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General Discussion => Welcome and General Discussion => Topic started by: dungoofed on February 26, 2015, 03:27:30 PM

Title: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: dungoofed on February 26, 2015, 03:27:30 PM
"[G]enetic differences explained roughly 33% of the variations in individual savings rates."

http://qz.com/349926/your-genes-help-determine-how-much-money-you-save/


I imagine the Loans section of the bank of the future:

"Please spit here ma'am.... ok thanks, just analysing now.... and... hm. I'm sorry, our results show that someone of your genetic makeup only has an 11.6% chance of paying back a loan of this size..... Yes it really is quite unfortunate. Maybe if you have some Jewish friends who can guarantee this loan you could come back and apply again in future..."
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: SaintM on February 26, 2015, 04:08:58 PM
No, it's experiences and upbringing.
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: jopiquant on February 26, 2015, 04:13:22 PM
DH and I are, ahem, frugal, largely because our parents were not careful enough with their money.
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: MsRichLife on February 26, 2015, 04:45:54 PM
DH and I are, ahem, frugal, largely because our parents were not careful enough with their money.

Ditto. My parents were terrible with money and there was always so much stress in our house about it. I grew up knowing I would never allow myself to be in that situation.
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: MrMoogle on February 26, 2015, 05:21:12 PM
When I was little, my parents were frugal.  Now not so much, but they're not awful.  My younger sister is somewhat frugal.  My even younger brother, not frugal at all.  We're each about as frugal as my parents were when we were 5 or so. 
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: libertarian4321 on February 27, 2015, 02:22:08 PM
My parents were very working class and frugal.

I'm a frugal multi-millionaire.

My brother is a typical American, good salary, but always just getting by.  Not drowning in debt, but no substantial assets outside of his home and 401K.

Maybe there was a mix up at the hospital, and he's not really my brother? L)
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: Gone Fishing on February 27, 2015, 02:31:15 PM
I believe it.  We come preprogrammed, not to say we can not change or be influenced, but those genes are certainly hard at work every day of our lives.
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: Zikoris on February 27, 2015, 02:35:13 PM
Out of my entire immediate and extended family, there was precisely one person who ever saved money (paternal grandfather). Everyone else spend everything, though most of them had the good fortune to choose jobs with pensions, so they're mostly not destitute.
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: southern granny on February 27, 2015, 05:27:18 PM
not genetics in my family.  I have two children, both raised the same way.  One has been careful with money since their first paycheck.  The other one acted like he had hit the lottery every payday and would be broke by Monday. 
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: Gray Matter on February 27, 2015, 05:37:20 PM
not genetics in my family.  I have two children, both raised the same way.  One has been careful with money since their first paycheck.  The other one acted like he had hit the lottery every payday and would be broke by Monday.

Interesting that you take this to mean it's not genetics, whereas I might think it makes it more likely to be genetics.  If they've had the same "nurture" (in theory), then what explains the difference?  (Not that it's as simple as nature vs. nurture, and it's more likely the intersection of the two among other things.)  But maybe one kid got a personality trait that contributes to savings (e.g. conscientiousness) and the other inherited a personality trait that doesn't (e.g., impulsiveness).   

I wouldn't be surprised at all to find there's a genetic component to savings rates--I'm actually a little surprised it only explains 33% of the variance according to this research.  So many things that I thought were strictly upbringing have a pretty strong genetic component, for example, religiousness.  If I remember correctly, "what" you believe tends to be dependent on nurture, but the degree to which you believe and are religious has a strong genetic component.  Identical twins raised apart are more likely to have levels of religiousness similar to each other than to their adoptive parents.

Interesting stuff!
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: Retired To Win on February 28, 2015, 07:07:43 PM
If I took after my Dad, I wouldn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.  The man has never saved a dime.  And I do look just like him, so I know the genetic link is there.

My Mother did have more of a frugal component to her personality.  Unbeknownst to my Father, she managed to squirrel away from the housekeeping money enough to come up with the downpayment for a house.  Otherwise, that house would have never, ever happened.

Thanks, Mom.
Title: Re: Mustachianness Determined by Genes?
Post by: act0fgod on March 01, 2015, 05:28:22 AM
I imagine the Loans section of the bank of the future:

"Please spit here ma'am.... ok thanks, just analysing now.... and... hm. I'm sorry, our results show that someone of your genetic makeup only has an 11.6% chance of paying back a loan of this size..... Yes it really is quite unfortunate. Maybe if you have some Jewish friends who can guarantee this loan you could come back and apply again in future..."

If you've never seen the movie Gattaca I recommend it.