Wednesday 14 December 2016 5:15 pm

You can totally judge a hedge fund manager by the type of car they drive

You can't judge a book by its cover, so we're told, but you can judge a hedge fund manager by the type of car they drive.

Supercar loving supremos might appear to be raking it in and flashing the cash in the form of a Ferrari, but they're no more likely to bring in higher returns than their Volvo driving counterparts, boffins believe. They will, however, deliver more volatile returns.

Looking stable returns? Turn to a man (or woman) in a minivan, according to the latest research by academics.

Buying a flashy car was linked to greater risk taking than those who stuck with a standard drive, even when adjusted for other factors such as the size of the fund or the individuals wealth.

"We find that hedge fund managers who own high performance cars take on more investment risk than do other fund managers. They do so without being compensated with higher returns."

Wannabe Lewis Hamiltons were found to be more likely to terminate their funds, engage in fraudulent behaviour and load up on non-index stocks, exhibit lower R-squareds with respect to systematic factors, and succumb to overconfidence.

Time to take a peek at the car park before picking one – and for racy hedge fund managers, to leave their showy sports car in the drive way.