Science News Archive

Brains Make Bad Investors

Brains aren't everything. According to research by Barclays Global Investors, the higher your IQ, the more likely you are to be a bad investor. Intelligent people have trouble being disciplined in the way they stash their cash. But if your portfolio is looking bad, then take heart - you're in good company. Sir Isaac Newton, the man who discovered the laws of gravity whilst watching apples fall from a tree, was a keen, but unsuccessful stock market punter. He managed to lose the equivalent of £1.5 million pounds, investing in South Seas ventures (the 18th century equivalent of dot com companies) just before the bubble burst. Newton said "I can measure the motions of bodies, but I cannot measure human folly".

6th Oct 2001