Being good at saving money is because of genes not parenting, says study

By on April 23, 2017
photo by magnolia

Good financial habits has always been perceived as something instilled by parents in their kids. But a study on The Origins of Savings Behavior by behavioral finance researchers Henrik Cronqvist and Stephan Siegel says it’s the genes that decide if you’re a good saver or not. When it comes to a choice between saving or spending money, genetic factors come into play regardless of wealth, gender or preconditioning.

The study analyzed the savings behavior of 14,930 identical (genetically identical) and fraternal (genetically different) twins, ages 20-65, from the Swedish Twin Registry (STR), the world’s largest twin registry.

Research professors found that what people do with money between the ages of 20 and 25 is partly influenced by what parents taught them. However, it decays for those in their forties.

Depending on the genetic make-up, people who are good at saving money are also highly patient and have a good self-control. This explains why good savers are less likely to smoke and are slimmer.

“Savings behavior is genetic, and find that savings is genetically correlated with income growth, smoking, and body mass index, suggesting that the genetic component of savings behavior reflects time preferences as well as lack of self-control.

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