Brains don’t guarantee bank accounts.
History is full of “too smart to fail” figures who lost everything:
Isaac Newton lost £20,000 (~$3M today) in the South Sea Bubble.
Thomas Jefferson died drowning in debt despite Monticello looking brilliant from the outside.
Meanwhile, people you’d never expect quietly built millions:
Ronald Read: Vermont janitor → $8M in dividend stocks.
Grace Groner: secretary → $7M from reinvesting Abbott shares.
Anne Scheiber: IRS auditor → $22M from buy-and-hold investing.
Sylvia Bloom: secretary → $9M shadowing lawyers’ picks.
Theodore Johnson: UPS driver → $70M from consistent saving + stock growth.
What does this teach us (other than the fact people that are far less intelligent than you have more money)?
Behavior > Brilliance – Patience and systems beat IQ.
Consistency > Timing – Long-term compounding outpaces speculation.
Simplicity > Complexity – Boring blue-chips and frugality work better than “genius” bets.
If Newton couldn’t outsmart financial mania, why do we think we can?
But if janitors and secretaries built millions through discipline, why can’t you?
Think about it?
— Jake
P.S. Who inspires you more? The broke geniuses or quiet millionaires?