim, not just for the stratosphere, but the edge of the heliosphere.

Estate agent GWD currently has a listing for a home on Beresford Avenue. It's seeking 1.7m for the spacious, detached, four-bedroom house which extends over 2,000sq ft. In 1993, 50,000 would have bought a red-brick semidetached house in Drumcondra. It could now sell for as much as 1.1m. The more expensive Iona Road would have set a buyer back about 90,000 for an old pre-World War I redbrick. They now hit the market at prices typically between 1.6m and 1.7m, according to one local estate agent.

FUNDS Warren Buffet's (right) Berkshire Hathaway helps to give some indication of how an investment fund has performed in the past 13 years. Buffet notoriously eschewed dodgy dotcom stocks in the late 1990s and many other funds now mimic his strategy, zoning in on stocks that he bought.

At the end of 1993, a share in Berkshire Hathaway cost $16,325. Last Thursday they were trading at $95,600, representing a multiple of 5.9. The company does not pay dividends. At the end of 1993, the Irish pound was worth just under $1.41. That means that £39,000 would have been worth almost $55,000.

That would have bought three shares, with $6,000 left over in change. Those three shares are now valued at just under $287,000. That's the equivalent of 226,000. Not a bad return at all.

EQUITIES Then: /50,000 Now: /2.9m (Anglo Irish Bank) Anglo Irish Bank is the outstanding performer on the Irish stock exchange in the past 13 years. Under the stewardship of former chief executive Sean Fitzpatrick, the bank evolved from a minnow to an impressive niche player with substantial business in the US and UK as well as Ireland.

Assuming dividends were reinvested, and accounting for stock splits in the intervening years, the stock has appreciated by 5,823% since late 1993. That means that 50,000 invested then would now be worth almost 3m.

The ISEQ has performed extremely well in the past number of years. In fact it's been amongst the world's best performing indices. The ISEQ has appreciated 325% since late 1993.

Other stocks have also fared well. Bank of Ireland has generated a return of 1,216% assuming splits and dividends reinvested since September 1993, equating to an annual return of just over 22%. The 50,000 invested then would now be worth 608,000. Building materials firm CRH afforded an 805% return in the same period and on the same basis. A sum of 50,000 would now be worth over 402,000.