Cat's Unusual Habit Could Turn His Owner Into A Millionaire

Jill Insley, a financial journalist from the UK, had a successful career in her own right, but it was ultimately her cat Orlando who grabbed global headlines in 2012. At the time, Insley was the head editor for both the Guardian's Money section and the Observer's Cash section, and a project at work gave her a reason to look at her adorable fluffy pet in a whole new light.

As it happened, the Observer organized an investment contest where top financial minds competed to see who could turn the most profit from the same initial investment over the course of a year. A group of experts was selected to battle over bragging rights, and judging by the shortlist of challengers, the competition looked stiff. Even so, Orlando's owner was on the cusp of a far-fetched idea.

So who were these savvy stockpickers? First, there was Paul Kavanagh of stockbrokers Killik & Co. Then, Justin Urquhart Stewart of wealth management company Seven Investment Management joined the competition. Followed by Andy Brough, fund manager for Schroders, who signed up and was up against students from the John Warner School in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. But there was one last participant who was unlike the rest.

See, Jill Insley saw the contest and was struck by an idea. If all these investment experts were going to duke it out, why not toss in a wild card? She proposed they make the competition a little more interesting by including a total outsider, someone with zero financial experience and no stake in the game — her cat Orlando!

Participants loved the idea of a little chaos tossed into their competition, so Orlando joined in. Luckily, the kitty didn't need to understand the terms and conditions, which were actually fairly simple, but still tricky for a feline to comprehend! To kick things off, the teams invested £5,000 — that's a little over £6,000 U.S. dollars — in five companies. But when it came to making their game moves, the pros and Orlando were split on strategy.

Orlando had a unique method most pros might feel rash attempting: trusting his cat toys. Well, specifically, his most prized plushie mouse. To pick the stocks, Insley stepped in to give Orlando an assist. She created a numbered grid with each section representing a different company. Whichever number the cat flung his mouse toy at became the stock that they picked.

While the pros watched the numbers and relied on data to strategically invest, Orlando and Jill kept to their random strategy. At first, it was difficult to say whether Orlando's feline senses had made any real impact on their portfolio, though as they rounded out the third fiscal quarter, the cat was well and truly out of the bag.

Unfortunately, there was a moment in September when the numbers were making a fool of Orlando. He was behind all of his competitors and by a lot! While the experts had shown a generated profit of £497, the cat was dragging his paws, looking at a takeaway of just half that. Luckily for Orlando and Insley, things were far from over yet.

In the third quarter, Orlando had pulled only a £292 profit. No, it was nothing to purr over, and Orlando and his mom Jill worried that their taking part had all been a grave mistake. However, as many cats have proven, just when you think they’re down for the count, they pounce back. Those nine lives are there for a reason.

With little to lose at this point, Orlando did something the other financial experts wouldn't dare to attempt — he swapped stocks out at the end of the third quarter. It was a big risk, and whether the last-ditch effort would pay off or sink him further behind, they had to wait and see. Meanwhile, the pros held their breath.

Because while everyone had a good chuckle over Orlando’s participation in the contest, depending on the final numbers, he had the potential to call into question the value of the supposed "experts." Could a cat beat the humans? It opened the conversation to a hotly debated idea: do prestigious degrees and Wall Street experience really matter?

Whether the stock market can be beaten by strategy or if it's all random is a long-running debate, one that economist Burton Malkiel outlined with the "random walk hypothesis" in his book, A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Malkiel believed studying past market trends to predict future trends was a waste of time, and similar to the contest involving Orlando, he used animals as an example.

"A blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper's financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by experts," Malkiel wrote. Swap the blindfolded monkey for a mouse-tossing cat, and according to Malkie's hypothesis, both are qualified financial advisors. Others have tested this theory, too, and with animals with less mental prowess than primates. 

Much like Orlando, some other whiskered critters turned their eyes, or ears, to the stock market. In 2014, Austrian conceptual artist Michael Marcovici conducted an experiment where he trained rats to recognize patterns in the foreign-exchange futures market. The four rodent mavericks — Mr. Lehmann, Ms. Kleinworth, Ms. Coutts, and Mr. Morgan — proved better at reading trends than the top fund managers. 

That's right — the rats beat financial analysts at their own game. And Jill Insley and the rest of the eyes watching the investment contest waited curiously to see if Orlando could do the same. As they rounded out the fourth fiscal quarter, the kitty had a lot on the line. Had his third-quarter trades paid off? Or was he just a house cat goofing around?

In an epic comeback, Orlando’s profits started to turn around. His competitors watched on in amazement as the savvy feline proved a finance wiz when he increased the average of his portfolio by 4.2%. When they'd run out the clock, Orlando did more with his original £5,000 than any of his competitors — and by a significant margin, to boot. 

Breaking down the numbers, the professionals ended the 4th quarter with an average of £5,176.60, and Orlando, the furry little magnate, rounded things out at £5,542.60. His toy-tossing strategy set him £366 ahead of the pack — not so bad for a first-time investor! But after he had his first taste of success, did Orlando hang up his mouse?

It doesn't look like Orlando is going to work on Wall Street anytime soon. But as a reward for his stock-picking sensibilities, his mom got him a fancy red collar, a reference to the trademark red suspenders worn by competitor Urquhart-Stewart. As for whether Orlando's victory was thanks to his own financial powers or was just totally random, his fellow competitors aren't sure, but they did leave some parting words.

To chalk up Orlando's stock-picking prowess as luck might be doing the cat a disservice. After all, the financial experts knew to give credit where credit was due. As Justin Urquhart-Stewart told the Guardian, “It's time to crack open the Whiskas! The cat’s got talent.” And while relying on your own cats for stock tips isn't recommended, some businesses haven't entirely written off the business value of feline energy.

Instead of trusting them to pick stocks, one Ohio-based transportation company thought of incorporating cats into their finance office. These feline recruits weren't tasked with making important decisions, but the employer had a theory that they'd make a radical improvement in the way other strategies had failed before. And so, the wheels were set in motion for an idea that could prove to be a major success, or an utter disaster. 

The bosses decided to adopt two tiny kittens, one light orange and the other striped with brown. These weren't just any ordinary cats, however, so the execs had to come up with some particularly interesting names. The real question, however, was whether these two fluff balls would prove successful like Oscar, or become something the business would live to regret.

Management decided the cats would be called Debit and Credit. These monikers may seem rather unorthodox, but for kitties living in the finance wing of a company, they're the perfect fit! Of course, employees were worried if the kittens could get along, as well as how they would settle into office life.

Despite their fears, Debit and Credit were showing signs of being the best of friends in no time at all. There was still the problem of logistics. Where would the kittens go after office hours? And whose responsibility were they? Well, during the evenings, when the rest of the employees went home, they stayed in the office overnight. Weekends were trickier, though.

Luckily, the devoted staff members made sure to visit them on Saturdays and Sundays. And we can see why! Clearly, they're downright adorable. But beyond their inherent cuteness, Debit and Credit play a much more important role. In fact, they have a number of special purposes specific to that office's culture that most people might not suspect.

For starters, just being around cats carries a whole load of psychological benefits. So add those to a work environment, and you can see a whole host of advantages for those working in the office each day. For example, if Credit or Debit swept past someone's desk and brushed against their leg, they'd be getting way more out of that interaction than it might first appear on the surface.

And it's not just in our heads, either. According to psychologist Lotte Spijkerman, office pets "reduce stress and increase productivity, mainly because they interact with you of their own accord and, when they pop over to your workstation, it’s a good reminder that you might need to take a break." But, you guessed it — there are some drawbacks. 

Despite all the clear benefits that office cuties such as Debit and Credit may bestow on a workplace, there's also one major potential drawback that could get in the way of this seemingly perfect arrangement. In a word — allergies. In fact, cat allergies are twice as common as aversions to canines, and can be truly debilitating for the individual affected. This company, however, found a workaround.

"My building is small — there are only six of us. One of them is allergic, but she doesn’t care. The others stay in another building," one employee revealed. It seems like things couldn't have turned out more perfectly. Still, there were other issues to content with that weren't quite so simple to fix.

The primary objective was not only to make the human occupants of the office happy; the cats' well-being was also a top priority. Clearly, Debit and Credit needed certain amenities to have a good life as well.

The lucky kittens received many toys to play with, cozy sweatshirts to cuddle up in, their very own beds, and a whole slew of other treats provided especially for them. If Debit and Credit ever get bored of horsing around inside the office, they can always go look out the window and stare at the trees or passing birds. It's truly a win-win situation.

The pair was so undeniably cute, that the office decided they needed to share their furry joy-bringers with the world. So, just like many other proud fur parents out there, the team headed to Instagram to make an account for them. And before long, the entire world could see just how precious Debit and Credit truly were. As their online presence grew, there was soon one question on everyone's lips.

While fans of the furry duo were in awe of the adorable setup, people on the internet couldn't help but wonder how in the world employees got any work done. It seemed like having two bundles of cuteness around all the time would make concentrating difficult, to say the least.

"This is adorable. I wouldn't get any work done," one commentator remarked. In response, an employee confirmed that "it's so hard not to play and snuggle [all day long]." Sounds like a good problem to have. So will the idea catch on?

Thankfully, it seems the answer is yes! The trend of introducing animals into the office environment is only growing. Workplaces across the country are catching on to this bold new idea for increasing productivity and happiness. Animals are making their way into a lot of different environments, even the most stressful ones.