kitchen table math, the sequel: if I'm so smart why ain't I rich?

Thursday, April 26, 2007

if I'm so smart why ain't I rich?

No idea what to make of this.

oh, wait!

My guess: this is going to be about getting married, having kids, and working 'til you drop to put them through college.

Possibly.

.......

Or, alternatively, this is the too much money principle.

The more money you make, the more people lying in wait to extract it from you.

Seriously.

I had a great reunion with an old pal from L.A. over Christmas. Her son is attending one of the chi-chi private schools we probably would have tried to get C. into if we'd stayed.

She told me she was going to have to fork over thousands of dollars for SAT tutoring because everyone at the school was forking over thousands of dollars for SAT tutoring and she had to do it, too, or be shunned.

(C. & I watched the Vote-or-Die episode of South Park last night, the one where Stan gets shunned because he doesn't want to vote in an election where the choice is between a giant douche bag and a turd sandwich. We both burst out laughing when the punchline hit. Neither of us saw it coming.)





update: One can purchase vast quantities of Vote Turd Sandwich clothing and paraphernalia at cafepress.

I wonder if anyone's measured the collective IQ of the Vote Turd Sandwich clientele.

10 comments:

TurbineGuy said...

Idiots...

quoting from the article...

"But despite having higher incomes, there was no relationship between total wealth and IQ. Researchers found those with higher IQs were not significantly better off financially than those with average or below average intelligence, which suggests that those with high IQs don’t save as much as others."

So we are led to believe that higher intelligence isn't associated with financial stability... their proof.

"Researchers also found that people with higher IQs were slightly more prone to financial difficulties. For example, more than 12% of those with an IQ of 90 have maxed out their credit cards compared with less than 8% of those with an IQ of 75 and below."

Since when is 90 a High IQ... last I checked... an IQ of 90 was below average.

Then they say...

"Even the super smart with an IQ over 125 weren’t immune from financial woes, with 6% having maxed out their credit cards and 11% occasionally missing payments."

Of course they aren't immune, but they are less likely than the less intelligent to max out their credit cards and to miss payments.

So the facts contradict the article... never let numbers get in the way of a good story.

Catherine Johnson said...

good grief

that's pathetic

i wonder if the article's as bad as the writeup I didn't manage to read before I linked to it?

Catherine Johnson said...

my IQ seems to be dropping by the day

Anonymous said...

So, special ed is the place to be for financial stability. That's good to know.

Catherine Johnson said...

believe you me, that's what was running through my own brain, reading this

Anonymous said...

Those with IQ less than 75 probably have an official guardian handling their finances.

Tracy W said...

The more money you make, the more people there are lying in wait to extract it from you.

Well the habit that expenses have of rising in line with income is pretty well-known.

It requires discipline to stop that from happening.

This comes down to your distinction between IQ and executive functioning?

Ben Calvin said...

I would say that to the extent that the study is valid (I now have a built-in skepticism of all studies until I'm convinced they represent real research), it shows that your work is more valuable the higher your IQ (your rate of pay is higher).

Whether you devote any of your IQ to learning about personal finance and acting on that knowledge is another thing.

Catherine Johnson said...

Well the habit that expenses have of rising in line with income is pretty well-known.

It requires discipline to stop that from happening.

This comes down to your distinction between IQ and executive functioning?


Well....I didn't want to say it.

I'm glad you did, though.

Catherine Johnson said...

Ben ----

ditto!