Little Old Lady Saves $9 Million then Dies

[Anthony Gayden]

Every year or so we hear another story about a person who passed away and had secretly amassed quite a large sum of money. In this case a legal secretary who had a net worth of $9,000,000. http://m.newser.com/story/258891/secretary-lived-frugally-for-96-years-then-donated-millions.html The truth is that I don’t find this story motivational. In fact I think it is quite sad. I think a lot about the reasons I want to build wealth. Safety, security, opportunity for myself as well as family/friends, leisure, free time, etc. When I read this story I imagined some super cheap penny pinching person who even though she was wealthy still lived in subsidized housing. She never shared her wealth even with her husband who had already passed away. Why build wealth if you and your family never enjoy the benefits? Why bother? Donating the bulk to charity seems like even more of a slap in the face to family. This person seems more like a hoarder of money than an investor and I am not impressed.

[Bill F.]

She made her choices, we can make ours. That is the beauty of America. 

What I don't get is that people, after reading less than 10,000 words on a person's 96 year-long life, somehow glean enough information to questions her decisions and throw around phrases like "more like a hoarder of money than an investor and I am not impressed" and "total lack of caring for family".

No talk about her work ethic, loyalty, selflessness, wiliness to learn, discipline? That all goes out the window because she made choices with her life and her money that are incongruent with what other people would have done?

Everyone seems focused on $9m and assumes that she cared as much about money as they do. That's Fundamental Attribution Error. What if investing money to her was like mowing the grass to you and I? Something that had to be done and while you may not enjoy it, you still do it well?

We all seek wealth for different reasons and no one on this post grew up in the middle of the Great Depression, so passing finding flaws in someone who accumulated a net worth an order of magnitude above their peers may not prove too fruitful.