Why is it tha
t some people make a killing in the stock market and other sit fearfully on the sidelines? A team of researchers from Stanford University think the answer is in your genes. A Stanford news release reports that research has revealed that at the prospect of a making an investment, people who have a certain combination of anxiety-generating genes worry, and that worry leads to safer choices. Here’s how they know: The researchers asked 60 volunteers to divvy up $10,000 among three investment options: stocks, bonds or cash. On average, study participants with two short versions of a serotonin gene called 5-HTTLPR alleles kept 24 percent more of that money in cash than did the two-long-allele carriers, who put more money in stocks. When the researchers looked for other factors that might influence the decision, things such as financial literacy, cognition and income level, they appeared to play no role. The only difference was in the genes. Wait, there’s more. The researchers also watched how participants’ brains reacted during a game in which they learned, by trial-and-error, which of two options carried greater financial risk. Short gene carriers showed heightened anxiety before making a decision, but reacted no differently than long-allele carriers when they saw a negative outcome. “The difference between these people is not about how they react to outcomes,” the researchers concluded. “It’s about how, before the choice, they think about the decision.” Take a chance and read more from Stanford.ÂÂ