In Memories of Ronald Read

Who is Ronald Read?

A Janitor who I respected most, Ronald Read. He is a man who lived very frugally and worked as a maintenance and janitor at J.C. Penny. He is known as a man who lived modestly as he at times used safety pins to hold his coat together and sometimes in order to avoid having to pay the parking meter, he would park his 2007 Toyota Yaris far away and chose to walk a long distance

He would save a penny if he could. What I respected most about this old man is not how stingily he lived himself for his entire life, but it is his generosity he left most of his estate to his library and the hospital.

 When Mr Read died at the age of 92, he left behind his 5-inches thick stack of stock certificates in a safe deposit box which worth approximately $8 millions in his portfolio. He owns about 95 stocks at the time of his death which many of them he had held for many years.

For those who know him said that he only bought stocks he is familiar with and he spread his investment across different sectors. And whenever he received his dividends, he will reinvest to buy more shares.

Ask ourselves, how many of us would accumulate our whole life wealth and contribute to the society to benefit the majority once we are dead? What really done through Mr Read's mind throughout his whole life? Is there something we can learn from him (in term of his investment skills or his character?)