How did they do it?
You hear about it all the time. Some unassuming man or woman passes away, leaving millions of dollars to charity. Neighbors, friends, community leaders — everyone, really — is shocked. What’s the secret?
It does help to be childless and live to a ripe old age, as is often the case in these situations. Still, even if you’re young and have kids aplenty, there’s something these closet millionaires can teach us all.
Keep your costs low.
For almost 50 years, Robert Morin was a cataloguer at the University of New Hampshire library. When he died in March 2015 at age 77, he left the university $4 million. How did he do it? His financial advisor told The Boston Globe that Morin ate microwaveable meals for dinner and usually had a cheese sandwich at lunch. Your doctor wouldn’t want you to copy his breakfast (Fritos and a Coke), but the point is — he lived cheaply. Still, Morin also helped himself by working well past the retirement age and pulling in a nice salary — $102,220 in his final year.
Invest.
Ronald Read was a gas station attendant and a janitor from Brattleboro, Vermont. He died in 2015 and left an $8 million fortune, most of it to his community’s hospital and library. The secret to his success? Along with working well after his retirement age (until 74) and living frugally, Read invested his money in big-name companies he trusted, CNBC reported after his death, including AT&T, Bank of America and General Motors. He also rarely sold his stock, hanging onto many of his stock certificates for decades.
Be patient.
Investing is a hallmark of becoming a millionaire, but patience is critical. When Grace Groner, a resident of Lake Forest, Illinois, died in 2010 at age 100, she left behind $7 million. Her fortune was amassed in large part because in 1935, Groner, a secretary for 43 years, bought three $60 shares of her company’s stock — and never sold them. She didn’t forget about the stock, either. The shares split on numerous occasions throughout her life, but she kept reinvesting the dividends. Groner did spend money — she liked to travel — but she didn’t spend lavishly. The TV she had when she died was purchased in the 1960s.
Hire a trusted professional to help manage your wealth.
Margaret Southern, of Greenville, South Carolina, was a special education teacher. When she died at age 94 in 2012, she left $8.4 million to a community foundation, designating the money to aid children and animals. Southern did have help in amassing her fortune. Her late husband left her a healthy sum in 1983, according to The Greenville News. Ten years later, she found a financial advisor. She grew to trust him so much that in 1999, as part of the agreement allowing him to manage all of her money, she convinced him to care for her dog if she died before he did.
Live like you’re poor.
Doris Schwartz, a former teacher and flight attendant who lived in West York, Pennsylvania, left $3.4 million to the York County Community Foundation to improve education. As one of her friends told the York Daily Record, Schwartz lived “like a bag lady.” She mostly bought staples, like peanut butter or coffee, and only if they were on sale. She invested and saved, but mostly, she was frugal. For instance, she cut her own hair because she didn’t know how much to tip the hairdresser, and apparently felt that over-tipping would be wasteful.
Have a goal in mind.
Eugenia Dodson, a beautician from Coral Gables, Florida, died in 2005. She didn’t accrue all of her wealth on her beautician’s salary. Her late husband had a stake in a limestone quarry, and that money went to Dodson after his death in 1949. Still, Dodson lived frugally, and she was a woman on a mission. As she had long planned, she left one-third of her $35.6 million to a University of Miami cancer center (Dodson lost part of a lung to cancer). She also gave two-thirds of her money to the university’s diabetes center. She was seeking revenge on behalf of her brothers, who both died from the disease.
Avoid debt.
Bette Wilson, of Birmingham, Alabama, was 81 when she died in 2012. She had been a credit manager at an oil company for 40 years; her late husband was an airline mechanic. Given the nature of her job, it seems a safe bet that Wilson understood credit well and didn’t allow the household to become weighed down with a mountain of credit card bills and other debt. In any case, Wilson and her husband spent most of their lives in a modest two-bedroom house and had no children. After her husband died, Wilson continued to live frugally. She left a church camp most of her $2.8 million.
Don’t tell people you’re wealthy.
Granted, if you’re a secret millionaire, that’s the whole point: nobody knows. But the secrecy probably helps with keeping your millions. When Jack MacDonald, a Seattle attorney for approximately 30 years, died in 2013 at age 98, he left $187.6 million to the Seattle Children’s Hospital, the University of Washington School of Law and the Salvation Army. His stepchildren knew he was wealthy but virtually nobody else did. If everyone knew, he might have had to invest in a walled mansion with round-the-clock bodyguards. Instead, he lived in a one-bedroom apartment and rode the bus for transportation.
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8 Habits of Closet Millionaires: How They Quietly Made Their Fortunes originally appeared on usnews.com
