Many people don’t know the story of the millionaire secretary. It’s an overlooked gem story that’s worth learning about. Her name is Grace Groner, and she’s the epitome of the rags to riches story you see today. There’s a lot we can learn from this genuine investor.
Many people know the story of Ronald Read, the millionaire janitor who left an $8M fortune behind. However, an even more unknown millionaire is the story of Grace Groner, the millionaire secretary who left behind a $7M fortune. It’s an inspirational story.
There are people who make six figures and complain they can’t get ahead. They work a high powered job on Wall Street yet they can’t make sense of how to approach their personal finances the right way. They have all the opportunity in the world and they squander it.
And then there’s Grace Groner, who didn’t care about anything else but bettering her financial life and living a fulfilled life. She actually put in the work to achieve upward mobility. She knew how to achieve anything in life and actually achieved it.
No excuses. No “the government isn’t taking care of me”. Just a pure, “put in the work and then it’ll all work out”. What’s even awesome is that so few people even knew that she was that successful and rich. People discount the secretaries of the world and think they don’t have that much money.
Boy did she prove those people wrong. There’s a lot to learn about the millionaire secretary.
Who is the Millionaire Secretary?
Grace Groner was the epitome of the average person. She didn’t go to an Ivy League college and was born in a farming community in Lake County, Illinois. The millionaire secretary was orphaned at the young age of 12 and graduated from Lake Forest College.
She started investing in 1935, at the age of 26, in Abbott Laboratories, the company she worked for for 43 years. She only purchased 3 sixty dollar shares of Abbot Laboratories. Throughout the years, the company split shares and increased in value as they made more profits.
She also reinvested dividends that were paid out to her as an investor. That was the starting story of what would make Grace Groner the millionaire secretary. She led a simple life throughout her working years and didn’t buy flashy new clothes nor the latest car.
She mainly bought used and gave to charity from time to time. Nothing fancy and she didn’t actively try to buy the latest and greatest new thing. Or investment. Upon her passing, she bequeathed an excess of seven million dollars to her alma mater, Lake Forest College.
Upon receiving the news, the president of the college Stephen Schutt said the words, “Oh, my god”. Her donation will generate $300k+ worth of interest for incoming college students. She literally made the world a better place just because she was in it.
The millionaire secretary’s story is just amazing.
How the Millionaire Secretary Became a Millionaire
So then, now, let’s go over the concrete details of how the millionaire secretary actually earned that title.
1) Consistency
She remained at the same company for FORTY THREE years. That’s unheard of these days. Most people get bored or look to do something new and think the grass is greener. Not Grace Groner. The millionaire secretary remained consistent with her company and remained for four+ decades.
She showed up every single day because she knew showing up is half the battle. Day in, day out, she provided value to her employer who gave her opportunities to remain at the company through the good and bad times. She didn’t see the value in switching and changing employers, either.
Many people these days leave at the first sign of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. That could be lucrative but consistency also will help over the long run. She earned raises throughout the years and remained content and happy throughout her time with the company.
Consistency does more for your life than any other behavioral characteristic.
2) Buy and Hold Investing Strategy
She lived through world wars and held Abbott Laboratories even when everyone thought the world was going to end. The Cold War didn’t phase her. She didn’t care. She simply just bought and held her company’s stock throughout her entire life and then some because she believed in the company.
And it paid off in spades. That investment turned out to be worth multimillions upon her passing. That’s unheard of value the company created for shareholders. The millionaire secretary simply ignored the noise of the world, news, and headlines and stuck to her strategy.
It paid off in spades that no one ever thought was possible. The buy and hold strategy is popular among the finance industry for a reason. It works. There are many more buy and hold millionaires than there are day traders who trade stocks who got rich.
Many people will question the strategy at the expense of their wealth. That’s a suboptimal decision.
3) The Millionaire Secretary Lived a Quiet Life
No one ever knew just how wealthy she was. There’s a reason why the president of the Lake Forest College was so surprised at just how much she donated to the college. The millionaire secretary lived a quiet life where no one knew just how wealthy she actually was.
In fact, upon hearing what her occupation was, many probably even discounted her as being a part of the middle or even the poor class. That’s just not the right way to look about it anymore. There’s no way people can tell exactly how wealthy someone is just by looking at them these days.
She still bought used clothing even though she could afford new and lived a quiet life with no need to buy the latest shiny new toy to better her life. In fact, her story is so uncommon that not many people even know her story even exists today.
Even when we could benefit and learn so much from her choices. It’s truly remarkable.
4) Taking Advantage of Compound Interest
Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world for good reason. There’s few people who actually understand just how powerful it is. The ultra and super wealthy understand just how powerful compound interest is. The millionaire secretary understood the concept.
Even when the internet wasn’t even available back then. That’s what makes her story more amazing. She didn’t even have access to the wealth of information that we do today at our fingertips. Yet she figured out how to be one of the best investors the world has ever seen.
She let her tiny $180 investment ride out until kingdom come. Never sold, never did anything with it. Just let it ride out and just how much far it could go. Compound interest is what will make people very wealthy. Not through a W-2 income but what you do with that W-2 income.
He who understands compound interest earns it and he who doesn’t pays it.
5) Patience
The millionaire secretary had no need to get rich tomorrow. She didn’t even care about getting rich in one decade. All she cared about was putting her money to work and practicing patience throughout the journey. Yes, it took multi-decades to get there.
Yes, she had to endure scary wars, political unrest, and everything else in between throughout the journey. She didn’t care. She just let time do its thing and believed that her company was going to always come out on top. And her company always came out on top by the end.
The millionaire secretary had the patience and the foresight to see what’s coming ahead and took the appropriate actions to position her for success, which was nothing. Too many people want to get rich tomorrow. We are biologically wired to be inpatient, which goes against our well being.
However, social media and the media in general made that even worse. We think overnight success actually exists and happens when it’s not even the case.
6) She Stuck to Investments She Knew
She bought stock in the company she worked her entire life for. She didn’t care about the next best thing and buy pet rocks. There was no point. The millionaire secretary knew her company was going to do well and she believed in her investments.
She didn’t know about alternative investments nor did she care about them. Investing can be lucrative. However, that doesn’t mean that all investments are lucrative. There are many people today who buy cryptocurrency thinking it’s going to make them rich.
Some people have absolutely gotten rich off them but more people have declared bankruptcy because of them. Especially when FTX and Voyager declared bankruptcy. The YouTuber below is one example.
There are many people who get rich from cryptocurrency but they just don’t know when to quit or sell out. We all have the greed and the want to buy at the bottom and sell at the top.
For the millionaire secretary, she just stuck to investments she knew.
7) She Didn’t Try to Get Rich Quick
The millionaire secretary looked at her life over the long haul. Grace didn’t try to get rich tomorrow but she wanted to get rich decades from where she was at. Who actually thinks in decades and years? Only the top 1% and the ultra wealthy do.
The rest of us are conditioned to think on such a short-term basis. Amazon is one such company who took advantage of people’s inability to be patient and hooked millions of customers across the world with the fast 1-day delivery system.
I’m on my sixth year of my personal finance journey and I’m willing to get rich in 10 – 20 years. Not in the next year or so, even when it feels like a drag sometimes. Because I have the patience and the staying power to wait it out over the coming decades and years.
There’s no need to get rich quick. You’re going to get to your preferred destination, anyway, the speed of the journey is irrelevant.
8) She Still Enjoyed Herself
She didn’t just live in her house, with the lights out and no food on the table. The millionaire secretary regularly went to football games at her alma mater. I personally don’t even go to the football games at my alma mater, no matter how much money I have!
The journey to millionaire and wealth is a long one and therefore, you might as well enjoy it on your way to get there. It will be wonderful when you actually and finally achieve the destination. However, there are many times when you want to give up.
Therefore, it is important to enjoy yourself along the way. Have some fun on the weekends. Life isn’t all about hustling to make yourself as rich as possible. No one ever lasted decades by having that mentality and implementing it in their lives.
You want to put in the work but you don’t want to put in that much work that’ll make you give up and burn you out. Burnout is real.
9) The Millionaire Secretary Remained Private
No one ever knew she was actually the millionaire secretary. I mean, she’s a secretary, she’s not supposed to be rich, anyway! What about those investment bankers who make $150k+/year? They should be the ones who are rich!
You just never know these days. The young person wearing a hoodie jacket with shorts may be a crypto-multimillionaire or a software developer making $400k/year. Back then, people dressed well to showcase to the world that they were well off.
These days, people don’t value that as much as before. The millionaire secretary remained so private that only the people who she donated money to knew just how rich she was. Privacy is power but more importantly than that, privacy is more freeing.
When no one else knows your business but yourself, it just feels amazing. Managing other people’s expectations and thoughts of you is exhausting.
The Millionaire Secretary’s Story is Valuable
The millionaire secretary’s story is valuable back then and it’s valuable to this day. Her story should inspires millions across the world on what habits to employ to get rich. It is possible for the vast majority to get rich. If a secretary can become a filthy rich multi-millionaire, everyone can.
I don’t just learn from billionaire entrepreneur’s stories like Mark Cuban. I learn from the everyday people’s stories like Grace Groner because they are more relevant to me. There’s less chances of me becoming wealthy by creating a company.
And more chances of me becoming wealthy by working a regular 9-5 job just like everyone else. The millionaire secretary’s story should inspire millions. However, I know it’s only going to inspire the select few and they will be the ones who become the top 1%.
Everyone can implement these steps to become rich themselves. That’s the beautiful thing about life. The vast majority can access the secrets to be wealthy, especially if you won the birth lottery and was born to a developed country.
So many people don’t understand just how good they have it in America. There’s no excuses to not be wealthy. The millionaire secretary’s story is living proof that no matter how bad we have it in the developed world, it’s more than possible to get to the top 1%.
It’s a remarkable story.
How the Millionaire Secretary Became Rich:
- Consistency
- Buy and hold investing strategy
- The millionaire secretary lived a quiet life
- Taking advantage of compound interest
- Patience
- She stuck to investments she knew
- She didn’t try to get rich quick
- She still enjoyed herself
- The millionaire secretary remained private
