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A secretary bought three shares of her company for $60 each in 1935.
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Grace Groner reinvested her dividends over 75 years, and her stake rose to $7.2 million.
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Her employer, Abbott, shared Groner’s story in a recent website post.
In 1935, a secretary paid $180 for three shares of her employer’s stock. By the time she died in 2010, her investment had risen to $7.2 million.
Abbott, a pharmaceutical company, called out the former employee in a recent post on its website.
“As we celebrate 101 years of dividend payments, we remember one of Abbott’s early investing success stories, that of Grace Groner, who worked as a secretary at Abbott for more than 40 years,” the message reads.
“In 1935, Groner purchased three shares of Abbott stock for $60 each. She consistently reinvested her dividend payments and quietly amassed a fortune of $7.2 million. Groner died in 2010, at the age of 100, and it was only then that her multimillion-dollar dollar estate was discovered.”
She donated her entire fortune to a foundation she created to support her alma mater, Lake Forest College. She earmarked the money to finance internships, international studies and service projects for students.
Groner held onto her Abbott shares for more than 75 years without selling any, despite several stock splits, and used her dividends to bolster her stake.
Her simple lifestyle has probably allowed her to keep her nest egg intact for so long. She lived in a one-bedroom house, bought her clothes at flea markets and didn’t own a car, the Chicago Tribune reported in 2010.
Its shares would be worth about $28 million today, excluding dividends, as Abbott’s share price has roughly quadrupled since 2010. The drugmaker’s market value has risen to about $200 billion, meaning it now rivals Disney, PepsiCo and Morgan Stanley in size.
Read the original article on Business Insider
