Never made more than $14k/ year retired with $70M

[Vertex]

$14k in 1952 was big money wasn't it? Minimum wage in the late 50's was around $1/hour.

Either way, sounds like a good guy.

 

[ironchef]

Today is 64 years later not 54.

In any case, that article was from 1991.

Sorry I messed up.

In that case it would have been a 12.5% compounded return, not as good as Buffett but still impressive for ~40 years of investing. Would have been only ~$20 millions by 1991 if he put it in S&P500.

 

[jnbadger]

I've heard this story many times, as I was a seasonal driver for UPS for a while way back when. The numbers apply to the corresponding dates, not annualized for inflation. He retired with 700k in 1952 dollars and that subsequently turned into 70 Million in 1991 dollars. His charity was legendary within the company as well.

 

[mpdxc]

$14k in 1952 was big money wasn't it? Minimum wage in the late 50's was around $1/hour.

Either way, sounds like a good guy.

14k in 1952 would be ~ $127k/year. Top 3% today.

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=14000&year1=1952&year2=2016
http://whatsmypercent.com/

 

[SunTrader]

I bet Uncle Sam was grateful for the inheritance tax "donation" of the rest of the seventy mill that wasn't given to charities.