My Blog, Your Money

Recently, the late Grace Groner who passed away in January has been in the news for leaving $7 million to her alma mater, Lake Forest College. The gift is the largest in the school’s history.
The amazing part of the story is not the size of the gift – multimillion-dollar gifts are not rare. It’s the fact that it came from the likes of Groner who lived an unassuming life in a tiny one-bedroom house. Nobody would have suspected that she had amassed a fortune and this has given rise to her nickname as the “secret millionaire” not to be confused with the TV show.
So how did she become so rich? It wasn’t from a high-earning profession – she had been a secretary for 43 years. And it wasn’t from an inheritance. It was a combination of 2 things: good old-fashioned frugality (having weathered through the Great Depression after graduating from Lake Forest) and investments. What’s noteworthy about the latter is that her they all originated from a simple $180 initial investment in 3 shares of her employer, Abbott Laboratories, in 1935. Over time, she never sold the shares and continually reinvested the dividends. This investing approach allowed her holdings to grow to a fortune over 75 years and her story has even drawn comparisons to that of Warren Buffet.
Her story is inspiring and I love how she gave her fortune away to a cause she really cared about. I hope to do the same someday (if and when I have a fortune). Groner might have been a bit extreme when it came to frugality and investing, but I hope it inspires people to reconsider their spending habits and invest a little more.