Comments on: Does being smart make you better with money?

By: destiny

destiny — Thu, 12 May 2011 02:29:09 +0000

This is right but people are smart and don’t have a lot of money are the elderly and when say that i mean really old persons.

By: Hope to Prosper

Hope to Prosper — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:19:07 +0000

Pops,

The Millionaire Next Door does a good job of covering this subject and their conclusions are similar to yours. They felt college costs and the shorter working career affected a professional’s ability to save. Also, they believe people in status careers are under pressure to appear sucessful, so they spend more on luxury items. (Inverse Porsce theory) Something I though of is that professionals are very highly taxed. (Kyosaki theory)

By: Carnival of Personal Finance

Carnival of Personal Finance — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:42:41 +0000

[...] Pop Economics: Does being smart make you better with money? [...]

By: Carnival of Personal Finance – Gettin’ Hot in Here Edition

Carnival of Personal Finance – Gettin’ Hot in Here Edition — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:32:15 +0000

[...] from Pop Economics presents Does being smart make you better with money?. A subject near and dear to our hearts. Unfortunately we’ve found that you can find smarts in [...]

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:25:01 +0000

Rob, I agree with you about the family influence. I think many times, without us realizing, we are much like our parents. What they did or how they handled money has a direct affect on how we handle our money. So, even though we might be smarter than our parents on the academic level, financially speaking we might have the same habits as our family.

Keep up the good work,
Eric

By: K Smith

K Smith — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:02:35 +0000

Rob, in my experience, you are correct. Making the right money moves consistently over time has more to do with being disciplined than being smart. I think a disciplined approach plays a greater role than intelligence in the successful outcomes of many areas of life.

By: Rob Bennett

Rob Bennett — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:48:19 +0000

My guess is that being smart is a plus. But that there are a lot of other factors. So being smart doesn’t assure that you will end up okay. And not being smart is a disadvantage that can be overcome.

I believe that the single biggest factor is habits. If you are in the habit of thinking through money decisions, you will always do so. You might get them from your parents. Or you might have a bad experience when young and learn from that. Or you might read a book that makes it click for you.

Having good habits will get you farther than being a little smarter than most others, in my view.

Rob