If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Calvin Coolidge
 
The wealthiest individuals are typically not the most talented or anywhere near it. “The maximum success never coincides with the maximum talent, and vice-versa,” say the researchers....
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I don't know about the wealthiest people, those billionaires that I do not know of any personally. All of them have some talents that I know I do not have, hence I cannot envy them.

Now, I also agree that a person with 10 billions is not 10 times smarter than one with 1 billion. But they both know more than I do about making money, that's for sure.

Down to my pedestrian level, I do know some people who got more money than I did, by putting everything into one stock and making it. They were not smarter than me, just lucky and willing to take the risk that I shunned. I can't envy them either.

So, it's really nothing earthshaking.
 
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If think about the really rich like Bill Gates (Founder: Microsoft) or Larry Ellison (Founder: Oracle) Both dropped out of big name schools: Harvard and the University of Chicago - so by all common standards they were indeed very smart. They however have a trait more rare: Creativity coupled with the abilty to monetize that creativity.

The question “If you’re so smart why aren’t you rich?” is however fundamentally flawed. It assumes that the only end game worthy of the intelligent is the pursuit of wealth. I would argue that the really intelligent pursue fulfillment. Whether that is teaching history, being a park ranger or researching a cure for leukemia. For a lucky few the a by product of their passion is wealth...

A simple question- What would you rather be rich or comfortable and happy? I’m leaning towards the latter.

There is one thing I’m pretty sure ...smart people don’t spend a lot of time worrying about how unfair it is that someone could be so rich..
They are too busy living.
 
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rayinpenn said:
If think about the really rich like Bill Gates (Founder: Microsoft) or Larry Ellison (Founder: Oracle) Both dropped out of big name schools: Harvard and the University of Chicago - so by all common standards they were indeed very smart. They however have a trait more rare: Creativity coupled with the abilty to monetize that creativity.

The question “If you’re so smart why aren’t you rich?” is however fundamentally flawed. It assumes that the only end game worthy of the intelligent is the pursuit of wealth. I would argue that the really intelligent pursue fulfillment. Whether that is teaching history, being a park ranger or researching a cure for leukemia. For a lucky few the a by product of their passion is wealth...

A simple question- What would you rather be rich or comfortable and happy? I’m leaning towards the latter.
Click to expand...

+1
 
rayinpenn said:
If think about the really rich like Bill Gates (Founder: Microsoft) or Larry Ellison (Founder: Oracle) Both dropped out of big name schools: Harvard and the University of Chicago - so by all common standards they were indeed very smart. They however have a trait more rare: Creativity coupled with the abilty to monetize that creativity.

The question “If you’re so smart why aren’t you rich?” is however fundamentally flawed. It assumes that the only end game worthy of the intelligent is the pursuit of wealth. I would argue that the really intelligent pursue fulfillment. Whether that is teaching history, being a park ranger or researching a cure for leukemia. For a lucky few the a by product of their passion is wealth...

A simple question- What would you rather be rich or comfortable and happy? I’m leaning towards the latter.



There is one thing I’m pretty sure ...smart people don’t spend a lot of time worrying about how unfair it is that someone could be so rich..
They are too busy living.
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Some people never figure this out.... It is paramount to fulfillment in my opinion.
 
Interesting >>>> I think some people that are very smart go on to get a well paying job because of the education they got. So with a high paying job they became wealthy almost by accident. Not all but a lot of those very smart people.

I believe becoming wealthy has way more to do with wanting that goal then being smart.

I know a few people that never went to higher education and become very wealthy from hard work. They might have a high IQ I have no idea but the one thing they all had was hard work and going to make it work.
 
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Leaving out the astonishing wealth class, in point of fact all of the well to do (2-8 mill) folks I know are "rich" because of intelligence. Combination of good education leading to better employment and enough sense to invest more or less rationally and not consuming more than they produce.

One point regarding Bill Gates that is often over looked. He was born into the sort of wealth that meant that when he had the good idea he could explore it without ever worrying about heat/shelter/food/medical care/etc. That makes a huge difference.
 
poorcarver said:
Leaving out the astonishing wealth class, in point of fact all of the well to do (2-8 mill) folks I know are "rich" because of intelligence. Combination of good education leading to better employment and enough sense to invest more or less rationally and not consuming more than they produce.
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+ I see that everyday at my job ..the well heeled are extremely hard workers, frugal for their incomes (LBYM) and they do it for decades ..
 
Makes sense. Intelligence and talent doesn't necessary translate to wealth.

Now makes me wonder how much money did Einstein make compared to others of his time.
 
Yes a bit of luck might be involved but being socially able and working 70 hours a week for many years has helped with my financial growth also.
 
I'm reminded of a guy in my church in NJ who had a Ph.D. in Math and worked in the produce department of the local grocery store. At one point he did manage to find one of those "assistant adjunct" positions in another state while his family stayed in NJ- wife was a nurse, fortunately, so they had other income. (I did find out from her comments in a small group that she was still haunted by the fact that her father had died back in Nigeria and she hadn't been back since- even for the funeral- because they couldn't afford it.) It didn't help that he had a really strong Nigerian accent. I'm pretty good at tuning my ear to understand foreign accents but his was more of a challenge than average and I'm sure that made it hard for him to get teaching positions. And there I was with a measly BA in Math from a decent state university, working as an actuary and doing a lot better. I felt a bit guilty.

So, native intelligence isn't everything. It's partly luck and partly the choices you make.
 
Souschef said:
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Calvin Coolidge
Click to expand...

Silent cal was wrong. Even if "nothing" could take the place of persistence that doesn't mean that persistence is necessary or all that contributory to the success of an endeavor. Besides just to have the situation wherein persistence can be applied concedes that it is chance that brought you there. No matter what else may or may not be involved or necessary to a result the sine qua non is always chance.
 
Intelligence does not hurt, although a combination of factors come into play, hard work, recognizing an opportunity, life style, self-restraint, good health, and yes, good luck.
 
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No matter how hard he works, no matter how smart he is, the garbage picker in Mumbai is never going to be the president of General Motors.

Most of us don't think about the fact that before we ever pooped in a diaper we had won the lottery. Only one chance in 20, for example, to be born in the US. Additional odds against us being born into a family that valued and could afford to encourage our education. For many of us, the birth lottery also gave us both white skin and male gender -- significant assets in the struggle for wealth.
 
I'm still not convinced luck has a lot to do with wealth. Ya you may get lucky and make a big sale for a commission check etc.. I believe getting something you want doesn't happen by accident. Some are lucky to be wealthy from birth but for a do it yourself millionaire doesn't happen by luck. Somewhere along that journey hard work, planning and common sense to reach a goal. Being smart on top of all the other qualities for success doesn't hurt but definitely don't have to be a road scholar to achieve financial success.
 
street said:
I'm still not convinced luck has a lot to do with wealth. Ya you may get lucky and make a big sale for a commission check etc.. I believe getting something you want doesn't happen by accident. Some are lucky to be wealthy from birth but for a do it yourself millionaire doesn't happen by luck. Somewhere along that journey hard work, planning and common sense to reach a goal. Being smart on top of all the other qualities for success doesn't hurt but definitely don't have to be a road scholar to achieve financial success.
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I've heard the expression: "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."

omni
 
I am surprised that "Risk" is not mentioned above. If you are willing to risk everything in an entrepreneurial way, your chances of hitting that lucky ending are much greater. That goes for those that are willing to risk some of their earnings in the stock market but to a likely lesser degree.
 
If you are willing to risk everything in an entrepreneurial way, your chances of hitting that lucky ending are much greater. That goes for those that are willing to risk some of their earnings in the stock market but to a likely lesser degree
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.

No. Simply "risking" a lot does not in and of itself increase chances of success. The actual chances of success are not knowable given the variables involved. Risking less could cause greater success and increasing risk simply increases the chance of losing over which the risker will be soundly savaged for being stupid or something.

And the whole invocation of the concept of risk means... yep... it's all chance. "playing the odds....? Just chance.
 
Hermit said:
... If you are willing to risk everything in an entrepreneurial way, your chances of hitting that lucky ending are much greater. ...
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If true, which I doubt, that assertion would be very difficult to prove because the number of people who risked all and failed is unknown. What we hear about is only the winners. Nassim Taleb describes this as the fallacy of "silent evidence" and includes this little story in his book The Black Swan:
Diagoras, a nonbeliever in the gods, was shown painted tablets bearing the portraits of some worshippers who prayed, then survived a subsequent shipwreck. The implication was that praying protects you from drowning.

Diagoras asked, “Where are the pictures of those who prayed, then drowned?”
​
The problem of silent evidence arises frequently. For example, there are many posts in investment-oriented forums crowing about profitable trades and few from people who lost money. Does this mean that trading is not a zero-sum game? Hardly. We also read a lot about mutual funds that do well, but never about the 7% of funds that close every year due to abysmal performance.
 
OldShooter said:
No matter how hard he works, no matter how smart he is, the garbage picker in Mumbai is never going to be the president of General Motors.

Most of us don't think about the fact that before we ever pooped in a diaper we had won the lottery. Only one chance in 20, for example, to be born in the US. Additional odds against us being born into a family that valued and could afford to encourage our education. For many of us, the birth lottery also gave us both white skin and male gender -- significant assets in the struggle for wealth.
Click to expand...

Agree that the social capital many US citizens of European descent are born into is an advantage out of the gate. There are so many, many immigrants from India and other countries who thrive here in the U.S., one can’t absolutely rule out a garbage picker finding a stroke of luck somehow and joining them. Often, too, if immigrants can simply make it to these shores, there heirs can get the language, get an education, outperform, contribute to the economy, and win the lottery too, regardless of color, gender or the language they speak at home. That’s a beautiful and productive fact about this country of “Richistan” (The U.S.), no matter if it is occasionally trendy here among some leaders to conveniently forget it.
 
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Everything we do in life is a calculated risk. We need to take some risk to get some reward.

Yes, it is true that some people are born into lucky circumstances and can get more for the same amount of work that the less unfortunate put out. Life is never fair.

But given that you are in your shoes now, what can you do to improve your odds? Leave your town to relocate where there are jobs? Take a chance with learning a new trade? These are ventures into the unknown and have some risks.
 
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