The New York Times reports the results of a study (here) on investors’ acumen and how age affects it.

The results? When it comes to stock-picking, the researchers concludes older stock pickers fare even worse than younger ones. They said their findings were consistent with their hypothesis, namely that “older investors’ portfolio choices reflect greater knowledge about investing but their investment skill deteriorates with age.”

But the researchers – and The New York Times – missed something. Because what these researchers really found was that no single age group could consistently beat the market.

There’s a shock. Most mutual fund managers can’t beat the market, either – and they get a percentage of your mutual fund investment!

These researchers have, essentially, shown that investing acumen is an individual trait – and largely dependent on the amount of time each person dedicates to learning the task.

Investing is about making informed decisions, right? So, work with me on this one – if the investors they researched never actually learned how to invest, how could anyone think they would become better investors with age?