Size Matters

Men with longer proportionally longer ring fingers than index fingers have a higher chance at success in risky businesses like rapid stocks trading, though unfortunately there’s no data on how finger length affects other risky businesses such as running a home brothel. This according to a study by the U.K.’s University of Cambridge, which found that over twenty months, a group of male stock traders with a wider ratio between the lengths of their ring and index fingers made eleven times more money than those whose ring and index fingers were closer to the same size. The difference in length between the two fingers is determined during the development of the fetus, when exposure to testosterone can cause the ring finger to grow longer. Increased testosterone can make a man more prone to risk taking and aggression—potentially lucrative traits in a trader. Still, the difference between long-fingered traders and short-fingered traders wasn’t much more than the difference between those with experience and those without. Veteran traders make about nine times more money than less experienced ones, regardless of finger length. Unfortunately for me, the fact that my fingers are separated by a thin, webby flap of skin means that I’ll only be particularly successful in a post-apocalyptic waterworld. More details here.