Intelligentsia: The Other 1%

Plenty has been written about income and wealth inequality over the last decade. There is another inequality gap expanding even faster than that of income and wealth. The gap between the top 1% and the rest is growing rapidly in this area and it had a direct effect on income and wealth.

I call it intelligentsia. These people are the most educated or learned (there is a difference) and therefore control their ability to grow income and wealth at will. These hyper intelligent people also have greater political influence.

The intelligentsia are the other 1%. Nobody is complaining about their growing gap of knowledge. The reason for this is clear. Anybody who wants to grow their level of knowledge can with few barriers. Because personal responsibility is involved we will never see a rally or protest claiming people are not allowed to learn.

Do not confuse this with formal education. Formal education is expensive which is a serious barrier many people cannot overcome. The intelligentsia know a formal education is only a small part of knowledge and the influence it brings. Most colleges teach nothing about sound investing. As the owner of a tax practice I can assure you colleges are not churning out highly qualified tax professionals. These and other forms of knowledge require a personal commitment to learning.

Time to Get Schooled

The newsfeeds are filled with the plight of getting a college education. Costs are rocketing higher and student loan debt is blasting further into record territory daily. But formal education isn’t the problem, you are.

Sorry to be so blunt, but there is no other way to put it. The whining and complaining about college costs are unacceptable and do nothing to improve the situation.

College is important. Learning is even more important. If you can’t motivate yourself to learn without the stick of a professor threatening, you will never be part of the intelligentsia. Ever.

What you learn in college or technical school is only a fraction of what you need. Formalized education is more about the experience, the contacts, than about learning. Learning comes from outside the institution.

I know this is hard to grasp, but can you imagine Newton going to school to learn the things he discovered? Who taught Einstein about relativity? Who taught the Wealthy Accountant about taxes? It was the same person in each case. We taught ourselves.

Newton and Einstein had to learn and then build new knowledge and understanding from the base they had. Your favorite accountant took one tax class before going full-time. Of course, I read massive amounts of material in addition to that single class.

I have a secret. When I started my business I took the H&R Block tax course. That was the one course. It was something like 10 or 15 weeks where we met one night a week (maybe it was twice a week; it was a long time ago) for a few hours. That’s it. From there I kept growing. I read IRS publications. I attended continuing education classes before I had my enrolled agent license and was required to. I read every tax book in the library and bought more.

I went from dumbest to the intelligentsia of the tax community in a handful of years due to my massive indoctrination.

What about Contacts

The biggest benefit of formal education is the contacts you make. The classroom learning is available outside the institution in most cases. In some disciplines the professor requires you step off the campus to experience real world activities. It’s kind of hard to experience an archeology dig at a desk.

The cost of college is the textbooks. Having a professor preach to you from the book she probably wrote herself and requires for her class to drive sales is a waste of time. The professor then tests you to see if you have been paying attention and reading the additional material. If you are part of the intelligentsia you don’t need a professor prodding you; you can learn faster and better on your own. The classroom is slowing you down.

Formal education has one huge benefit only available from a group.

The intelligentsia is a small group of people, the 1% of knowledge holders, who stick together. College brings people together allowing these unique souls the opportunity to identify each other and share ideas. Is it any wonder managers of the largest businesses and political leaders draw their teams from people they met in college?

Contacts are more important than knowledge. (It hurts to say that.) It’s true. Who you know is more important than what you know. If you know the right people you are better off than knowing everything there is to know.

Without a formal education, without the advantage of a college campus, how can a budding intelligentsia acquire the contacts she needs to excel? The answer is simple: conferences.

Once formal education is completed the intelligentsia needs a way to stay in touch. If they are not part of your team you need a way to contact these people when the need arises.

One of the most common questions I get in my office is: Do you know anyone who . . . ? In many cases I do. Why is that?

I meet many highly advanced performers during the course of my day. Some I met during my short tenure attending college. (I have no degrees.) Many I met personally at a conference.

Conferences are like mini college courses. The training is intense; the learning environment ripe. I learned more at conferences than college ever taught me. Things never taught in the classroom are discussed over a cold one as the evening wears on at a conference.

How to Be Part of the Intelligentsia

The intelligentsia is an unassuming group. Rarely do you find someone excluded. Admission is simple; be an intellectual or highly educated.

How do you get this way? By standing on the outside drinking in all the knowledge until you qualify. It doesn’t take long either. When knowledge is flowing fast and furious your learning curve is steep. Soon you have something to add to the discussion. It is at this point you are a member of the intelligentsia whether you know it or not.

The next question is: Where do I find these conferences?

Before I tell you that I remind you a college education starts before you attend your first conference. You can buy or rent textbooks from Amazon. Books are the dues paid to become a member of the intelligentsia. Rare is the intelligensa (yes, I know I made up a word; would you prefer intelligencer?) who has no personal library.

Read. Read every day. Read stuff that nourishes the mind. Novels are fine for entertainment, but you are an intelligentsia neophyte. Your mind is fertile ground waiting for the seeds. Never allow such a fertile field to lay fallow!

Once your mind has been planted with vast tracts of knowledge it is time to meet your people. You could read the textbooks and wander the local college campus discussing the issues with those you find. Some colleges allow this; other might ask you to leave. It is an idea.

As your level of knowledge increases you want focused increases of knowledge. This requires a venue specific to your needs; you need to start attending conferences.

Conferences cost money. This is where your real education takes place. Conferences have classroom training coupled with massive socializing. What you learn in the classroom is only the conversation starter.

What is taught in the classroom continues afterwards. The presenter is frequently part of the discussion. The same thing can happen in college, but getting the professor to be one of the guys is unusual. At a conference the people you meet are people you can contact when the need arises. When you need a team member you have a pool of intelligent and experienced people to draw from.

Conferences are everywhere! I have never met a conference I didn’t like. It’s hard in the beginning for the newbie. Don’t worry. Walk right up and join the group. You’ll be one of the cult members in about thirty seconds flat. Don’t be shy. Do NOT waste the opportunity. To this day I have never witnessed anyone getting shot because they joined the conversation. (A few should have been.)

It is impossible for me to list every conference in every genre so let me give you an example you can extrapolate from.

Let’s use my profession, taxes/accounting, as a discussion point. If you want to attend a tax conference/seminar there are thousands to choose from. The AICPA is a good place to start. An internet search of your state CPA organization will have additional offerings. The National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP) has many basic tax courses to pick from too.

Once you attend a conference or a few seminars you will end up on a list. Then the opportunities will come to you. The difficult part is choosing which conferences and seminars to attend with your limited time resources.

The internet has made finding conferences matching your interests easier than ever. By joining the intelligentsia you are joining an elite group. The intelligentsia earn more and have more. For some reason the 1% of income earners and 1% of wealthiest people in our society also happen to be in the other 1% too: the intelligentsia.

By focusing on income inequality you miss the point. Focus on learning and knowledge and you will be a card carrying member of the intelligentsia. Your income will go up automatically as a result.

Now, if you will excuse me. I have a book with my name on it.