Meet Hetty Green; The First Woman Tycoon

Imagine being so rich, that cities come to you for loans? That was Hetty Green, the richest woman in history. Born in 1834 in Massachusetts in a Quaker family, Green learnt about finance from reading financial news to her grandfather who had poor eyesight. She opened her first savings account at 8,years old where she deposited her weekly $1.5 allowance, the beginning of her frugal path to riches which saw her earn up to $200,000 in a day from investing in US bonds.

“In 1898, the city of New York was broke, so Green loaned the city $1 million at only 2% interest, and another $1.5 million in 1901. Green kept the city afloat again in 1907 by giving $1.1 million in exchange for short-term revenue bonds at 5.5%. In 1900 Tucson, Arizona needed new water and sewer systems, so Green bought the entire $110,000 bond issue. In 1911 Green loaned $325,000 to the Roman Catholic Church of St. Ignatius Loyola at 4.5%.”

Green was known for her super frugal ways. One time, her son Ned injured his leg, and she dressed them both in tattered clothes so he could get treatment at a free clinic meant for the poor. She was known to even scrimp on laundry, insisting that they clean only the hems of her skirts, since only the hems were dirty.

At her death, she was worth between 100-200 USD, and had earned the Guiness World Book of Record title as the world’s greatest miser

Read more about hetty here and on this Wikipedia Page.