If you are asking about accumulating financial freedom, I have good news for you. Many people of average IQ are able to accumulate substantial wealth while also managing family life. Although talent and intellectual gifts provide an advantage in climbing the ladder of success, passion, commitment and tenacity are more important. It’s true that people who are gifted athletes, talented musicians or brilliant investors have advantages that give them a head start to building wealth. However, as the allegory of the hare and the tortoise reminds us, tenacity and staying power are the elements that win the race to financial well-being.
Of course, someone of low IQ has a lot of ground to make up in the struggle for financial freedom and a Forrest Gump story is relatively rare. However, many people of average intelligence are far more successful in financial terms than many highly intelligent people. Upscale neighborhoods that were once populated by lawyers and doctors with luxury cars parked in driveways, are now often populated with pickup trucks owned by blue-collar workers who have built businesses from their skills in HVAC, plumbing, and construction. Why is this happening?
In earlier generations, financial success was promised to those who graduated from university with a degree, entered a profession and made a larger than average income. These highly educated graduates were in a minority and could charge significant fees. However, in the generations that followed, large numbers of people entered universities and became educated in professions as well as in fields without practical applications. Professional fees became more competitive and higher education no longer guaranteed a high income.
People of average IQ who attended community colleges where they acquired useful skills were in greater demand to do repairs and construction for those university graduates who were not schooled in the trades. The more enterprising community college graduates, created companies and hired people to help them. Using the leverage of many employees, and unrelenting effort, they built their companies and created a lucrative livelihood.
As our population continues to age and fewer people are procreating, the ratio of adults to children is dropping in the industrial nations. The senior citizen population, in need of house repairs and blue-collar services is growing, while the supply of qualified blue collar workers is shrinking. The US Census Department reports, “In 2010, the dependency ratio for the nation as a whole was 49.0, meaning that for every 100 working-age people there were 49 dependent-age people. By 2019, this dependency ratio increased to 53.7, driven by the growth of the 65-and-older population.” In other words, the demand for blue-collar services is increasing, while the supply of those qualified in the trades is diminishing. This is a textbook example of a supply-and-demand scenario that bodes well for anyone of average IQ who is sufficiently motivated to learn a trade and build a business. All it requires is effort, commitment and tenacity.
