To think a lot of people earning 6 figures aren’t actually that smart, just lucky?

[SnarkyDenimFox]

I’ve met plenty of high earners and honestly, a lot of them don’t seem any sharper than the rest of us. Right place, right time, right connections. AIBU to think it’s often luck, not talent?

Not In every case. Some people have studied and studied extra, MBAs, further learning, worked away from home, moved locations to gain better employment and put in 10/12 hour days.

People in better paid jobs aren’t better than anyone else, they just decided to go for it (and it worked!)

but he fact it ‘worked’ means they were more capable than the ones that went for it and didn’t get the job, right? In your situation the key thing is getting the job, not ‘going for it’ and failing to get it (whereby you’d be no better off than you are now)

There are so many variables you really can’t just make a blanket statement like that and cover all high earners OP.

I know some who are absolute idiots and got there through connections but the most successful and probably highest earner I know is very highly qualified in a niche area and works in a job that absolutely could not could not be done by just anyone. It has taken years of study and a willingness to put themselves forward in areas that most people wouldn’t go near with a ten feet pole.

I think it’s easy to tell yourself that ‘it’s just luck’ and sometimes it might be but not always.

I was being sarcastic. But not in the context of your interpretation.

So many variables. I know very few (although some) high earners who are genuinely gifted and could turn their hand to anything and excel. Some people have just done the right degree and gone into high paying careers. A few of them got the grades to pursue that or get into top universities and subsequently onto internships because of private school but others didn't. They're bright - not shockingly so. I don't see among my peers a huge discrepancy in the amount people work, their intelligence and the wage that they're paid (e.g doctor/lawyer/teacher/social worker). Similarly it would be remiss to ignore that a large number of people I've seen excel in work have done because they've flourished in playing politics. It took me years to realise that hard work wasn't always rewarded and visibility, confidence and - let's be honest - often Machivalliean tactics were what enabled you to climb to the top. I don't think I can be bothered with it.

I think it’s a mixture of intelligence, luck and drive.
My DH retired a few years ago on 200k, he’s one of 5 siblings and the others who had the same background and without doing IQ tests etc seem to be pretty similar to him intelligence wise and they earn between 15k and 40k.

it's a combination, as others have said.
Why do I earn more than people I went to primary school with - there I was the smartest. Best in class all the way through and barely had to put any effort in.
My high school mates, here I was also one of the smartest, and many of them also made different choices. Who didn't want to study further, who chose a less well paid career or no career at all.
Uni - here I was not the smartest, just average. Why I earn more than pretty much all of them - mostly down to different choices. But the ones I made were available to all of them as well.
Postgrad - definitely not the smartest. Had to seriously start working on my people skills, and have also taken some opportunities many of them didn't, took more secure and comfortable ones that required less effort.
I now earn more than other people doing the same job in my company. This is down to people skills and yes, luck as well, sometimes I was just in the right place and at the right time.

Let's agree to disagree. Yes they have MC parents, but nothing extraordinary. Millions of other people grew up in similar families.

As to being a man -
Women hold almost 45% of seats on FTSE 100 boards, report says | Women in the boardroom | The Guardian

Multiple female business founders? e.g. Denise Coates?

All women on this thread sharing their journeys to high earnings frequently from very adverse circumstances? ok, not Musk's level but still.

I don't know, the ones that pissed about as kids, got into trouble, never did homework, seem to have done far better than the middling hard working kids.
The others who did well came from well to do families. Hard working but middling, who worked hard at school, tried their best are generally the average now..
Anecdata of course! 😁

Beyond being lucky with the basics - born in the western world with the opportunity to go to school - it’s pretty dismissive write off success as luck.

Pretty much every opportunity I’ve ever had is because I “knew someone”

There have been people who have been quick to dismiss my successes on that basis: oh you got X job, because you know Y. Without considering the the reason Y recommended me is because they know I get shit done, get on with people and can read a room.

they ignore the fact that I’ve studied hard, worked long hours, taken unpaid opportunities, moved continents and back again and literally bet my house on my success.

Like many on this thread it has been a mixed bag for me.

I grew up poor, with parents who didn’t value my education or provide any real input, but I really wanted a better life. I got mediocre A levels and degree from a mediocre university as I am
not naturally academic, but it was a gateway.

After leaving university I got a temping job I excelled in and grew from there. Luckily it was a high paying sector and they quickly made me permanent.

I have high EQ, am confident and can read people and situations very quickly and make good decisions. I am also ambitious and worked full time (and more) even when my children were young which was really hard, but I reaped the benefits later.

I am now at Director level and can largely work my own hours as it’s about output. However, I am on call 24/7/365 for no extra money which can sting at times!

I haven’t found this to be at all true amount my DC’s friends.

I don’t think it had much to do with luck at all for high earners that I know. They deliberately chose their industry, are very bright, have consistently worked hard, gained experience and are driven people constantly looking to progress. Most work in IT/Tech and have a lot of responsibility.

My dh earns a lot, and a lot more than I ever did/could. I have better gcses, a levels and a degree from a better uni. My iq is likely higher and honestly, day to day I tend to be the faster problem solver, he needs time to address stuff. However - he is easy going, good at managing people, he always gets what he wants and gets people onside, he's incredibly hard working, he chooses his words carefully and is happy to take a loss with a smile and bide his time. He also chose an industry and built a reputation and relationships within that industry that now means he's invaluable, well liked, recommended for lots of jobs and able to call in favours when needed. I am much quicker to temper, happy to cut my nose off to spite my face, get anxious easily and hate being told I'm wrong (don't get me wrong, I've great qualities too!)
It's not luck, lots of people fail/don't get promoted the way he has despite choosing his career path/industry, but it's not purely intelligence either. Where I used to work they would say talent was a mix of IQ, people and relationship management, and drive/ambition. I think you need the right mix of all 3, a good clear career/industry pathway and probably a little luck too.

I agree. It’s generally people with the right energy and behaviours that earn highest IMO.

DP (just) earns six figures and all down to sheer graft in a very competitive industry which requires incredible techical knowledge. He's very clever but not remotely political at work, not great at schmoozing.

DB earns high six figures, all down to working round the clock in corporate law. Fuck all schmoozing capability. Just loads of book smarts and hard work.

I did earn six figures until a recent switch and put some of it down to luck ie I was in a business that has an influx of cash and started benchmarking salaries well about market. Also worked my ass off and had the gift of the gab, was good at spotting market trends, building connections and bringing in new business.

None of us from privileged backgrounds, just academically bright and hard working.

I am on 6 figures. I am smart, but not overly. The key things from what I have seen are to specialise in a subject mattet that is high paying like tech or corporate law or some specific trade, networking, emotional intelligence, being able to play the corporate game, being able to sell yourself, present well, speak well, being able to spot opportunity, constantly learn, not being afraid to pivot, work hard, make people like you, don't make enemies, be genuine, never bitter and help people up along the way.
The last point is key, I have helped people move up the ladder, who have in turn helped me when they climb up higher.
Be a person people want on their team.
Be a problem solver.
Be ambtious.
Never be bitter.

I work with a lot of actuaries. They worked very hard academically for a long time- top GCSE/A level results/maths degree then working and studying for 5-10 years to qualify. So c.15-30 compromised of a lot less partying and fun than me but they earn very well now. You have to be smart to be an actuary.

I know two people from the same family who now earn this much. They are both from a large family with parents who didn't work and were brought up on benefits. They both have naturally high intelligence though and worked hard at (a middling quality comprehensive) school and then at uni. Neither are very gregarious but are mature and quietly confident and competent seeming. They both work hard too, in different industries, but regularly do 50/60 hour weeks. One of them has built up good contacts which definitely helps (the other is a Dr - doing a mixture of NHS and private work - so I think contacts are less important).

It can be both brains and choices. I wouldn’t say it was luck. Personally, I have an Oxbridge PhD and worked for 20 years under 100K. Then I did a bit of a career and company pivot, now earn >300K. And it’s one of those jobs that mumsnetters don’t believe exists, where I work from home and can nip out and get the kids their school shoes, like I did today for example, and no one blinks an eyelid. Wish I’d made that choice earlier, tbh!

My DH went to a very prestigious private school but hated it. He barely scraped a pass on his exams, bunked off college, only got one A-level, and worked at McDonald’s for a couple years. He then decided he quite liked computers and blagged his way into an IT help desk job in the mid-90s when it was all new.

He taught himself systems analysis and programming models through reading, on the job experience, and qualifications he did over the years. He never went to university. He now earns 6 figures and is very intelligent and good at what he does, but he isn’t ’super smart’ or academically accomplished. He’s very personable but also a straight shooter and very efficient at his job so is well liked by both his colleagues and bosses. I think that has got him further than anything else, really. That and the massive bit of luck that he landed in the right industry at the right time.

Meanwhile I have two degrees and earn less than 1/3 he does because I have primarily worked in creative and caring fields, including in the public sector. Female dominated fields are so vastly underpaid it’s a joke.

Most University academics are pretty smart, but few are on six figures.

Many premiership footballers are on six figures a week, and are not generally all that smart.

Enter law, finance, medicine and it's likely you'll go on to earn six figures.
Enter teaching, social work or publishing and it's unlikely you'll earn six figures.

Senior jobs often pay more because they’re boring to a lot of other people. I have a reasonably well paid role in HE and have no wish to manage or lead people. I don’t want that responsibility. I don’t care about signing off annual leave, checking expenses, and doing appraisals or recruitment while my minions get to build the rocket ship. I like leading meetings, projects, bids, etc. but I have no wish to learn about why someone is off sick or managing underperformance. I’m really good at teaching and doing research and I don’t want to stop doing that.

The industry also makes a difference. My DP is a product developer/inventor/engineer type person in the defence industry - so he has a very specialist skill set in a sector that finds it difficult to recruit people with those skills, so he earns twice what I earn.

I don’t know anyone who is well off by just luck, except an heir and heiress friend. They spent their teens and 20s living the van life (before it was a thing), bopping around sofa surfing following some guru or band, taping themselves to trees to prevent deforestation. My friend famously lived in a tree for like 8 months to prevent it being cut down! And then got married and went home to take over the family pile with its 20 bedrooms and 200 acres. That’s pure luck, though they have had to be pretty imaginative and ambitious to not burn the whole enterprise to the ground, literally and figuratively.

Otherwise, no I don’t think intelligence has much to do with it. It’s ambition and hard work. But a bit of financial support with education or business start up costs helps too.

I’m pretty smart (I have a PhD, always top of the class). In my industry, the most successful people are the ones who put in the most time to do the most work beyond the 9-5 and the ones with the jabbiest elbows. You have to be unnaturally productive, working evenings and weekends, my colleagues book in meetings when on holiday with their families, take work on the plane and shove their kids in front of an iPad. And you have to want to get ahead, get the next project, the next big payday, ruthlessly ambitious.

Dh is a totally different industry. It’s something creative that a lot of people do as a hobby. He’s turned it into a £1mil plus a year business, starting from scratch with like £1000 savings in our garden shed. He is smart, but not like brilliant smart. He’s 2:1 at an average uni smart. But he is really ambitious. Can plan for the future, see the bigger picture, is thinking now about things he will do next summer and how that will grow the business. He returns emails on a Sunday and on holiday and is always planning treats for staff and taking them away for the night for an event. It’s genuinely just working hard and never resting on his laurels. Things could always be bigger and better.

He genuinely doesn’t get stressed in any work situation and I’ve never seen him be nervous or worried about anything ever but he has a complete inability to have healthy personal relationships. It’s a stem industry and personality and emotional intelligence count for very little, knowledge and know how is everything.

I was responding to another poster but got sidetracked 😁