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Mar 24, 2024 · Discover the remarkable journey of Ronald Read, a former gas station attendant who defied all odds to become a millionaire. From humble beginnings to financi...
- 45 sec
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- Chief Educator
Discover the incredible life of Ronald Read, the hidden millionaire who defied expectations and left a lasting legacy of kindness and generosity. Join us on...
Are you looking for inspiration? I'm so inspired by the story of Ronald Read and how unbeknownst to anyone who knew him had amassed a fortune!If you are new...
- 11 min
- 537
- Hopeful Investor
- He Was Patient
- He Lived Below His Means
- He Invested in Stocks
- He Invested in Dividend-Paying Stocks
- He Aimed to Buy and Hold
- He Didn't Retire Early
- He Kept Learning
- He Didn't Do Everything Perfectly
For starters, he was patient. Read's wealth grew over many decades, via the power of compounding. Here's a simplified example, to help you appreciate the power of time and patience: Imagine that he was earning an annual growth rate of 10%. When he had amassed, say, $500,000, 10% of that would be a $50,000 gain for the year, taking him to $550,000. ...
Ronald Read lived below his means -- way below them. He drove an old, inexpensive car, and kept his old coat together with safety pins. He didn't dine out frequently, except for inexpensive breakfasts at his local hospital's café. He looked more down-on-his-luck than wealthy, leading one neighbor to knit him a hat and another to pay for his meal. W...
Next, Mr. Read invested in stocks. That's rather important, because the stock market is one of the most powerful ways to build wealth. Check out the long-term growth rate for stocks vs. some common alternatives in the table below. It reflects returns from 1871 to 2012 compiled by Wharton Business School professor Jeremy Siegel: Source: Stocks for t...
You may have noticed that the blue-chip companies above generally pay dividends. Keeping a good portion of your assets in dividend-paying stockstends to lead to better results than avoiding dividend payers, as various studies have shown. For example, Researchers Eugene Fama and Kenneth French, studying data from 1927 to 2014, found that dividend pa...
Mr. Read also benefited because he was aiming to buy and hold, for the long term. That doesn't necessarily mean that one never sells -- it's good to keep up with your holdings and to sell when they are no longer promising. But you should aim to buy and hold, ideally for many years.
If you're aiming to be a multimillionaire (or just a millionaire), you might want to give up dreams of retiring early. Read was able to amass nearly $8 million in part by working a lot, even if he didn't earn high salaries. That steady income -- he retired at age 76 -- meant that he always had extra cash to invest. He actually did retire from his g...
Mr. Read also was a believer in learning. He made good use of his local library, and read the Wall Street Journal regularly. The more you know about investing (and beyond), the better investor you'll likely be.
Finally, note that just like all of us, Ronald Read didn't do everything perfectly. Some of his investments went south, or even belly up -- Lehman Brothers is one example. Also, he held about 95 or more stocks when he died -- that's a lot to keep up with and is far more than a more manageable 10 to 20 stocks. After all, it's generally best to focus...
The Astonishing Discovery. When Ronald Read passed away in 2014 at the age of 92, his friends and family were shocked to learn the true extent of his wealth. It was revealed that he had amassed an astonishing fortune of over $8 million. This sum included investments in stocks and bonds, as well as real estate holdings.
Ronald Read (philanthropist) Ronald James Read (October 23, 1921 – June 2, 2014) was an American philanthropist, investor, janitor, and gas station attendant. Read grew up in Dummerston, Vermont, in an impoverished farming household. He walked or hitchhiked 4 mi (6.4 km) daily to his high school and was the first high school graduate in his ...
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May 31, 2024 · Ronald Read was essentially a 100% equity investor, with virtually his entire portfolio invested in stocks rather than bonds or other asset classes. This aggressive allocation approach maximized ...
