It’s called “sour grapes”. People naturally gripe that they “coulda woulda shoulda” whereas the other guy who “did” must have had to do something immoral and unethical to get where they are.
And the fact is, people do make choices whether they will take paths that will make them “rich” or “happy”. But even if you make all the “right” choices, that doesn’t gurantee anything. For example, imagine being a investment banker at Lehman Brothers in 2007.
I think it’s way worse than “doesn’t guarantee anything”. It has little chance of making any difference, for most people. Plus for the vast majority they wouldn’t know and haven’t really got much chance of coming to know what the “right” choices are.
By that definition, I could win the Euromillón and still wouldn’t be rich, since I happen to enjoy my job… Then again, by that definition Antonio Catalán isn’t rich, and the dude built a hotel chain which revolutionized the industry (NH) before getting bored, selling it and starting up a new, smaller chain (AC). Amancio Ortega (owner of Zara, Mango…) isn’t rich, since he still works, never mind he’s got the biggest personal fortune in Spain (smaller since his divorce). Same goes for the Botines (owners of Banco Santander). You may wish to review the definition.
Well maybe ClintO just needed to add some “could” to his definition. Could pay off a decent house, own a couple of vehicles and retire mid 50’s living on investments.
You may not be the rich kind of smart. Doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the wrong kind.
People like that are just impossible for me to understand on some fundamental level. I mean, for me, the whole point of having a fat wedge of cash would be that I wouldn’t have to work and could devote my life to doing fun things. But all these super-rich guys - they get to the point where they could easily retire and spend the rest of their days gallivanting around the globe living an idle life of luxury and excess… and they keep on working! Some of them even end up working harder and longer hours. Why on Earth would you do that? Does it just become a competition, to see how big you can get your bank balance before you drop dead? Have these people spent so long in the corporate world that they can’t have fun unless they’re completing megabucks deals?
It’s almost as mystifying to me as the people who win 8-figure sums on the lottery and carry on working at menial jobs “because otherwise I’d get bored”. Jesus H. C., there is an entire planet of fun and exciting things to do and see at your disposal - giving up work at the pork pie factory doesn’t mean you have to buy a new bungalow and sit on the sofa watching Trisha for the rest of your days. 
Smart is only one part of the equation, which generally requires three parts - brains, desire and luck. Though you can certainly do it with luck alone, few do.
This is the best answer I have seen so far. To take a sports analogy, it’s not as if the world’s top ultra-marathoner has less athletic prowess than the world’s top golfer, yet they get paid far less. Same thing goes for intelligence. It is difficult to be stupid and build a fortune from scratch, yet being intelligent in areas that are currently not valued by consumers, businesses, and the government is not going to garner you a huge fortune, either.
It’s not that hard to understand really. Think of the activity you would most like to spend your time doing, Colophon. Now imagine you could make boatloads of money doing that. Would you stop doing it and no longer do the thing you like doing best just because you had heaps of money? How does that make sense?
“I have heaps of money so now I won’t do what I like doing?”
That’s what I meant, within the context of the OP. In some respects I am phenomenally intelligent, perspicacious, intuitive and other big words. But I lack the sort of financial nous that might enable me to monetize the abilities and talents I do have. So I’m not rich.
There are other consolations and rewards, but money is not one of them.
I’m smart enough, but being rich was never a goal of mine.
Not born rich; not that motivated to become rich. Kinda lazy actually. I are smart though!
For the guys who got rich building their own businesses, that is the “fun thing” they devote their life to.
Whatever it is about a person that makes them the sort of person who ends up working in a pork pie factory (or whatever), that doesn’t change because they get a giant windfall of cash.
That’s the problem with hanging out with poor / middle class folk. They can only really teach you how to be a good cog in someone elses widgetmaker.
the invisible hand can lift some up and hold others down.
Well that’s easy to understand. What’s hard to understand is associating “the activity I would most like to spend my time doing” with “work”. 
Probably because your job sucks.
Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates loved computers.
A lot of lawyers like making justice happen.
Traders and investment bankers love making big deals.
Entrepreneurs like starting and building a business from scratch.
If you are some low level functionary is a big company, of course you don’t want to spend more time doing that crap.
A more specific sports analogy I’ve seen before. Look at the difference between Michael Jordan the basketball player and Michael Jordan the baseball player. Same person. He loved both sports and dedicated himself to succeeding in both sports. If success was just a matter of willpower and hard work, he’d have been as successful in baseball as he was in basketball. But reality showed that in one situation willpower and hard work take you to the top and in a different situation that same willpower and hard work take you nowhere.
It’s like I always say - hard work, drive and ambition can only take you so far. At some point you have to have some damn talent!
That was my father’s favorite remark, and he would sneer it to me often enough. He was “motivating” me.
He was poor; and ended up financially “rich” due to his own effort (and desire). And with some good luck, I suppose, including mentors and good bosses and all that.
Me, I never wanted to be rich, and I suffer from what I call “starving artist personality” – I always chose the more interesting-less pay route, puddle-jumped jobs right & left, and have suffered appropriately for my “art” – being something of a minor-league scholar of … the blues.
No shit.
I am doing pretty well (certainly not rich). To do better I would have to work harder or change industries to something I didn’t enjoy.
Not in the cards for me.
(Though, I do hope my boss takes early retirement so I can get the big pay bump there.)