Get There
By Barry Ritholtz Columnist April 25
@ritholtz

You may have read about the remarkable life and times of Ronald Read. He was the gas station attendant and lifelong resident of Windham County, Vt., who had quietly accumulated a portfolio worth a fortune. As the Brattleboro ­Reformer reported earlier this year, Read died last June at age 92. Despite his relatively modest wages, he left an estate with “stock holdings and property” valued at nearly $8 million. His bequest was to leave most of it to the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and Brooks Memorial ­Library.

His close friends and family were shocked when they learned the value of his estate.

There is wisdom to be learned from Read’s investing and life experiences. How a man of modest means accumulated so much wealth contains exemplary lessons for saving that apply to all of us. But there is also a cautionary tale about recognizing the value of your finite time here on earth. Perhaps learning to enjoy life while you can is part of that equation.

What do we know of Read? He served in World War II, seeing action in North Africa, Italy and the Pacific theater. The local paper reported that when the war ended, he returned to Brattleboro. For the next 25 years, he worked at Haviland’s service station, which the Wall Street Journal reported was owned by his brother. He apparently did not enjoy retirement much, choosing instead to “retire from retirement” to work as a janitor at a J.C. Penney store until 1997. He was extremely frugal, saving money, avoiding waste and eschewing even modest luxuries. ... What follows are the lessons from the remarkable Read.

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