If You're So Smart, Why Ain't Cha Rich?

[AuntShecky]

Here we are coming up on another New Year, and if ONE more person asks me if I've made my New Year's Resolution yet, I'm going to squeeze that person's nose 'til it turns purple!

But one resolution I've made in Yuletides past concerned making a less-insecure financial situation for myself. Needless to say, that's one resolution that I was unable to keep.

A discouraging development is the sad fact that if one looks around -- especially on the gorgeous shores of my homeland -- one sees hordes of folks who are financially well-off : they have well-paying jobs, more than one car, they own their own homes, they seem to be free of debt, and enjoy other amenities. But what strikes me is that those who have seemed to achieve financial suggestion very rarely strike me as being especially intelligent. If there is a link between brain power and purse strings, it seems to be quite a thin one.

So, whence arose the time-honored expression:
"If You're so smart, why ain't cha rich?"

Please tell me your thoughts on this question, and take the poll!

[motherhubbard]

I think it takes a lot of intelligence to manage on less. I wouldn’t be so sure about the lack of debt others carry. I think that most people carry obscene debt. I shouldn’t be so judgmental, but I always assume that people who have a lot of stuff and do a lot of shopping and drive expensive cars also carry a lot of debt.

[AdoreroDio]

I think sometimes intelligent people don't have the street smart to be rich and those who do have street smarts don't have the intelligence to get the job done. I think it takes a little bit of money to get started, lots of street smart and plenty of intelligence but I don't think intelligence is the only factor.

[Virgil]

Hmm. I'm not sure who you're hanging out with Aunty. I guess it depends on the definitions of rich and smart. I haven't worked with CEOs of companies, but I have on occaision worked with vice presidents and I've been pretty impressed with their intelligence. I've worked with some scientists and engineers who have knocked the socks off me with their smarts. I've known doctors and I've known lawyers, and I would say they have pretty much been above average in smarts. Now granted, many of them haven't read much Shakespeare (I presume) or can write poetry, but I'm sure they are still very intelligent. And I'm sure they are quite well off financially. I've also known college professors who aren't the brightest lamps around too. But I've know others that are. Are there people who are rich who are not smart. Yes there are. But I would bet that the trend is that smarts equates to a better financial position in life.

[Shalot]

there is an article on MSN about getting off the financial treadmill. Spend only on necessities. They gave examples of how other people managed to spend only on necessities and one lady made herself a brown dress and wore it every day for a year. This was how she saved money on clothes. I can see that - I could just wear what I already have and not buy any more clothes - only buy replacements when something is ruined beyond repair I guess.

Another thing the article mentioned is how having friends with "spend spend spend" mentalities encourages bad personal spending habits.

I guess depending on your standards of "rich" you could have more money if you spent less. That's how my grandparents lived - my grandmother bought three sweaters at K-Mart in 1986 and I swear she was still wearing those same sweaters in 1992. They were very faded. She stated "I am not a clothes horse."

On the flip side of that, someone I knew once said, "I'm having a bad day, I need to go spend some money." I mean, sometimes you just need a little shopping therapy. And then you keep using shopping as a form of therapy and you're short on money and you're miserable because you have to keep reporting to a job that's no longer satisfying to buy more things you don't need. It's an endless cycle.

Moderation is the key I guess. There is a such a thing as being so cheap that's it's ridiculous. "If it's yellow, let it mellow" is a bad money-saving strategy in my opinion.

Also, about smart=rich - I guess that depends on what you consider "smart."

I knew a girl who had trouble reading - but she came from big-time money. She will probably inherit that money and will never want for anything. But that girl read like a third grader in the seventh grade. She has probably learned people skills to compensate for her weakness and will probably do much better in life because of that.

Intelligence can be measured in so many ways. What about the guy with a 4.0 GPA Masters Degree in Mathematics who is a social idiot and can't get a date??

I don't know if smart = rich at all. And that knowledge makes me happy, because if smart=rich isn't necessarily true, than that means I too have a chance at riches. :D

[amanda_isabel]

sometimes you don't care, or sometimes you don't care enough, or sometimes you care about other things more.

smart doesn;t exactly mean rich, and rich doesn't exactly mean smart. but to some extent, smarts can get riches, and riches can get education but if you're dumb, you're just dumb, and you probably won't be rich for long

[SleepyWitch]

I voted: "No way. Most rich folks are as dumb as a box o' rocks."
I guess it depends on what you mean by "rich". if you mean middle class, then I'd say "it's the other way round, the richer you are the better your education".
but if you mean posh, upper (middle) class* it's a different story.
I went to an 'elite' school where there were lots of posh kids. they don't really care about what they learn at school and neither do their parents. all they care about is the name of the school and that the children don't get any worse grades than C or D and that they pass each year. Some of the boys were quite good at maths and business studies because their dad's expected them to take over their business, but normally they wouldn't be too bright in the other subjects. They'd swot and learn everything by rote to get good grades, but they didn't really understand stuff.









* yeeeeeah, we all know you don't have social classes in America. we don't have them in Germany either, officially, but you can see them all around you anyway. pull the other one it's got bells on :)

[motherhubbard]

* yeeeeeah, we all know you don't have social classes in America. we don't have them in Germany either, officially, but you can see them all around you anyway. pull the other one it's got bells on :)

news to me- I'm reading the great book by Ruby Payne called A Framework for Understanding Poverty that talks about the differences between social classes and how educators can deal with different situations. I think everyone would benifit from reading it.

[SleepyWitch]

news to me- I'm reading the great book by Ruby Payne called A Framework for Understanding Poverty that talks about the differences between social classes and how educators can deal with different situations. I think everyone would benifit from reading it.

sounds interesting! maybe i'll read it for background info for my geography final exams

[TheFifthElement]

The truly smart people know that being rich doesn't make you happy. That's why you aren't rich Aunt Shecky, and neither am I, and neither will we ever be either. Just comfortable. There are better things to be chasing after than dollars, or pounds, or whatever currency it is you trade in. It's all just paper after all.

I remember reading something once, in a book by Bertrand Russell, wherein he explains the idiocy of gold. Gold is found underground, we send people down mines to dig it out, transport it thousands of miles to banks in London, or New York, where we place it safely back underground. Might as well have left it where it was and imagined the rest, and saved ourselves the labour and expense. Money is the ultimate fiction.

[DickZ]

Hi Auntie,

That’s a fascinating question you pose.

As others have asked in previous replies, what’s the definition of intelligence? I’ve seen lots of people who made good grades in school, but is that what intelligence means? I don’t claim to have the answer, and I wonder who does.

There were a few people whom I’d always considered to be intelligent – published authors of many best sellers even, but when I saw writings of theirs on practical and political matters, I concluded that they weren’t nearly as smart as I once thought them to be. But then, maybe I’m not very good at assessing intelligence. Is it the old question about which is more important - book sense or common sense?

And besides, I think that a lot of those people you describe have actually gone deep in debt to get the things they have – even if it’s not obvious to the rest of us. And I think their debt, and their related drive to maintain whatever image they think they are presenting, probably takes a toll on them in the long run.

While I live very happily with just myself and my cat Eleanor who’s in the picture there on the left, in a one-bedroom apartment with less than 900 square feet of space, I know couples who live in houses that are probably ten times larger than what I have. I know they think it’s impressive to live in a place like that, but it certainly doesn’t impress me at all.

In fact I tend to tell myself, for whatever it’s worth, that people who are impressed by things like oversized and ornate houses, are really not worth impressing when you get right down to it.

[papayahed]

There is a correlation between education and wealth, but education doesn't necessarily correlate with intelligence.

There are so many other factors to consider like inheritance, drive, priorities, etc...

[Koa]

When I was little, my parents used to say that people like me are 'smart' in school things but are clumsy with the practical things of life.
I don't know if they were right, or if I became like this precisely because they were saying this.

I think there's two kinds of smart indeed, as someone else mentioned already... if you're smart as in quick and practical, you will become rich. If you're smart as in education kind of smart, you will have to struggle.

Personally I've made myself unemployable with good results in high education, so I know I'll have an average job with an average pay - although at the moment I'm even struggling to find that. No one wants a graduate with little work experience because, god forbid, they won't think you can learn a simple office job... (sorry personal rant)

[AuntShecky]

What started out as a semi-facetious chat topic has generated quite a few serious replies with philosophical insight, exhibiting some really thoughtful opinions.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the people on this forum never cease to impress me!
I'm so glad I stumbled on this site just a few months ago.

[subterranean]

news to me- I'm reading the great book by Ruby Payne called A Framework for Understanding Poverty that talks about the differences between social classes and how educators can deal with different situations. I think everyone would benifit from reading it.

This reminds me of my conversation with Chava last Saturday evening. We were talking about the difference of education schemes in different societies (i.e. Danish and Indonesians). Apparently, we both agreed that different societies may have different definitions on 'smart' or 'intelligence'. Like for example students in Indonesia, in general, would be considered as smart if they could answers tests or quizzes, which highly depend on memorries. While on the other part of the world, the quality of answers on essay questions count the most.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Good thread! :thumbs_up
There is a correlation between education and wealth, but education doesn't necessarily correlate with intelligence. Amen to that. Though this is not necessarily the norm, I have to say that some of the smartest people I have ever met lacked any kind of formal education: In this particular case I am talking about two Maasai gentlemen I met in Kenya. We just sort of bumped into each other and ended up discussing everything we could think of during a memorable couple of hours. The sheer quality of their questions to me about my country and the way things were there really amazed me, as did their conclusions and interpretations. Their insights about their own land were equally impressive.

Were they wealthy? No, not in our normal sense of the word, but who is to say that that our yardstick is the correct one? In their own opinions they were very well off: They had big families, and their tribe had quite a number of cattle. They also lived where they wanted to live and did the things they wanted to do. In short, they were content with their lives.

I have also encountered people with strings of degrees... about as dumb as you get. As in the previous example, I don't see this as the norm, but they are out there.

It is all about the yardstick, people.


I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the people on this forum never cease to impress me!How right you are. I have said it before too: We have some very bright people around here.

/Claes

[Shea]

I agree as some others have said that it depends on how you define "smart." I know a girl graduated Cum Laude with a degree in marine biology and now flies all over the country doing clinical trials for a pharmacutical research company. But she has had very little common sense until she finally started acquiring it. However, I still don't think she will become rich because when her husband sees money, he spends it.

If smarts equals weath, then the majority of my students must have lived in a 3rd world status. When a bunch of 10th graders have a difficult time identifying the difference between a noun and a verb after a week of completing excercises on the subject, that's pretty sad.

As far as debt goes, I think that's why people look so wealthy, because they're so far in debt. Why else do you think America has been having all these forclosure issues? Dave Ramsey has an excellent book on getting out of debt. All the debt that Leo and I have left is the mortgage. Ramsey's book got us out of credit cards, student loans, and car payments. I don't know how rich he is, but that's a smart guy!!

[ClaesGefvenberg]

But she has had very little common sense until she finally started acquiring it.Exactly what I was on about, and that raises another question: How common is "common" sense? :rolleyes:

/Claes