The longer the phalanges, the better with your moneys.

credit: don park

Okay that was a stretch wasn’t it?  I’m talking about a study conducted by those smart guys with bad teeth over in Cambridge University.  They looked at a number of stock brokers in London, and found a fascinating correlation.  As it turns out, brokers with longer ring fingers have a greater success rate in the industry. They make more money and last longer in the business.

Before I lose your interest, trust me I take it a step further into the abstract.  But first the study.  The nerds studying the jocks are speculating that the correlation has to do with what they know of large handed gents. The academic community knows that people with larger hands were given an extra dose of testosterone while still in nature’s incubator – the womb.  The personality traits associated with the jolt of nature’s steroids are confidence, persistence, and an increased numbness to the downside of taking risks. These are all traits that come in handy when you’re a broker.

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Now all that is fascinating stuff because I love correlations, but I’m drawing a bigger picture from it.  We have generally accepted that some people are born genetically superior to others.  We most often observe this in athletics.  The African-American population has dominated basketball and football since the 70s.  This is in part due to their genetic make-up giving them the ability to run faster, jump higher, and build muscle better than their pudgy counterparts managing their money (that’s me).  But we don’t often think that genetics plays a role in other aspects of our lives. That’s why Donald Trump sells so many books and your think you can pick stocks like Warren Buffet.

But obviously, studies like the one above point out that our genetics plays a bigger role beyond one’s ability to throw a field goal or whatever it is they do with those leather projectiles they call balls.  A study of wealthy business founders may find that they all had blond hair as babies, which is an indicator of increased brain activity in the frontal lobe (this is made up).  This would also lend to the notion that Jews are good with money, since they are just as much a race as they are religion, and carry similar genetic traits.

What this means is that, in some way, you are genetically pre-wired to be better at something than the rest of the population.  You might only be better at getting sick, or folding laundry, but you are better than me.  I think this is what school is all about – finding what you are good at.  Not everyone finds it as quickly as I did (about age 4 and then again at 20), and for the most part I blame the current education system.  Students aren’t given enough opportunities to explore what they could really be talented at doing.  In high school they could have taken a mechanic’s course and learned they are fantastic with a wrench and don’t need a 4-year degree.  But that wasn’t offered because the school board thinks it’s vital to learn Shakespeare and Pre-Cal.  Instead they end up with a BA in communications and serving drinks at their favorite bar with $20k in student debt.

I’m not saying that if you have small fingers you can’t make money trading stocks, nor is this study.  Just be mindful that people will always be better than you at something, so use their skills to complement your own.  Pick the black guy when playing ball at the gym, look for a financial advisor with either long fingers or a last name ending in “ski,” and go start a laundry service.

By The Weakonomist

The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice.

categories: college of weakonomics, investing