To think being intelligent or successful doesn’t necessarily mean you’re good with money?

[HeartyMintLurker]

It sometimes surprises me how often people assume that if someone is very successful or highly skilled in their field (e.g. a lawyer, dentist, etc.), they must also be good with money. To me they feel like completely separate skill sets.
AIBU?

How do you mean ‘good with money’?

I think people on lower incomes are often forced to become 'good with money' in a way people on higher incomes are not.

X

Agreed. I’m intelligent and successful but with with money, not so much. I waste it, don’t save enough of it, don’t budget. We’re not in terrible debt or anything like that but if I lost my job (or DH did), we’d be totally in the shit.

Op means being able to handle your financial affairs successfully.

It depends what you mean.

I am in a profession like that as are most of my friends. I would say we are all much more financially literate than the rest of the population - understand pensions, investments, mortgages, etc and make generally savvy financial decisions in that sense.

But we are more of a mix on day to day budgeting/approach to money. And that's partly because if you do a mentally demanding professional job, you have less headspace for where is the cheapest toothpaste or exactly how much is in your current account.

Things like budgeting, avoiding unnecessary debt, saving/investing sensibly, planning ahead financially, not living completely beyond your means. More that being highly intelligent or professionally successful doesn’t automatically mean someone has strong financial habits or financial literacy.

Yes, you’re quite right. I mean, I think it’s pretty odd that anyone would think it. It’s like saying ‘Well, if you speak four languages well, you must be good at running’.

I have a friend who is a teacher. She asked me why I was overpaying my mortgage because I was just giving money to the next people who buy my house.

She has a mortgage and clearly doesn’t understand them. But I cannot figure out her thinking at all😂😂

I would say that if you are well-educated you are more rather than less likely to be financially literate.
A fifth of the population don't have maths GCSE so yield calculations/implications of inflation etc might well be something they struggle with

You don't need to be good at maths to be financially literate.
Basic adding up and taking away.

I think presenting it as something you need to be good at maths for is creating another barrier.

Exactly!

Years ago un psychology was the halo effect which kind of describes this sort of thinking....

As they're an excellent dentist they're automatically good at /have knowledge of financial 'stuff'...

Although there is an argument that highly skilled professionals are more likely to have the basic skills (eg they've got a good general education) to be able to understand areas such as finance /banking

I'm very intelligent, fully understand finances and would be deemed successful.

I'm reckless with money. I've been in the shit because of borrowing and it's taken me years to recover and learn how to discipline myself.

Em forster Howard's end , mr Wilcox and the basts

WTF how can you have a mortgage and not understand how they work?! Slightly scary that this person is teaching children as well.

That's an interesting perspective.... Interesting how she got to that conclusion.

An old colleague was furious when he discovered that the mortgage company wanted at least twice the borrowed amount back... He thought mortgages were sort of free....

I think the other thing is that - not all but most - professionals grew up with parents interested in their general education and in households that will have had good financial habits. Correlation not causation

But also if you have more money, it's easier to be good with it

I'm extremely well educated and successful but not great with money. I've managed to stay out of debt but could be better off. I don't t care though, I'm happy

Isn’t that the point that OP is making?
She maybe a good teacher but doesn’t mean she is financial literate, assuming she is not teaching finance. Even teaching maths doesn’t make you financially literate.

I am the same! It’s like my brain glitches!

.the mind boggles!

I think we often conflate two issues.

intelligent people can easily understand how mortgages work, that credit cards are an expensive way to borrow, how to calculate compound interest. But it doesn’t mean they have impulse control. It doesn’t mean they don’t whack a luxurious purchase on their credit card and decide to worry about it next month.

I totally understand finances - I still overspent on my recent house renovation and ran my savings down to a very low level.

It makes it easier though, some investments, taxation, planning for retirement, inheritance tax, etc can be difficult to understand so if you have a good education (particularly science subjects that require maths) it helps. And if you have plenty of money you can afford to let it look after itself to a greater extent than if you are watching every penny.

I have a professional accounting qualification and my job is literally budgeting yet I am still rubbish with my own money.

Sadly my ADHD compulsive spending is strong than my spread sheet skills.

I would say that it does require certain amount of comprehension and numeracy skills to process information around mortgages, pensions, pension tax etc.

Someone can be successful and highly skilled in a time intensive and stressful job and so not have the time and head space to sort out their finances for short or long term (investments, pensions). They will have enough cash flow that financial planning comes low down on your list of priorities.