Why are there so many smart people just focused on making money?

Because smart people (like everyone else) desire comfort, physical and psychological security for themselves and their families. Money is the way to buy all that to the extent the desires are technically feasible. It does not mean stupid people don't want to make money, but they lack the courage, skill or method to do it. If you are knowledgable about and believe in free market economics, you should agree that earning money usually also means generating some form of value for the society. Smart people usually contribute way more to the advancement of this civilisation than many leechers and moochers. They deserve to be rewarded for that.

Money is just shorthand for 'socially transferrable lifeforce'. In a free society, the amount of money you've made is the measure of the value you have added to the lives of others. Your question contains within it the answer: because they're smart.

Are there? Is it really out of proportion to the rest of society? This reminds me of a story about a business tycoon and an economist.After the economist talked for a long while the tycoon asked him:"If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"To which the economist replied: "Well, if you're so rich, why aren't you smart?"It really all depends on a persons life priorities. There was a time not too long ago that the ambitious pursuit of wealth was not viewed as virtuous. Now it is. In much of todays society wealth is a good validation tool. Is it everything? Absolutely not! But it is a common measure of "success".Perhaps let me rephrase your question back to you... You're on the street and there are two people who want to give you some life advice. You can only listen to one person, who would it be? The billionaire dressed in the finest clothes with an IQ of 105? The homeless guy without a penny to their name with an IQ of 140? Whether they're right or wrong, most people would be listening to the average intelligence billionaire rather than the genius homeless guy.

Because our society from practically a person's birth sends the inescapable message that rich people are smarter, better, more attractive, are more desirable to have as companions/partners, are more interesting, and overall have happier, more exciting and easier lives than people who aren't wealthy. Society has much admiration, respect. and awe for people with much wealth-and that grants the rich a lot of power and access into the most desireable parts of society.   In short, wealthy people have every positive trait accrued to them, and people who are not wealthy, in addition to having demonstably harder lives are looked down upon as being not as bright, not as hard working, not as attractive, etc.   That feeds into whatever insatiable tendency to gather and hoard as much as is possible for some people. Some people don't care about the stuff listed above, but more often than not, most people, if they can, do want to be wealthy.

Let's do a quick review of the history of money: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barter You, knowing woodworking, would make a chair. You would take this to the farmer who grows grain, and trade your chair for a sack of grain. You need to make bread, so you take the grain to the miller to grind. Give him a few eggs or something. Now we have money. What would anyone have today that they could barter for at Wal-mart? A pawn shop, perhaps. But for a long-term solution, money is the only way to measure how much impact a person's production actually makes. So let's say one day the carpenter went home to his wife and said, GUESS WHAT?!?!!! I just made a million chairs today!!!!! Consider the epic pronouncement of this scenario. It brings feelings of power, of eupohroia, and thoughts of millions of people that will be able to sit in chairs.

They need money in order to buy the freedom to do as they please. If you fall off a cruise ship into the ocean, and you are a smart person, you focus on priorities, like not getting eaten by sharks, and making it to the shore of Gilligan's island.  Only after you crawl ashore do you indulge in the luxury of making cave paintings and philosophizing.  Steven Covey wrote a lot about this kind of thinking. Almost all billionaires eventually become philanthropists. A few like Elon Musk, have the luxury to make money by doing what they love, but others, especially if they are born poor, or middle class, need to earn a living, often by doing unremarkable mundane things.

Because money has a magical appearance.   It  seems to cause materially useful  things to pop up out of nothing.  Of course this is an illusion.  Money is the effect of complex trading and production arrangements and through the years it has become conflated with and confused with the cause of trade and production.  What causes trade and production?  Human need and human desire.,  Money is just a way of managing that.

Because money is a tangible representation of desire. Money helps people to get what they want.  Many smart people have realized that they are more capable than others to obtain this money, so they earn it, invest it, save it, and then spend it on stuff they want.  Whether or not you believe that money brings happiness, smart people are smart enough to know that they don't need your permission or approval.

Working for other smart people usually limits the ability of smart people to produce truly smart things. It's like a ball n' chain, money that is, you sell your time in order to be free someday, but the emancipation is nowhere near.