Smarter = Richer? Nope.
In a post way back in January, we pointed to a survey that showed a whopping 75 percent of college freshman cited their number one priority in life as “being well off financially.” We said then that getting rich is a lousy goal if you expect having money to bring you any real satisfaction in life.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about money, at all. The Bible is crammed with teaching about how to use money wisely (instead of getting used by it). A lot of college freshmen believe that myth that being smart and getting a college degree is the best path to being financially stable. Yes, I just said it’s a myth.
A new study from Ohio State University (reported here) points out that smarter people are not necessarily any richer than people with average IQ scores. What’s really interesting is that smarter people DO tend to make more money than averagely smart folks. They have higher incomes. But here’s the rub -- they don’t tend to actually HAVE any more money in the bank. The implication of the study is that smart people are just as likely to be dumb with money as people who don’t have the flashy IQ scores. Or -- to put it in a positive way -- regular people are just as likely to end up with money as brainy folks.
Why? Because having “wealth” has more to do with living wisely than being intelligent -- or landing a high-paying job. You don’t have to be smart to be wise. Being wise with money includes not spending more than you have, not using credit cards, saving dough for low times, and even having a plan to give money to others.
Interested in learning some real, practical wisdom about handling money? Why not suggest to this study to your youth leader? (Note: Nobody paid us to suggest this.)
Being “well off financially” is still a lousy priority, but being financially wise always pays. And you don’t have to be a genius to pull it off.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about money, at all. The Bible is crammed with teaching about how to use money wisely (instead of getting used by it). A lot of college freshmen believe that myth that being smart and getting a college degree is the best path to being financially stable. Yes, I just said it’s a myth.
A new study from Ohio State University (reported here) points out that smarter people are not necessarily any richer than people with average IQ scores. What’s really interesting is that smarter people DO tend to make more money than averagely smart folks. They have higher incomes. But here’s the rub -- they don’t tend to actually HAVE any more money in the bank. The implication of the study is that smart people are just as likely to be dumb with money as people who don’t have the flashy IQ scores. Or -- to put it in a positive way -- regular people are just as likely to end up with money as brainy folks.
Why? Because having “wealth” has more to do with living wisely than being intelligent -- or landing a high-paying job. You don’t have to be smart to be wise. Being wise with money includes not spending more than you have, not using credit cards, saving dough for low times, and even having a plan to give money to others.
Interested in learning some real, practical wisdom about handling money? Why not suggest to this study to your youth leader? (Note: Nobody paid us to suggest this.)
Being “well off financially” is still a lousy priority, but being financially wise always pays. And you don’t have to be a genius to pull it off.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home