Ever wondered why you are involved with a particular religion. I am sure your motives are excellent, worship god, that sort of thing. It turns out however that, in America at least, it is also a remarkably good strategy for moving yourself into that category of individuals we know as "the wealthy". You know the concept, start out poor, end up rich.

If this is your motive for becoming involved (shame on you) then you would do well to choose your religion carefully, some are better performers than others in the accumulate wealth stakes. I would be looking for that lost Jewish ancestor if I was you because it appears that the Jewish religion is head and shoulders ahead of the rest in this race. Can't find one? Then your best bet is Catholic Christian or possibly a mainstream Protestant church.

Some of you who are concerned about the fundamentalist conservative Protestants can take heart that at least they won't be wealthy as well as narrow minded and insular. They did appallingly as far as amassing wealth.

The median net worth of the sample was US$48,200. Those people beating a regular path to the synagogue had a median net worth of US$150,890. Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, on the other hand, had a median net worth of US$26,200.

Sadly, the report did not mention the net worth of atheists so we don't know what ignoring the big fella completely does to your hip pocket.

To read the full research from Ohio State University click here.