What were you going to hire your genius friend to work on? Trading is very risky, he may be smart to stick to his 80k day job for the time being. Maybe even better if he traded part time after hours the global markets. Maybe these geniuses know when to stay out of the market long term. i.e. They stay out of the market much of their lives, lol. I agree with the post about genius friends who stick to mutual funds and 401k's. That's borderline naivety trusting swindlers who've already been caught damaging the retirements of the general public. All the smart older people I know of, engineers, doctors etc. got their 401k's or mutual funds slashed devastatingly.
Tech stuff, not trading. But I felt like he was the sort of person who I could count on to "see things" that other people could not see quickly and felt like 1 of him was worth 3 regular guys.
Thanks. I know what you mean. I knew of a certain individual who could solve problems no one else could, including shipping negotiation, and quality control, yet was demeaned/undervalued/underpaid/basically used due to office politics and general disdain of engineers/techs in the company. While others have more authority and pay doing nothing innovative other than keeping the status quo, and playing internet games or chatting on their computer.
I've always asked, What defines "smart" ? An auto mechanic may know 10x more than you about cars but you may know how to make 10x more money. Does that make you smarter? A phd in physics or Warren Buffet? A bum on the street who has $2.25 and lives a "free" life or the Joneses down the street with a 400k mortgage working for the man?
Long term capital management was managed by geniuses who used derivatives in the forex trading in the mid 90's 1997 Asian financial crisis.. it was the prelude to the 2008 derivative crisis, the US gov't or brokers had to bailout LTCM There was even a show on TV say why are all the smart people and geniuses wasting their talent in wall street pushing paper and producing nothing value in it was in 1990 barbar walters that show is obsolete.. Half all MBA or business students work in financial sector from what i read or investment banking the big money in wall street is in investment banking fees and management fees and arbitrage fees, not daytrading peons. it's an old question
Trading is about perceiving and acting, with as little thinking as possible. Geniuses that see this as the truth, do very well. Most people think too much, specially geniuses.
I have always felt that I'm smart enough to grasp certain things, but not smart enough to build upon it. I have never attended a MENSA meeting, but it sounds awful. I am also dumb enough to having to be independently wealthy in order to exist. The kind of geniuses you are referring to are on another level. Why in the world would they be interested in earthly possessions? They have an entire universe within their minds...
There are two levels of smart people. There are those that possess alot of knowledge. Then there are those who are capable of literally discovering new knowledge. There are the conceivers and there are the implementers.