by Tricia
A reader sent me a link to an article on Yahoo Finance:
Why Smart People Make Bad Financial Moves
Basically, those with a high IQ are more likely to bring home bigger paychecks, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have more wealth than the average Joe down the street.
“Those are significant numbers of very intelligent people who don’t have control over their finances,” says Zagorsky. “If you’re not in the top 5 or 10 percent, it’s comforting to know there are really intelligent people making mistakes, too.”
Mensa is an organization comprised of individuals where the only requirement is to have a high IQ score. What they state in their information page is similar to what the Yahoo study article mentioned:
“Mensans range in age from 4 to 94, but most are between 20 and 60. In education they range from preschoolers to high school dropouts to people with multiple doctorates. There are Mensans on welfare and Mensans who are millionaires. As far as occupations, the range is staggering. Mensa has professors and truck drivers, scientists and firefighters, computer programmers and farmers, artists, military people, musicians, laborers, police officers, glassblowers–the diverse list goes on and on. There are famous Mensans and prize-winning Mensans, but there are many whose names you wouldn’t know.”
I think I find the above so interesting because I would think that someone with more intelligence would be better suited for building wealth. But that’s not necessarily the case.
After thinking about it a little bit more, I think that someone’s success for building wealth is based on two things: knowledge and desire. You need to learn about personal finance and then have the desire to put what you learn into action.
Thoughts?
