Per Jessica Stillman in Inc. “Scientists Tracked 1,000 Kids for 40 Years. This was the No.1 Predictor of Financial Success”.

“If you wanted to figure out what really matters for raising happy, successful kids, you’d need to randomly select a bunch of babies from a broad spectrum of backgrounds. Then you’d need to follow them for decades. Only after measuring a multitude of factors about their personalities, families, schools, and neighborhoods could you tease out what mattered and what didn’t.

That sounds like a tall ask. But thanks to a team of dedicated psychologists who have been following and intimately recording the lives of more than 1,000 kids from the New Zealand town of Dunedin since 1972, we actually have such a study.

Parents often stress about their kids’ academic performance, worth ethic, and behavior toward others. Those things are clearly important. But according to the Dunedin study, none of them is the best predictor of whether a particular child will grow up to lead a satisfying, financially stable life. Neither is the wealth, education, or socioeconomic status of the parents.

What seems to matter most is whether kids understand their emotions and manage their reactions to them constructively.

Emotional intelligence isn’t just about being nice or even keeled. It’s a fundamental skill that greatly impacts how well kids do emotionally and financially. Which means parents should probably pay as much attention to it as they do to report cards and manners."

Emotional intelligence(EQ)is often overlooked. While children learn from life experiences and by observing how adults around them react to things, this study reemphasizes the need for EQ eductiona in schools, at home, and also social awareness of EQ.