Posted on 04/25/2007 11:19:30 AM PDT by blam
Smarter people are no better off
12:16 25 April 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Roxanne Khamsi
Contrary to common expectation, intelligence does not always predict financial wellbeing. Even though smart people earn more, on average, it does not protect them from financial difficulty.
New research has found that people who score higher on intelligence tests end up with the same net worth as others when lifestyle factors are taken into account. And the study confirms that you don't have to be smart to be wealthy.
The work reveals that while exceptionally smart individuals typically earn more, they are also more likely to spend to their credit card limit, compared with people of average intelligence.
Jay Zagorsky at Ohio State University in Columbus, US, analysed personal financial information collected from 7500 people between the ages of 33 to 41. Subjects provided details about their cash flow – including wages, welfare payments, alimony, and stock dividends – and their overall net worth. They also answered questions about whether they had "maxed out" any of their credit cards, missed bill payments or filed for bankruptcy.
All the participants had taken an intelligence exam known as the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) in 1980, an intelligence test used by the US military to assess recruits. The AFQT can be translated into IQ scores.
Squirreled wealth
On the surface, Zagorsky's analysis confirms the findings of previous studies linking higher intelligence with higher income. "Each point increase in IQ test scores is associated with $202 to $616 more income per year," he says. For example, a person with a score of 130 (in the top 2%, in terms of IQ) might earn about $12,000 more per year than someone with an average IQ score of about 100.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
“Doctor, if I may have a moment of your time...”
So the old claim that “ignorance is bliss” is true?
I give you Paris Hilton..
...and apparently you don't have to be too darn smart to get some sap to pay you mucho green to do a study of the obvious.
Ted Kennedy is proof.
Does this mean that the Jewish people have financial problems like everyone else? See the below for a previous related posting about intelligent people:
British researcher claims ‘Jews smarter, it’s genetic’
YNet News ^ | April 11, 2007
Posted on 04/11/2007 12:30:36 PM PDT by Cecily
Jews’ average IQ score is seven to 15 points higher than gentiles and they are exceptionally accomplished, claims the British social theorist Dr Charles Murray.
“Jewish genius”, Murray says, is a topic so sensitive that Jews rarely address it. Writing in Commentary, a neoconservative journal, Murray argues that anti-Semitism has succeeded in blurring the connection, but the Jews’ accomplishments are scientifically based. Murray said he regards himself as a Scotsman who came to Britain from Iowa and therefore is not afraid to broach and elaborate on the findings in his research.
Murray sparked outrage with his 1994 book The Bell Curve, which addressed what he saw as black under-achievement. He claims that some groups are genetically more accomplished than others. He mentions that from the birth of monotheism to the medieval philosopher Maimonides, the 17th-century rationalist Spinoza, and the scientists, artists and intellectuals of the modern world, Jews have shown a rare affinity with scholarship.
(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...
Does this mean that Jewish people have financial problems like everyone else? See below for a previous related posting about intelligent people:
British researcher claims ‘Jews smarter, it’s genetic’
YNet News ^ | April 11, 2007
Posted on 04/11/2007 12:30:36 PM PDT by Cecily
Jews’ average IQ score is seven to 15 points higher than gentiles and they are exceptionally accomplished, claims the British social theorist Dr Charles Murray.
“Jewish genius”, Murray says, is a topic so sensitive that Jews rarely address it. Writing in Commentary, a neoconservative journal, Murray argues that anti-Semitism has succeeded in blurring the connection, but the Jews’ accomplishments are scientifically based. Murray said he regards himself as a Scotsman who came to Britain from Iowa and therefore is not afraid to broach and elaborate on the findings in his research.
Murray sparked outrage with his 1994 book The Bell Curve, which addressed what he saw as black under-achievement. He claims that some groups are genetically more accomplished than others. He mentions that from the birth of monotheism to the medieval philosopher Maimonides, the 17th-century rationalist Spinoza, and the scientists, artists and intellectuals of the modern world, Jews have shown a rare affinity with scholarship.
(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...
In my experience there are few sadder things than a stupid rich man and a smart poor man.
Both tend to be impossible to deal with.
Sorry about the double posting! My computer & my finger glitched.
So true I used to tell my very intelligent kids this...
"One thing I have learned over the years. Intelligence has very little bearing on Common sense, Morality, or Wisdom. In fact, it often works in the inverse."
Source "bluecollarman "
The typical American adult with an IQ of 130 is very likely to be a graduate of an Ivy League school and/or law school,medical school or business school whereas with an IQ of 100 that adult might have an associate degree from a community college if he/she is lucky.
And I assure you that the typical graduate of Yale makes far,far,*far* more than does the typical graduate of East Valley Community College.
Never lose your ignorance. You can never regain it!
It was not the AFQT, it was the GT portion of the AFQT, which was a modified Stanford-Binet IQ test. And yes, I took it in 1980.
“Smart People Are No Better Off”
Huh? Oh! You mean financially. Well, maybe smart people have a slightly different set of values. Maybe they’re not trying as hard to make money because they’re more satisfied with their lives.
Or maybe they inherited all they needed!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.