Researchers in Scotland have found math and reading ability at age seven to be a better predictor of socioeconomic status in later life than intelligence, education and childhood socioeconomic status.
They used data from the National Child Development Study, which followed 17,000 people from birth in 1958 to the present.
The researchers found that people who had higher maths and reading scores as children ended up with higher incomes, better housing and better jobs as adults. For example, going up one reading level at seven years old was associated with a £5,000 increase in income at age 42.
Read more at Association for Psychological Science