Financial Incompetents should have Big Heads

"Stupid people should have big heads." - 1990s comedian

I heard this comment in a comedy act in the 90s and couldn't stop laughing. The main premise of the monologue was that stupid people should have heads 2-3 times bigger than normal. The reason was so that normal people could easily identify who the stupid people were. They would be all the people with the really big heads.

Wouldn't it be great if financially incompetent people had really big heads? Here are my two reasons:

We would know which people did not have good financial sense. For example, such knowledge may have prevented the financial crisis. Imagine if all the brokers offering subprime mortgages to unqualified applicants had big heads, borrowers would have known not to take the loan offer :-) On the opposite side, mortgage lenders could be held financially liable for taken advantage of a financially incompetent person. How could they have known? - by the size of the borrower's head, of course.

Financially incompetent people would know they need help for financial decisions. In the real world, financial incompetents don't know they are incompetent. In fact, some of them believe they are above average in financial matters. Having a big head would help clear up the confusion :-)

Best of all, politicians couldn't hide their financial incompetence, which helped create the current economic crisis. Some would probably have heads big enough that would cause them to tip over :-)

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial or intelligence advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2010 Achievement Catalyst, LLC