Why are intelligent people often not rich?
Because they want to make money only using their intellect. For example, if a “non-intelligent” money-making opportunity shows up (say, wholesale rice trading), they wouldn’t be interested.
Further, I suspect that some smart people are more keen on proving their smartness than making money.
Of course, none of these statements are 100% true. You do have intelligent entrepreneurs, who are also rich.
And sometimes, they do seem to be solving seemingly simple problems (e.g., food delivery). But they do it at a scale that makes it intellectually challenging. E.g., delivering from one shop only needs a guy with a bike, but across the country, it needs all kinds of fancy algorithms.
And I suspect what attracts these folks is not the delivery but the fancy algorithms.
Making money and proving your smarts are not always aligned, and sometimes, they are diametrically opposite.
So decide what you want to do in life — make money, prove a point, have fun, or whatever. All these are valid choices.
Choose what you want but then don’t envy the other guy who made different tradeoffs.
– Rajan