Cat beats stock brokers in financial challenge

Now this will come to the surprise of no cats or cat conspiracy theorists but a financially astute feline has come out on top in a recent study of who can make the most money on the stock market.

The challenge: The Observer wanted to see if experience really made a difference on your ability to pick stocks. So they assembled three different groups: three professionals (comprising of a wealth manager, a stock broker and a fund manager), a class of secondary school students and Orlando, a cat.

They were each given £5,000 to invest in five companies at the start of the 2012. Every three months, they were then allowed to shift their money around. The cat did this by throwing his favourite toy mouse around a grid of numbers.

At the end of the first quarter, the professionals were on top with a profit of £497 versus the cat's £292. But after a surprisingly strong end to the year, Orlando raced out ahead.

Ultimately, the cat made a sterling £542 profit while the professionals only managed to make £176. The kids ended up losing £160.

The study shows that either a) it's totally random or b) cats will end up taking all of our money and ruling us all.

[via The Observer]

(Image: Shutterstock)