I can make exactly the opposite argument: the poor can't afford to take risks, so the smart poor don't.
It's one thing to be poor and desperate enough to take risks to survive, but when you have enough to survive reasonably comfortably, you need another buffer before you can take risks that can really pay off.
Someone with 10K to spare - I mean really to spare - in your situation would have made that money. If you were even tighter for money, I don't think you would have been less risk averse - on the contrary, you'd be even tighter with it.
My ability to accept risk these days depends more on the downside than the upside. This was radically different 10 years ago. At that time I would have seen the opportunity to make an easy $10k and gone for it. If I lost the money, well I could always make more. These days I have a hefty mortgage and a family to support. Losing the 10k won't put us on the street, but it takes a big bite out of our safety net. It wasn't worth the risk, especially with the economy tanking.
In retrospect, my comment was poorly phrased since I had myself in mind as the "smart poor." Upon reflection I can see that it wasn't the lack of money that made me so willing to take risks without much of a buffer, it was the lack of responsibilities.
That tends to happen as you age. Values and priorities shift drastically as you get older and, presumably, take on more responsibilities (children, wife, etc.). This is played out pretty heavily in politics. Young people tend to be more liberal and grow more conservative as time goes on with the possibility of again moving back towards the liberal side of things at the end when responsibilities start to dissipate (children grow up, social security kicks in, etc.).
I think the key is to take risks when you have the ability to (i.e. when you're young). It doesn't mean you can't grow rich later in life, but I have a feeling that the longer you put off taking on the "big" responsibility, the higher the probability you will be to succeed in a financial sense. If your idea of "successful" is to have a spouse and offspring, by all means, pursue that as early as possible. If it's to be financially well off, you'd be better off pursuing that instead of a family.
the poor can't afford to take risks, so the smart poor don't
What about those who start a business from scratch? The outcome for many are debt, but the smart or lucky end up being profitable, some even rich — I would call that risk taking, and lots of “poor” people take this risk.
It's one thing to be poor and desperate enough to take risks to survive, but when you have enough to survive reasonably comfortably, you need another buffer before you can take risks that can really pay off.
Someone with 10K to spare - I mean really to spare - in your situation would have made that money. If you were even tighter for money, I don't think you would have been less risk averse - on the contrary, you'd be even tighter with it.