Will High Grades Make You Smart and Rich?

If getting rich is always based on what you get in school (example, high grades, diplomas, etc), you’re having a wrong perspective in life. Awhile ago, while I am visiting one of my favorite Facebook Groups TGFI , one member asked this question – “Will High Grades Make You Smart and Rich?”. I think this is worth sharing in InvestmentTotal.com related to the topics career guide and how to get rich.

So, before I will give you my point of views, let me first share the thought of other people who respond to the question. For me, their answers makes sense, even though they have different point of views.

According to Elysia Quinn Fetalino; “I think, it depends. If you use your intelligence wisely (build businesses, invest, etc.), then yeah, it will. If not, then you’ll just work very hard for someone else and be still down ‘below’.”

Benjamin Jozef De Leon Added; “If high grades alone then NO. It is what you will mix with high grades (experience, mental toughness, street smarts, grit, emotional quotient, etc.) that will determine if you will be rich.”

Dennis Ancheta commented on the post and added some thoughts; “High grades do not equate to success. There is a big difference having a high grade from elite schools versus high grades from second- liners. Just my opinion.”

While I was talking to my students (Grade 9 Students in Drafting) and ask this question, I have noticed that Ivan Louise Dizon of DMHS Grade 9 St. Matthew has a good point of view, this is what I remember from his words;

According to him, high grades can make you rich, if you are excellent in school, you will also excel in  work and career. I absolutely agree with his statement. If you have a habit of being lazy while studying in school, you will bring that habit (laziness) when you are in the workplace. And the bad news about laziness is, it will give you a financial disaster or the worst; bring you in poverty.

Will High Grades Make You Smart and Rich: Other People’s Opinion

And one of the best answer I found was the comment of Anthony Astley Lim stated “High grades MAY NOT make you rich, but it will definitely make some money. That said, getting rich is about being smart with your money. If high grades include financial literacy, then definitely it will make you rich.”

Source, Citations & Reference: Roselyne Bairan Cua on TGFI , Elysia Quinn Fetalino, Benjamin Jozef De Leon, Dennis Ancheta, Anthony Astley Lim

Why I liked the last answer; well it is because we are talking about getting rich. Supposed you want to make million in a year, a man who are doing great in arithmetic in school might say; make 2,740 per day to make 1,000,000″. But a man who is smart didn’t say that, he will do whatever it takes to make 1,000,000 (put your currency here).

Therefore, you have to think if a diploma or a high grades can help you get rich. In my “not so valid” opinion, getting rich is a combination of being smart and being wise. Even though you graduated a medical doctor but not practicing it, you’ll never get rich. Or, even if you are practicing your medical profession (a high paying job/career), but don’t know how to save and invest. Still, you will end up by just working, working and working but wondering why you are not rich. A smart person know how his hard-earned money work for him so he will never work for a lifetime whatever profession he has.

When is a Person Wealthy

BTW. A person is rich if he has a lot money? No, If he has enough money to use for his lifestyle. Example, if the cost of your lifetsyle is 20,000 per month and you have only 240,000, then you are only rich for one year. After one year, you’re poor.

But, if you have earning assets that making 20,000 a month without doing anything. You can consider yourself not just “seasonal rich”, but forever rich! Example of earning assets are stocks, bonds, real estate, business enterprise. Beginning today, don’t think working income, think about passive income! Or turn your working income into a passive income by simply investing in the different types of investments.

Will High Grades Make You Smart and Rich?: Ask Robert Kiyosaki & Top Ittipat

If you watched, the “top secret” movie of a Thailand Young Billionaire – Top Ittipat, he don’t want to enter college because he want to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. It is a very motivational and inspirational movie, whererin, if you watched it, you will decide right away whether you will get a college course or start minding your own business (especially at a young age). Sad to say, it’s not available in YouTube since the video marked as a copyright content, you can have the copy by going to a record bar and buy a copy, or PM me to send you a file.

Let’s ask the rich and the famous investor in our era – Robert T. Kiyosaki, you always read his statement in his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “Cash Flow Quadrant”, that “The main reason people struggle financially is because they have spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is that people learn to work for money…but never learn to have money work for them.”

Citations and Reference: Robert T. Kiyosaki, Author, Cash Flow Quadrant: Guide to Financial Freedom, 2012 Plata Publishing, USA.