Seventy-two units or Seventy-two million

(This essay appeared in my column JUSTIFIED)

Forbes Asia magazine has released its list of Philippines’ richest people which includes the likes of Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, the Gokongweis, and the Zobel de Ayalas. More or less on the same month, the Nobel Prize committee also released its 2008 Nobel Prize winners which include one economist whose works I had read, New York Times-columnist Paul Krugman.

Which would you rather be: super rich or super smart?

The apparent inconsistency between academically inclined people and financially endowed ones is quite well-documented. There is even a book by financial guru Robert Kiyosaki titled “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” supporting this discrepancy. In that book, he posited that academically successful people do not necessarily become rich while most rich people were not academically successful. Apparently, Kiyosaki’s research revealed that there are skills rich people have which academically-inclined or “intelligent” folks haven’t learned. In one issue of Forbes magazine, it was reported that non-college graduates who are on its billionaires’ list have an aggregate net worth several times heftier than the Ivy-Leaguers. Grades then are not an indicator of financial success.

Would well-schooled people have a hard time becoming rich? Are our schools or educational system to blame for not teaching us the financial skills needed to succeed in life (at least financially)?

This would-you-rather-be-rich-or-smart question is deceptively hard to answer. It’s not as easy as answering, “Coke or Pepsi?” where one has an immediate preference. It’s more like the chicken-or-egg question. It’s actually like choosing between becoming Bill Gates or becoming Albert Einstein. (Incidentally, Time magazine chose Einstein as their Person of the 20th Century over all other contenders which include Bill Gates.)

One may be tempted to choose becoming rich over being intelligent. That would not be an easy choice for one can be the target of jokes or tirades or one can become very, very insecure if in the company of intelligent people who have also become moderately successful financially. The other side of the dilemma is to choose being intelligent over becoming rich. One would rather be an Einstein than be a Gates. If you’re intelligent –really, really intelligent—you can be of help to society; you might be able to discover things or espouse ideas which could change the world and make the world a better place than you have experienced it, one may be tempted to say. But then, how would you answer the rejoinder: “What is the point of being intelligent and what’s the point of having all those degrees if you can’t be rich?”

So would you rather be intelligent than rich? Or should you strive to become rich and forget about getting too schooled and too educated? No ready answers. One thing I know for sure though: Make the best of what you have, be the best of who you are. It’s a choice anybody can easily make.

(SHOUTOUTS: Hi! to Atty. Richelle Alistado, Atty. Aileen Zorilla (Febiar), Mark Henry Borromeo, Carmelchristee Woo, Me-ann Macute, Gerbert Maglangit)