> The most successful people are not the most talented, just the luckiest, a new computer model of wealth

Don’t use “wealth” and “success” interchangably. It’s a sad Americanism(?).

The smartest people I know never optimized any choices for wealth at all. That’s why they aren’t wealthy. Many chose careers in academia or culture, actively choosing income that might be 1/3 of what they could have made. But they chose it out of curiosity and love for what they are doing.

Others chose to prioritize family over finance. I consider many of them wildly successful too.