Do you see this woman dressed in rags, making do with cold water and porridge heated by the radiator? However, she is ahead of several million dollars. The frugality of Hetty Green, voted the stingiest woman in the world, fascinates the crowd.
“Don’t give anything to anyone, not even kindness,” advises his father, a businessman. This phrase forged in Hetty, from a very young age, extraordinary financial acumen. At the age of six, Hetty dove headfirst into the deep end of finance. He opened his first bank account just two years later.
When he died, his father left him the sum of eight million dollars, to which was added two million from his aunt’s inheritance. When Hetty discovers shares allocated to distant cousins, she embarks on endless legal proceedings based on forged documents.
Business first
In front of ten million dollars, he begins stock market speculation by investing against the cycle. Specifically, Hetty buys the shares at a low price and sells them when they become more expensive.
For the Queen of the Stock Market, it’s not about putting all your eggs in one basket. Hetty purchases government bonds, railroad stocks, and real estate. His fortune flourished, as did his reputation as a thrifty man.
It was during this period that Hetty Robinson became Hetty Green. Her marriage to businessman Edward Henry Green failed. The banker’s irrational lifestyle, pursued by creditors, doesn’t really fit Hetty’s methodical greed.
A cold shower when she discovers that her husband, with the help of the bank, is illicitly diverting her fortune to pay off his debts. She pushes him out of her house. Edward comes out and, at the same time, the rich mansions.
Late 1880s: economy mode activated. No more heating, hot water and medical costs. Although he owns several buildings, he only lives in very modest apartments in Brooklyn. The worst and best example of his stinginess is that of his son, who suffered a broken leg. Faced with a bill of $150, Hetty refuses to pay for the operation. Result? Gangrene followed by forced amputation.
Down with the codes!
One thing’s for sure: Hetty doesn’t care about conventions. At a time when Wall Street excluded women, she moved alone into an office at Chemical Bank. What attracts him are the railways. First of all, it targets smaller or bankrupt companies, waiting for mergers to increase its value.
But in his momentum, several adversaries try to destabilize him. Speculators are massively dumping stocks in the market. We don’t have to wait long to receive a response from Hetty, who was 70 years old at the time. And how? For a corner that rarifies titles and raises prices. Enough to finish in style.
The end of his life further strengthens his legend. She lived in seclusion in her small apartment, ate porridge and constantly dressed in black, especially after the death of her husband in 1902, which earned her the nickname “Witch of Wall Street.”
Hetty Green dies at age 81, leaving behind a fortune estimated at $100 million, or nearly $4 billion today. More than colossal wealth, she leaves a legacy of fascination and envy, in the face of successes that many have not been able to achieve.
Source: BFM TV
