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?

So what’s your excuse OP? Why aren’t you earning six figures if you are smart enough to recognise all these failings in the top earners you should have the recipe for success?

Crickey, you haven't met my other half!! 😂

are you younger me?

I've never earned a lot despite going to a good uni and getting a degree in languages. It's partly bad luck - my career trajectory was cut short when my company closed down at the start of lockdown, and the industry has never really recovered.

But it's also that I managed a large team in my mid-20s, hated every minute of it, and refuse to do it again, so I fully acknowledge that's a big reason why!

DH does alright because he's been in his industry since 2007.

Yes, of course. There's also street smarts as opposed to academic ability and personality aspects like being ambitious and confident. The most successful of my group of friends is the one who didn't finish sixth form. She has a certain personality.

Which is it, smart or talented? They are not the same thing.
Or do you want people to agree with you that earning over £100k is just down to luck and the only reason you don’t earn £100k is because you have been unlucky?

It’s not hard to realise that it will be due to many reasons and the weight of these factors will differ from person to person and job to job.
So, yes, you do need to be smart to some extent - whether it is academically, emotionally, common sense smart etc.
You need to be prepared to work hard at times, sometimes all of the time.
It helps to have various privileges- whether it be skin colour, sex, physical/mental health, attractiveness, supportive parents, access to education/courses/good advice, the friends you keep etc etc.
You need resilience.

Some of the above will be within your control - either innately or through determinatio/mindset - and other down to chance.

They may not be intellectually as smart as someone not on a 6 figure salary, but they were smart enough to find employment where they can earn 6 figures.

My brother is hugely intelligent but also put alot of effort and time in to studying for all exams he had throughout school, uni and in his professional career. He can also be quite ruthless when making decisions, which is needed I think to climb the career ladder.

This is it with me.

It's impossible not to sound braggy so I'll say it plainly - I'm intellectually capable of doing just about any job. I always was and always will be something of a polymath with a rounded education and interests.

I'm also a stubborn pig-in-the-mud about what I will do and who for. These are much more limiting factors than education or talent :D

I think this alllll the time. My current boss - lovely man but was handed a business by his father and is running it into the ground. He's paying himself a whopping great salary to do absolutely bugger all. He's not even paying decent people to manage the business for him - I'd love to get my hands on it, but never will, as just wasn't born into that kind of monied background.

Look at Elon Musk. The world's richest man, got there all through his own hard work, and the massive inheritance from his dad's diamond mines. What's the easiest way of becoming a billionaire? Being a millionaire to start off with.

I think part of the reason we're in a period of economic decline (not to mention decline in the arts, TV, film etc) is because the hard work and ingenuity was put in a generation or two ago. Now we've got their kids, with no real talent or work ethic, running everything - and keeping actually talented people out - and it shows.

I think it requires a certain degree of intelligence to realise in the first place that just being smart is not how you earn 6 figures any 6 figure earner will tell your that so there's no news here. Of course, luck plays a part but you make your own luck through grit, timing & emotional intelligence to keep the luck door from slamming shut and that's what most people don't have and you need all 3.

You can be very smart when it comes to your industry and incredibly stupid when it comes to life. My ex is a high earner (six figures), exceptionally good at his job but emotionally the stupidest man you could meet.

Oh god you’ve just unlocked a memory, my dad who left school at 15 no qualifications was absolutely obsessed about office work or anything not manual not being real work, every time he’d been to the pub he’d wang on about it. To me who was studying for her a levels, who wasn’t going to get a manual job (thanks for the encouragement dad). It used to really upset me as it showed how little he thought of my achievements I thought. Obviously now I know he was too dim well lacking in emotional intelligence to think that’s probably not a way to encourage your child.

I now earn just shy of £100k , which I know is lower than the subject of the thread but to those posters saying middle class, encouraging parents who could navigate uni and had connections- nope. I didn’t go to uni, could have done academically but was crippled with anxiety and self doubt.

I agree it’s a mix of factors - intelligence, work ethic, and resilience all matter. My point is just that we often downplay how much circumstantial luck and privilege tip the scales. It’s not about removing skill from the equation but about recognising the weight of both sides.

Can it not be both? I was very focused as a teen, forgo going to parties, getting drunk and studied really hard. Then went to Uni and did same and I ended up in a career that in time gave me a high 6 figure salary.

I came from a council estate, have 2 siblings, both of whom were big partiers, not great at studying etc - and do ok for themselves but nothing special.

You do come across many people who are successful because of their family or the school they were sent to. It's a huge thing in the UK, less so in mainland Europe where there isn't the same history of private schooling etc.

Read Chums by Simon Kuper, it's very enlightening on how the post school network works for those who attended Eton and other similar schools.

You’re mistaking luck with persistence.

I run a business and have come close to financial disaster. The only reason I’m still standing is because I stuck it out, adapted, innovated and kept going when it would have been easier to give up. That isn’t luck. It’s sheer graft and determination.

“Right place, right time” might open a door, but it doesn’t keep you in the room.
Persistence does.

Ray Kroc, the man who turned McDonald’s into a global giant once said:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.”

basically is like bobby axelrod in billions, you need to know all the people and make the connections

I’ve been in investment banking for 25 years and been on 6 figures since my mid 20’s. I’m definitely not academically smart - there are many, many smarter people in my team. I failed two of my A levels but managed to get a place at uni to read economics at an ex poly.

What I am very good at is ‘people’. I have outstanding relationships with my clients, I listen to what they are looking to achieve and present the right solution. That’s not always what they initially thought they wanted. I get on well with my own team and stay connected to other teams - so the economists, traders, other sales teams etc. I keep my profile high with my immediate line management and senior management, so I’m generally well respected and people seek my opinion when there are problems to be solved. I make sure other people are given full credit for their work and help junior colleagues raise their own profile. I’m not sure I work harder than anyone else (in my industry or people in others), I’ve just chosen a well paid career that suits my skill set.

I agree with this statement that it’s a mix, but your thread title and first post suggest that it’s “just luck”.

Well, I think there's intelligence and intelligence. I meet a lot of high earners who lack common sense or emotional intelligence in some respects, but they're not necessarily doing a job that tests those things. It's also easy to underestimate the level of technical knowledge and ability required in a job that you don't do yourself even in your own industry, let alone other industries you don't work in.

And also, people are often hired and paid for their soft skills - they might only be middling to mediocre accountants for example but they are amazing at business development or retaining clients, and not so bad at the core job that it's an unacceptable risk to hire them.

I think most people who are lucky make their own luck, which means it isn't really luck.

Majority of the people I know who are on big money didn’t go to University

Yes, I agree with this. I know some incredibly smart people who will never earn 6 figures because their career path, plus they don’t seem that keen to earn more. And yeah privilege does come into play too.

There are different forms of intelligence. Some people are very business savvy along with being socially smart.

My ex who earned 6 figures used to joke about how he wasn’t clever enough for me and I don’t half of what he did. I may or may not have been more academically intelligent than him but I think he was very smart in his own way.

He was raised in a rough area of the US in a single parent home and went to college in his state, then worked for several years then set up his own business selling IT solutions. He is great at investing his money too and is a quick thinker.

@edwinbear half of it id guess is being the one that helps others connect others and helps others suceed and being a good listner too.

that said after watching billions / the big short / margin call / etc how cutthroat is invesment side of things ?

I think you’ve nailed it with ‘it can be both.’ Efforts and luck/privilege aren’t mutually exclusive but the balance between them often decides who rises to the top. Thanks for the book rec, I’ll leave it there.

In my experience it’s about hard work and drive.