Former gas station employee and janitor died with $6 million

[Socmonkey]

92 yr old man who worked as a gas station employee and a janitor died with a $6 million fortune.

http://news.yahoo.com/man-lived-modestly-leaves-millions-surprise-donations-135358404.html

[Gone Fishing]

Good story.  Living ti'll 92 gives a long time for compounding to work!  Impossible to know, but it would be interesting to learn if he "beat the market". And if so, did he do it through long term buy and hold of selected stocks or frequent trading?   

[Socmonkey]

If I had to guess, it would be that he bought for the long term, blue chips and many decades of compounding were how it was done. The story just goes to prove that living below your means and investing the difference can make anyone wealthy.

[Dulcimina]

He seems like an incredible guy, but the opening sentence of the article made me a little uncomfortable.

A Vermont man who sometimes held his coat together with safety pins and had a long-time habit of foraging for firewood also had a knack for picking stocks

It seems to feed into the stereotype that you have to cross the line from frugal to cheap to amass wealth.

[Gone Fishing]

He seems like an incredible guy, but the opening sentence of the article made me a little uncomfortable.

A Vermont man who sometimes held his coat together with safety pins and had a long-time habit of foraging for firewood also had a knack for picking stocks

It seems to feed into the stereotype that you have to cross the line from frugal to cheap to amass wealth.

The opening also gives off vibes of "luck" or "amazingly rare ability"  vs good old fashioned saving and investing.   

[Megatron]

There's something to be said about people of his generation. The ones who lived through the Great Depression. Reminds me of my wife's grandfather. He was the president of a major US corporation and lived in a very affluent neighborhood. My wife remembers that he used to go around during spring cleaning week and pick up old toys and things that the rich neighbors threw out and fix them for the grandkids or kept it for use himself. He lived in a very modest house for the neighborhood and furnished it with things he found or he built.(was also a novice carpenter and we got all of his wood working tools, yay) He donated a lot of money to his beloved Boyscouts over the years (was a scout master for decades). No one knows how much exactly but it was probably in the 7 figure according to my wife's dad. In the end he left the family with a trust that's worth an incredible high 8 figures and had a million dollar life insurance policy upon his death.

[Gone Fishing]

Not knocking Megatron, but the depression had the exact opposite effect on my grandmother.  After seeing her dad lose his store, house, etc she adopted the "enjoy it today, because you never know you might lose it" attitude.  Of course there is no way to know how leveraged he was etc.

[partgypsy]

My pharmacist great grandfather was unusual in that he bought stocks when the average joe did not invest in stocks (he he that and coin collecting as his hobby). He lived until 95 a normal life, dying in his own home. I have no idea how much money he made from investing, but I do know my mother (one of 4? grandkids) got 40-50K in stocks when he died  (1970's), and my older brother inherited a coin from his coin collection worth 50K.