Crazy Memory Skills - How to Monetize?

My son has crazy memory skills, ie. Pi to 50 digits in 7th grade, 20 digit alpha-numeric software password in 5th grade. Words also, Spanish enough to get A's without really understanding the language.

It's something he was born with - how on earth can he monetize that? Seems like he could fly through medical school with it but what in the world of finance could he do to take advantage of that gift?

 
Best Response
  1. Jeopardy
  2. Chess
  3. Baseball statistician a la Bill James

in all seriousness, that probably just means he has a strong IQ and not enough stuff to occupy his brain. CFA L1 requires a lot of memorization but aside from that I can't think of an application where he'd be at a significant advantage. perhaps maybe not as steep of a learning curve but what I would do is make sure he gets great math tutoring. I had crazy good memory before I discovered the opposite sex but I had awful math teachers so while I got A's I became disinterested.

as a Spanish speaker, I also want to say I would be cautious about his Spanish "abilities." since he's so young it's probably nothing, but I'd get him a tutor if he's simply memorizing word sequence instead of being able to understand what a narrative really means.

 
Cruncharoo:

I know this is going to sound crazy but how about he decide what he wants to do with his own life?

That is crazy. Nobody with kids would say that. You start pushing your kids in certain directions from the day they're born, whether consciously or unconsciously. Most kids here were expected to attend college, that was pushed by their parents at a level where kids don't even realized it was pushed on them. Once kids get to a certain age, it becomes harder to push them in a certain direction, because they have momentum in a certain direction. The job of the parents is to show the possibilities because kids really don't know what they are. This is one of the many reasons why successful parents more often have successful children than less successful parents: the successful parents show the paths that lead to success that the less successful parents don't even know exist.

@"paladin" I second the Jeopardy suggestion by the @"thebrofessor".

For most professions, he will need to develop critical thinking skills beyond just rote memorization. It's likely he probably has that as well, just make sure you encourage critical thinking instead of just memorization.

 
harveyrspecter:
HFer_wannabe:

wasn't there some movie with a little asian girl that had a great memory and was the only one who knew the secret code to a safe or something? She got kidnapped, so probably not a good job to have tho, imo

I think it was called "Safe" starring Jason Statham.

Yesssssssssssss. I assume OP's son is asian so this could still work

 

Interesting. I couldn't come up with anything either. He asks what he can do with this neat talent and I just don't know.

Global buyer of highly distressed industrial companies. Pays Finder Fees Criteria = $50 - $500M revenues. Highly distressed industrial. Limited Reps and Warranties. Can close in 1-2 weeks.
 

@dickfuld 's right. You push your kids to some degree unless you're some stereotype of a drunken trailor trash parent, and even then you're probably pushing them, just in a bad direction. You could go the other direction become a tiger and push the hell out of them until they jump off a parking garage in West Philly their freshman year.

As a parent myself, I would just encourage them in and out of school. Memory and technical skills are different so maybe he can memorize 50 digits but can he calculate 50 digits (he shouldn't be able to in 5th grade and if he can then it's a different story and you should probably contact Princeton right now) but if he takes harder math and summer programs maybe he can see if those are skills he also has and to see if he wants to develop them. Throw as wide a net out there and see what he truly enjoys. He's most likely very intelligent so expose him to everything, quant based like math, but also more liberal arts based like logic, English and philosophy. And make sure it's not all academic.

There are fields in finance where an awesome quant can make money such as trading (HFT now but if your son's 10 who knows what that will be like in a dozen+ years). In the meantime, counting cards honestly. Get good, go to Caribbean casinos when he's 18 then others when he's 21 and he could finance college doing it.

 

Pattern recognition is a large part of successful investing. I'm not talking about reading charts, either.

You can start teaching him how to apply his memory analytically (i.e. Chess), but attempting to instill a good base of common sense will probably help him go further in life than anything else.

[quote=patternfinder]Of course, I would just buy in scales. [/quote] See my WSO Blog | my AMA
 

i wold be a investment banker cause i would rember all the excel shortcuts and i wold never mess up a model cos i woud be smart and i never get fired/yelled at by my boss and i eventually get a job in private equity or mega fund cos i did so good at investment banking i would get good referels

 
Blalock:
i wold be a investment banker cause i would rember all the excel shortcuts and i wold never mess up a model cos i woud be smart and i never get fired/yelled at by my boss and i eventually get a job in private equity or mega fund cos i did so good at investment banking i would get good referels

I died at this.

 

I would take the LSAT and Bar exams for people so that they can get into Harvard Law School and become lawyers. Then, while on a drug delivery for a friend to get $25,000 for grandma's hospital bills, I would get a job from some Big Law asshole. Then I would go on leading a double-life where I pretend to be a lawyer despite never having gone to Law School.

“Millionaires don't use astrology, billionaires do”
 
Nouveau Richie:
I would take the LSAT and Bar exams for people so that they can get into Harvard Law School and become lawyers. Then, while on a drug delivery for a friend to get $25,000 for grandma's hospital bills, I would get a job from some Big Law asshole. Then I would go on leading a double-life where I pretend to be a lawyer despite never having gone to Law School.

I would watch that show!

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 
Nouveau Richie:
I would take the LSAT and Bar exams for people so that they can get into Harvard Law School and become lawyers. Then, while on a drug delivery for a friend to get $25,000 for grandma's hospital bills, I would get a job from some Big Law asshole. Then I would go on leading a double-life where I pretend to be a lawyer despite never having gone to Law School.

Gotta LOVE Suits!

 

I would GTFO WSO and put my talent to good use. But alas I don't have an exeptional memory....

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

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Power and Money do not change men; they only unmask them
 

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