Do Rich Parents Matter Round Up?
| January 28, 2011 | Posted by Roshawn Watson under Uncategorized |
By: Roshawn Watson
- The home environment of 10 months olds was the key determinant of mental ability across every socioeconomic level.
- However, at 2 years, wealth made a big difference. For 80% of the children from lower SES, their mental ability was still determined by the parents. Genetics had negligible effects.
- For wealthy 2-year olds, the outcome was starkly different. Genetics accounted for nearly 50% of all differences in mental ability. This determination was made because identical twins performed much more similarly than fraternal twins. Home environment was much less important (“a distant second”).
Thought Question: What do you think of this research and what kinds of things do you do (or your parents) to give children the edge?
Uncommon Money News and Round Up
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Personal Finance (Yakezie and other PF bloggers)
Which Financial Author Should You Follow? at Money Reasons – Don writes about the distinctions between popular personal finance authors: Dave Ramsey, Robert Kiyosaki, and David Bach.
How To Calculate A Time Weighted Return? at DIY Investor – Robert challenges DIY investors to monitor their portfolio performances more closely by using this calculation.
Spend $10 Cash or Use $20 Store Credit at Retire By 40 – Talk about an interesting dilemma, RB40 poses a dilemma that we’ve all faced. What I found even more interesting than the question was that every came up with an identical answer!
Up From The Projects at The Biz Of Life – I’m not much for book reviews, but the Grouch makes an easy case for reading Walter Williams’s autobiography. This is the aggregate wisdom this trailblazer has accumulated over a lifetime.
Centavos Dividend Stocks at 101 Centavos -Andrew gives a peak inside of his dividend-generating holdings.
10 Home Renovation Tips Learned From Experience at Everyday Tips and Thoughts – Kris explores 10 ways to get the most out of a home renovation.
How Much Home Can You Really Afford at Invest It Wisely – Oldie but goodie… It’s quintessential to not overextend yourself for the reasons we discussed earlier this week.
100 Words on Credit Cards at Len Penzo – Len challenges the “credit cards are evil” camp.
Business
How Education Impacts Your Income
Google CEO surprise: Larry Page replacing Eric Schmidt
Groupon CEO says exploring IPO; no decision
Google to hire more than 6,200 workers this year
Housing
US Home Prices Slump Again
Secretary Geithner Sends Debt Limit Letter to Congress
Entertainment Money News
Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Mansion for sale for $28 million (pics)
Regis Philbin Quits over pay cut (from $18-$20 million…)
Hollywood Comedy Queens – How Much Do Their Movies Rake In?
They’re Rich and Famous and In Foreclosure
Offbeat Money News
The End of Credit Cards
Carnivals that I’ve participated in:
Festival of Frugality at Spruce Up Your Finances – What Are Your Financial Regrets? (Editor’s Pick)
Round ups that linked to posts from this site
- Kris at Everyday Tips and Thoughts – Weekend Round Up – 3 Teens Editions
- Kevin at Invest It Wisely – Weekend Reading: Moving Edition
- Don at Money Reasons – MR Cache: Getting Traction
- Andrew at 101 Centavos – Random Comments and Round Up links
- Len at Len Penzo – Black Coffee Round Up
- Retire By 40 – Blogging Fun and Napping
- Funny About Money – Moments of Fame
- Maximizing Money – 58 Ways To Save or Make Extra Money
Non-Round Up Mentions
- Khaleef at KNS Financial – Best Personal Finance Blogs in 2010 and Ones to Watch in 2011
- Miranda at Moolanomy – 11 Lesser Known Finance Blogs to Read in 2011
Thanks for the mention. The studies with separated twins are interesting because presumably they are able to separate out the impact of home life, wealth etc. For the others there are a lot of correlation issues.
I also have a bit of a problem because I'm sure that the studies recognize all the forms of intelligence.
In my own anecdotal types of observations a high level of intelligence is sufficient, but apparently not necessary, to go a long way in the accumulation of wealth but super smart people are typically challenged when it comes to understanding how wealth is accumulated.
Very interesting study. I wonder how much diet has to do with intelligence in young ones. Think about how much those brains are growing. If the body is fueled with convenience food vs. healthy fruits and vegetables, you would think it would have an impact.
I totally agree with the research. We read to them every night, taught them how to read when they showed interest, talked to them like an adult in complete sentences and exposed them to enriching experiences such as museums, plays, and other things. We encourage them in everything they did. Last, perhaps most important we modeled good behavior. They saw us read, work hard and how we problem solved issues.
Thanks for the mention!
I heard about the story on NPR. Pretty fascinating. Baby is joining us pretty soon so we'll see if we can raise a good kid in 20 years or so.
The conclusion I took from the story is to marry the smartest most physically gifted gal you can find. 🙂
Super-intelligence as a handicap seems counter-intuitive, but if with that higher IQ comes arrogance, then he or she will always be trying to reinvent the wheel instead of just going for the ride.
Like you, I love twin studies!
Great point. Now that I know the results, there are so many variable that I'm curious about with respect to this study. I've always been amazed at the difference in mental ability attributable to diet (of course, this serves as the basis for free lunch in some public school districts)
I think it does make a big difference. Kids and even babies are a lot more resilient and capable than we give them credit for sometimes. I would hate to think what my life would be like if my family didn't take an interest in my academic development from an early age.
One good part about it is all the things you mention can be considered as fun to a little one!
Ha! I don't see anything wrong with your conclusion LOL!
Congrats on the baby, and I think it is funny that you say you'll find out in 20 years. You know the old saying, if you haven't given them at least something to go to the therapist about, they haven't truly had their rite of passage JK
Kids are the absolute best but sometimes they are not easy to raise. Each of my 3 got me to do something in life I wouldn't have done and to me that's what it's all about. My son lives in Alaska and I doubt I would have ever gone without him. Landing on Mt. McKinley and seeing the base camp of the mountain climbers was the thrill of a lifetime. My oldest daughter studied abroad in Italy for her architecture degree. Visiting her in Venice was a thrill. My youngest did an externship at Stella restaurant in the French Quarter ( part of the Culinary Institute curriculum to get a degree to be a pastry chef) in New Orleans the year after Katrina. She lived in the lower ninth ward for 2 months and got an eyeopener as we did when we visited her.
Enjoy your baby…the years go too fast. I envy you!
Thanks for the mention. I take all of these studies with a big grain of salt. These studies usually tell us more about the people conducting the study than the people that are part of the study. Parenting matters a lot in how kids turn out. I wouldn't say the super-rich are great parents or produce great kids. Quite frankly, they delegate a lot of the parenting to others while they pursue making money. I guess I'm saying there's a lot more to being a success than IQ. I think kids raised in the lower to middle classes by ambitious parent who instill drive in the youngsters have a lot better chance of being a successful than those born with a silver spoon in their mouths.
Thanks for the mention.
This is unusual, but I disagree with Biz of Life for once.
If you are poorer (or say a single parent), you might have to work multiple jobs or perhaps you aren't educated yourself. In that case, it's hard to teach your child if you are exhausted every night after work or you don't know how since you weren't educated yourself.
I know it's somewhat of a status statement if your wife is a SAHM. And if you are very rich, you can have educated nannies raise your kids in addition to your wife, not to mention tutors…
In my household (even though we aren't rich), my wife is a SAHM and so far, our kids are turning out great. My daughter (7) is now starting to taking music lessons. I wish I had my daughter learn a foreign language as a younger child though…
I think a lot of success and mental abilities have to do with the drive you have. If you don't have drive or ambition you have a harder time at big time success, or so it would seem to me…
If the rich were such great parents, there wouldn't be that phenomenon known as the second-generation curse (or 3rd gen, in some cases). I agree with both
What we try do to with our kids is spend time with them, and try make them as self-reliant as possible — sometimes a hard enough task with #2 son . We'll avoid repeating our own parents' mistakes, and make brand new mistakes of our own. But one thing is for sure and I agree w/ DYI investor's sentiment: the years sure are flying by!
By the way, thanks for the mention, Shawn.
Kids get you to do things that you don't normally do. That's very interesting food for thought. I suppose it may also be true that kids can help you become someone that you would not be otherwise.
Cheers!
That's a great point. I've made it before, but it certainly needs to be repeated. When evaluating research there are always biases, assumptions, limitations, etc. to applying the data that don't often get discussed except by experts in a given field. That confounds their interpretation and often leads to erroneous understanding of data.
I understand your concern about super-rich, but it really seems like it depends. Donald Trump, love him or hate him, is my most people's definition "super-rich." Although he has two that are under 18, by all accounts all his three grown children appear well-adjusted, contributing members of society. They avoid tabloid fodder, attended school, worked outside of daddy's company, and ultimately are taking on projects that extend the Trump brand.
The same could be said about Dave Ramsey's kids although I would not describe him as "super-rich," but rather merely rich 🙂
Your point about children from poor to middle class with ambitious parents really strikes home because that stories resonates with me and many of my friends. Most of us got graduate degrees and/or high-level jobs. While the jury is still out on whether some of us become financially successful, I do feel like many of us are probably considered accomplished by our peers.
As I see below, your comment has already spurred a little controversy 🙂
Cheers!
Don, I agree with you that it is very important not to make far-reaching generalizations about parents contribution to one's success. That's only one factor, and as I suggested earlier, I wonder what this data would look like as these kids got older.
Here's what I mean, parents may exercise a great deal of control at a young age, but what happens if/when that child begins to rebel, follow their own pursuits (interest in music or other low-paying vocation), etc.
I 100% agree that parents can only do so much, yet are important.
You are welcome, and I think it is funny that you said "we'll avoid repeating our own parents' mistakes, and make brand new mistakes of our own." I think everyone feels that way 🙂
Cheers!
Yes a brilliant article I am pleased to have found it.This actually emphasises on how children and parents think and react upon each others activities and doing.
I wonder if someday we will find a way to smooth out the genetic variance as well. We have control over a lot, but it's funny how so much is due to random chance as well — our appearance, our genes, our parents, etc… are all factors that we have no apparent control over. Much of this will change in the future…
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