Seen in the New York Times:
IF you get speeding tickets, watch out: The chances are good that you will also engage in possibly dangerous investing behavior, too. That is the implication of a new study that found that individuals who receive more speeding tickets tend to churn their portfolios.[...]
These rich data sets enabled the professors to eliminate from consideration other possible causes of trading activity and focus on the distinct influence of speeding tickets. They found that, other things being equal, an investor’s portfolio turnover rate rose 11 percent after each additional speeding ticket he received. That is a surprisingly strong correlation, and is highly significant from a statistical point of view, according to the professors.
Now, you consider that in the U.S., there is a large body of people who refuse to believe in the correlation between a consumer’s credit history and expectations of future insurance losses. Yet, we have here a study that documents a correlation between financial risk-taking and driving behavior.
Hmmmm….kinda makes you think, don’t it?