Feature · Investing
The janitor who quietly built an $8 million fortune
Ronald Read pumped gas and cleaned floors in a small Vermont town. When he died, his neighbors learned he’d been a multimillionaire all along.
Ronald Read
Gas station attendant and janitor, Brattleboro, Vermont
- Worked as
- Service station attendant, janitor
- Died
- June 2014, age 92
- Estate
- About $8 million
- Gave to his town
- $6 million
For most of his life, Ronald Read looked like exactly what he was: a working man in Brattleboro, Vermont. He drove a secondhand Toyota Yaris, wore flannel shirts and a coat held together with safety pins, and gathered fallen branches for his wood stove.
What almost no one knew was that he had been investing for decades. When he died in June 2014 at age 92, his estate was worth roughly $8 million.
A modest career
Read was the first person in his family to finish high school. After serving in World War II, he came home to Vermont and went to work at a local service station. Later, he took a job as a part-time janitor at a JCPenney store, working into his mid-70s.
None of it paid much. His one visible extravagance was reading The Wall Street Journal every day.
How he did it
Read built his fortune the slow way. He bought shares in established companies, many of them paying regular dividends, and held on to them for years. By the time he died, he owned stock in more than 95 companies.
He never had a big paycheck. He had a big gap between what he earned and what he spent.
What he left behind
Read left $4.8 million to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, where he was a regular at the café, and $1.2 million to Brooks Memorial Library. Both were the largest gifts in each institution’s history. The rest went to his stepchildren, caregivers and friends.
His neighbors were stunned. But the way he built his wealth was never a secret: live below your means, invest in what you understand, and give it time.
Takeaways for your money
- Your income isn’t your ceilingRead never earned a big salary. What he controlled was the gap between what he made and what he spent, and he kept it wide for decades.
- Own businesses you understandHe favored well-known, dividend-paying companies — the kind whose products and customers he could see for himself.
- Spread your betsHis estate held more than 95 different stocks, so no single company could sink him.
- Give time the heavy liftingHe held for the long haul. Compounding over half a century did what no single great pick could.
- Decide where your money goesRead had a plan for his estate. Without one, his wishes for his hospital and library might never have been carried out.
The bottom line
Wealth built quietly is still wealth. Spending less, investing steadily and waiting long enough worked for a janitor in Vermont, and the same principles are open to you.
- CNBC, “A janitor secretly amassed an $8 million fortune” (2016)
- NBC News (2015)
- Brattleboro Reformer, via Action News Jax
This story describes one person’s choices and circumstances. Past results don’t guarantee future returns, and what worked for them may not suit you.
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