Who's Rich? Not the Smartest...

"Intelligence really isn't one of the key driving forces. In fact, people at the middle of the smarts spectrum have the fewest money problems."Ohio State economics professor Jay Zagorsky suggests different factors: "Staying married, not getting divorced, thinking about savings."

In Zagorsky's study of 7,500 middle-aged Americans, the smarter you are, the more you tend to earn. For each IQ point you have above someone else's IQ, you'll earn between $200 and $600 more. You would reasonably assume, then, that smarter people would end up wealthier. But that was not suggested by the study. Instead, people with higher IQs and incomes tended to spend more, maxing out credit cards and paying bills late. At the end of the day, those with lower IQs often had a greater net worth.