"Intelligent" versus "smart"

[Monkeyleg]

For as long as I can remember, I've been described as "intelligent." Whether it was IQ, SAT scores, or just grades in math, science, literature, etc, I always did well. Usually very well.

But it's only hit me--too belatedly--over the past few years that I'm not "smart."

My brother-in-law Jon is "smart." He may be intelligent as well, but his strong point is his smarts.

He joined the Air Force when he was in his 20's, and got free schooling for plumbing/heating/AC.

When he was discharged, he went to work for some of the most reputable companies in the area.

And he made good money. On top of that, he got tons of union benefits, including a pension plan I'd kill for.

While I was working away at doing a ground-up restoration of a car I'd always wanted--a Jag XKE--Jon was busy buying properties. He started with a couple of four-family units, sold them, and then bought a couple of eight-family apartment buildings.

By the time Jon met my sister-in-law, he had both apartment buildings. My SIL is a tiny young lady, so she was pretty exhausted after all the work he put her through in rehabbing the units.

A few months ago he struck out on his own. Being the cynic that I am, I didn't think he'd do well, since he told me he wouldn't pursue the customers he'd worked for at his previous employers. When I got canned from my studio manager job in 1987, I went right after the clients I'd worked for previously.

Well, his (their) business is going bananas. He has more work than he can handle, and he can't even hire enough guys to take care of it all.

The upside for my wife and I is that Jon and his wife need someone like my wife who knows book keeping, invoices, quotes, taxes, and who is very good at keeping a business organized.

Bottom line, though, is that my sister-in-law and her kids will never want for anything. Jon's already worth over a million, and he's just 42.

My point in this thread is that it just doesn't matter how "intelligent" you are when judged by academic standards. If that were so, I should have been a millionaire decades ago.

There are "smarts" that can be taught, or are inherited. I don't know how they're delivered, since I never had them.

[Ryoushi]

Smart has nothing to do with with it either. It's all about ambition. If you want it bad enough you can pay or connive sonmebody into helping you get where you want to go.

[Phantom Warrior]

I think you are confusing other things with smarts and/or intelligence.  Ryoushi was on to something when he said your brother in law is very ambitious.  Also, he followed a very lucrative career track.  Military (good money, resume enhancer, good training), followed by unionized work (good pay, mad pension benefits), then the opportunity to buy some property, which he then wisely capitalized on.

The only real smarts I'll give him credit for is not blowing his opportunities.  He obviously learned well in the Air Force (and saved a nest egg too, probably), then got himself hired at good companies using those skills and did good work there, then bought those properties and improved them.  He hasn't really done anything no one else could do.  He simply came into some opportunities you don't have.

And really, why does it matter?  Are you content with what you have?  If no, what do you need to do to get where you'd like to be?  More importantly, if yes, why are you concerned with what he has?  

One lesson I've had to learn is simply not to begrudge other people their good luck.  I just graduated debt free, joined the Army, will probably be getting commissioned in a year and a half, do my time in the Army, and then get out and be able to afford law school with some money left over.  Not exactly a crappy life.  But I talked a lot with my PG at basic.  That kid has run several small businesses, has $50K in the bank, and is worth somewhere around six figures.  He was our platoon's PG and the Soldier of the Cycle for our company.  Plus, he has a full ride scholarship to college to run track and then is accepted to MIT's Master's of Architecture program.  After that he plans to go into business with his dad marketing dome houses where I have no doubt he'll be very successful and make lots of money.  And he's 18.

As I listened to him I started feeling a little inadequate myself.  But then I thought about it.  And I probably won't be hurting for money.  Esp if I stick around in the military for five or six years.  And I have no desire to go into business.  I don't want to worry about whether I'll make my first million by 30 or 40.  I'm content to hopefully find a job I like practicing law and support myself doing that.  If I can keep myself in food and shelter, with some money for toys, I'm quite content.

If you're content, why are you worried about what he has?  As much as I hate to quote SGM, don't hate, congratulate (cat!).  Be happy for him that he has been blessed and be content with what you have.

[Tallpine]

Money isn't the measure of everything...

You are only "smart" if you get what YOU want out of your life.

Maybe that's wealth, success in "career", etc ... or maybe it's adventure or contentment.

I don't regret all the non-traditional (and non lucrative) things that I've done - I mostly regret that I didn't do more things like that and take more chances.  I could probably still get fairly rich if I was willing to move to the right places and work for the right people, but now I can never be an Alaskan bush pilot or a real cowboy.  ("if I could roll back the years, back when I was young and limber, loose as ashes in the wind - I had no irons in the fire....")

Just remember what you will leave behind when you die ... EVERYTHING!  

[The Rabbi]

I've written this elsewhere: my grandmother's cousin was a poor student in school, always on the verge of getting kicked out.  Through a combination of event, daring, drive etc he founded Automotive Radiator Specialty Corp in N.C., which is now the largest privately owned company in the state (that's Solder Seal and Liquid Wrench,etc).
The talents are just different.
Honestly I think anyone can have a lot of money if they work hard enough, maintain a frugal lifestyle, and build habits of savings and investment.
My mechanic is a Palestinian who came here speaking no English with $100 about 20 years ago.  Now he owns his own business, lives in a nice house, and has land back in Jordan.  But he busted his butt doing all that, fixing cars until 5:00, coming home and showering, and then going to deliver pizzas for extra money until 2AM.  He didnt stand around a street corner grabbing his gonads and complaining about the system like any number of people I have met.

[K Frame]

One of the stupidest people I've ever met, I'm talking failed out of public high school, the only way he could go to college would be as a lab cadaver stupid, is a multi millionaire and will never want for anything. He built his father's part-time construction and earth moving business into a powerhouse.

Over the past 25 year he's had one simple guiding process...

In the lean/bad times he prospers, and in the good times he dominates.

[K Frame]

One of the stupidest people I've ever met, I'm talking failed out of public high school, the only way he could go to college would be as a lab cadaver stupid, is a multi millionaire and will never want for anything. He built his father's part-time construction and earth moving business into a powerhouse.

Over the past 25 year he's had one simple guiding process...

In the lean/bad times he prospers, and in the good times he dominates.

[Monkeyleg]

Phantom Warrior, I'm not concerned about what he has. I'm very glad for him, for my sister in law, and for their kids.

I was simply giving an example of someone who didn't excel in academics, but has become very successful in life.

I'm either in touch with or know what's happened to just about all of the honor roll students I went to high school with. And none of them are unusually successful. They have good jobs, but they're not in the multi-millionaire class.

The most financially successful people I know were average to slightly above-average students. And ambition was certainly the single most important factor in their success.

But ambition alone doesn't explain it. I've lost count of the 80 to 100 hour weeks I've worked at my own business. I certainly haven't lacked for ambition.

There are people who simply have a knack for making money. Maybe it's because that's where their focus is. I, on the other hand, could screw up a free cup of coffee.

Aside from some ocassional bad times, my wife and I have done fairly well for ourselves, so I can't complain.

[Brad Johnson]

I make the distinction more on knowledge and intelligence.

Knowledge is information retention. Intelligence is information application. One is wrote memorization, the other is more along the lines of what most people would consider "common sense".

You don't have to be knowledgeable to be intelligent. Some of the most intelligent people I've ever met never even finished high school (or even grade school, for that matter). They had an innate grasp of whatever was at hand - mechanical things, money management, human emotions and reactions, etc.. Even given a relatively limited knowledge base they were able to extrapolate answers to most of lifes more complicated questions.

On the flip side, some of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met didn't have the sense to pour a glass of water properly. They could quote the square of the pythagorean algorhythmic constant of the universe from memory but they can't change a flat. They lack the ability to convert experience to knowledge, and they are unable to apply knowledge out of context (the inability to extrapolate).

Intelligent people capitalize on their knowledge. The more knowledge they have, the better they are able to make decisions, formulate plans, and keep things in context. Knowledgeable people, well.. they have information, but don't really have any idea how to use it. Those fortunate individuals with intelligence and knowledge truly do have a gift.

Brad

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Dick, I believe you and I share this trait; whip-smart IQ-wise, but not alot of 'common sense'.  

I think really what you are experiencing is a bit of the same sadness I see; we're a few years apart (I'm 44), but I'm living right now in a rental house, unemployed, with a wife and 3 kids to support and no income.

On the other hand, I own 3 vehicles free & clear, owe no one anything (except for the one student loan that Will Not Die), and have a year's salary or so in the bank to get me through while I finish an MCSE program and get my feet back under me.

My family's healthy, happy, and well-adjusted, and we're even able to help some folks less-fortunate than ourselves with financial counseling and keeping a couple's kids while they go to MD to bury her father, who died suddenly.

We have enough for today, the future is bright, and it is up to me to chase those "woe is me" thoughts out of my head.

You and Debbie have a nice life, enough for today, and skills for the future.  (How's the website and SEO work coming?) Be blessed and thankful for what you DO have, and don't compare with others, as hard as that may seem.

[Monkeyleg]

Felonious Fig, I hope I'm not coming across with a "woe is me" attitude in this thread. That's not what I intended at all.

I try not to envy other people, because I have things in my life that they may not. My brother in law is so busy that I'm afraid he's going to have a breakdown. I don't want that kind of stress in my life.

The owner of the gun store whose website I created is very well-off. He's made several million, and he's also only in his forties.

But he can't write a coherent sentence to save his life, whereas I enjoy writing. (Whether I do it well or not is another question). There are a lot of people who don't like him personally, while I think most people who know me think I'm a nice guy.

I don't want to trade places with my brother-in-law nor the owner of the shop.

My point in starting this thread is that I really believe that there's an art to making money, a talent that some people have and others never will, and that academic knowledge or intelligence or IQ or whatever you want to call it isn't a factor.

My next-oldest brother never graduated high school. He never did well at all in school. But he's a master of the art of the deal.

He just retired from his job as a purchasing manager for a corrugated paper company. And here's just one example of his skill:

The owner of the company had leased a $750,000 shredding machine that the company really didn't need. It was costing the company more than it was saving them.

My brother approached another company and got them to assume the lease. On top of that, he arranged a deal whereby his company would send all of its waste paper to the other company for shredding, and that the other company would pay X per ton to my brother's company for the paper.

By the time he was done with the deal, the company that assumed the lease was paying my brother's company more per month for the waste paper than my brother's company had been paying on the lease.

That's talent.

[Brad Johnson]

By the time he was done with the deal, the company that assumed the lease was paying my brother's company more per month for the waste paper than my brother's company had been paying on the lease.

That's talent.

That's astute observation, forward thinking, and self-motivation.

Brad

[grampster]

I really don't believe there is an art to making money.  I think it's just being in the right place at the right time and being just above dead stupid to not move out of the way.
One thing that I have thought, though, is that when I approach a problem I never ever allow for it to not be solvable.  It will work, I will make it work and it does.  I do not allow for failure.  Doesn't even enter my mind.  I never look for problems, only solutions.

I really don't want to talk about luck, because I'm not certain I understand the concept.  I've had enough of it in my life, though, and have seen it in others to not discount it, even tho I'm not sure I believe it.

I believe making the best out of what it is that you have is the secret to sucess.  If you can do that, you might be surprised what else comes your way.

On the other side of the coin, some people are born with great disabilities that just seem to get worse and then they die young.  I just don't know..............

[Monkeyleg]

"That's astute observation, forward thinking, and self-motivation."

Brad, the best that I would have done in that deal would have been to get the other company to assume the lease. And I would have thought that I'd struck a good deal.

My mind just doesn't work like that. (My wife would say that my mind doesn't work at all ).

[Ryoushi]

My point in starting this thread is that I really believe that there's an art to making money, a talent that some people have and others never will

I have to disagree here. You just have to be willing to do what it takes. Improvise, adapt, overcome. For some people this involves sacrificing time with their family or living more frugally for awhile. Others maybe need to step out from a comfort zone and learn how to network or assume more risk in invesment opportunities.  We all draw the line somewhere but it's got nothing to do with talent or art, it boils down to what we are willing to settle for.

[BakerMikeRomeo]

I got a 1450 and a 1410 on the SAT I (took it twice, 'cause my dad promised to buy me a pistol if I broke 1500 >.>); I always scored really high on all the aptitude tests in high school; and I know a little about a whoooole lot of things, but I'm dumb as a freaking stick.

~GnSx

[Sindawe]

Money isn't the measure of everything...

You are only "smart" if you get what YOU want out of your life.

Tallpine gets it.

[Ryoushi]

World's top maths genius jobless and living with mother

"A maths genius who won fame last week for apparently spurning a million-dollar prize is living with his mother in a humble flat in St Petersburg, co-existing on her £30-a-month pension, because he has been unemployed since December...

...He continued: "I know that self-promotion happens a lot and if people want to do that, good luck to them, but I do not regard it as a positive thing. I realised this a long time ago and nobody is going to change my mind. "Newspapers should be more discerning over who they write about. They should have more taste. As far as I am concerned, I can't offer anything for their readers..."

[doczinn]

Modesty and humility can be great traits to have.

But turning down a million dollars, for something you've already done, when you're living with your mother, on her small pension -

That's just STUPID.

[Monkeyleg]

Man, that guy is worse at "the art of the deal" than I am!

[Telperion]

For perspective, keep in mind for every "unconventional" success story, there are dozens of people whose great plan didn't work out and who lost all their investment capital, and plenty of people who didn't do great in school and also didn't do so great in the real world, either.

[Monkeyleg]

...and plenty of people who didn't do great in school and also didn't do so great in the real world, either.

Telperion, I think those people are called "politicians."

[AJ Dual]

I know exactly what you're talking about Dick.

Chalk me up in the "intelligent" but not "smart" category. I'm not jealous of what it is my friends that are like this have, I'm just befuddled as to what that special motivation or drive is&