Originally Posted by SuckOnThis

I don't think intelligence is the biggest factor when it comes to money as much as someones ability to bullshit people.

A guy I know is the poster boy for this. He really is not very bright but his ability to convince people of shit is uncanny. In the 10 years I've known him he has never had more than a thousand bucks saved, but 5 different times he has talked other people into giving him anywhere from $50,000 to $1,000,000 for various business ventures, and of course each one of these businesses fail but it's beyond amazing people fall for his bullshit.

Anytime he comes across someone who has money he'll tell them him and his 'business partner' (he has no partner and no money) want to start a certain business and they are looking for another partner to match funds. If he senses that that person is interested he then finds another person with money and tells them the same thing, of course at that point he does in a sense have a partner with funds. When he gets two people to agree with this they think he is the partner of the other one and they usually don't figure out whats going on until its to late and contracts have been signed. It's not like he's running off with their money, they start said business and he usually runs it into the ground or they have no choice but to throw him a few grand just to get rid of him, but it's fascinating that he is able to con people into it to begin with. Every time he does this I think these people have got to be seeing through his bullshit and once in a great while they do, but more often than not they don't. Now if the guys intelligent level was just a notch higher he could be a millionaire by now, but even if it were he would still be many levels below what anyone would consider intelligent.