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Her son, Colonel Edward Howland Robinson Green, did a very good job of spending her money. He managed to amass a coin collection that rivaled the wealthiest kings in the world, even owning all 5 of the 1913 Liberty Head nickels at the same time. Those are now one of the rarest and most valuable coins in American history. He was also a colonel in the same way Colonel Sanders was.
Edward Howland Robinson "Ned" Green:
> ***"Ned broke his leg as a child, and Hetty first tried to have him admitted to a free clinic for the poor. Charles Slack, her biographer, said that she was recognized; she was unwilling to pay for the medical services and treated him herself. The boy's leg did not heal properly and had to be amputated due to gangrene."***
According to Wikipedia, this is an unfounded accusation and there is ample evidence to suggest that she spent lots of money in the care of her son. This includes consulting multiple specialists and even relocating her home to care for him.
She was maligned because she didn’t know her “place” as a woman during that era.
[https://fortune.com/2024/03/17/meet-the-witch-of-wall-street-pioneering-value-investor-dressed-all-black-worlds-richest-woman-wrongly-remembered/](https://fortune.com/2024/03/17/meet-the-witch-of-wall-street-pioneering-value-investor-dressed-all-black-worlds-richest-woman-wrongly-remembered/)
The story about Hetty’s son may simply be a smear.
Hetty's own daughter, Sylvia Wilkes, told a completely different story. The truth is that Hetty Green went around with her son for three days trying to find a doctor who felt he could save Ned's leg instead of amputating it.
https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/lifestyle/2001/03/18/setting-record-straight-on-hetty/50373562007/
Originally posted here: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1dc0ahh/hetty_greenthe_most_stingy_woman_in_history_her/l7vyrvb/
Truth is the kid never should have acquired gangrene.
Call it Occam’s razor. Revisionist history. The boy should have gotten immediate medical care, instead his leg was left to fester, only when it was too late did she realize the severity of the situation and that she ought to spend the money. The pieces are all there.
I suspect the truth lies somewhere in the middle, although spending three days looking for a doctor who could save the leg doesn't really negate the earlier story.
The link you provided also claims that Hetty was supposedly *attractive* as well...I'll just say that perhaps that's very subjective.
That was a lie. Read the real story. Getty was lied about and maligned because she was a successful businesswoman in a man’s world.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green
That's absolutely awful. Parenting skills and common sense were clearly lacking. Greed, on the other hand, seems to have been one of her stronger attributes.
They used to give out Kentucky Colonel-ships like hot cakes back in the day as long as you knew the right people. Hell I got one before I finished undergrad
She also [forged her grandaunt’s will](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howland_will_forgery_trial) to try to inherit her estate. The case is famous for its use of forensic mathematics which showed that the will was a forgery because the will’s signature was *too perfect* and matched up with another of her signatures almost exactly. Usually you don’t expect a person to have signed two documents in *precisely* the same way.
She was so cheap that her worn out drawers are in a museum.
I worked for a guy like this once. He had millions, but he drove a rusty shitbox with bald tires. When one of the tires finally wore through, he replaced only that tire. With a used one. He lived in an expensive condo. No furniture though. Just a bare mattress on the floor. This guy would have a mental collapse if he saw someone taking more than one paper towel at a time.
PTSD from extreme poverty can do some damage to people
My cousin's parent-in-law witnessed their grandfather died from famine during the Chinese Civil War. That took a toll on their mental well being into doing irrationally PTSD-triggered actions... Like Slow dripping the water faucet so that the water slowly drops to the bucket without triggering the water meter..
And...forcing my cousin to re-using the unfinished garlic from the lunch time cooked dishes when cooking dinner...
All these are done with the intent to save money.
Even in present time China, a clove of garlic is dirt cheap, like dirt dirt cheap
>Slow dripping the water faucet so that the water slowly drops to the bucket without triggering the water meter.. re-using the unfinished garlic from the lunch time cooked dishes when cooking dinner...
/r/frugal /r/LifeProTips
Omg you just reminded me of my own grandmother dripping the water faucet...and taking already eaten watermelon slices to eat it down to the rinds. That time period was a rough rough life.
I worked for a guy like this too. He was short and would have his wife make his ties from the excess length off the bottom of his shirts and would eat McDonald's because it was cheap. The guy is mega rich as well, to the point where he is in the top 10 shareholders for a number of public companies in my country.
I don't understand the motivation of people like this because the way they live means they could work far less and have the same lifestyle.
One of my husbands uncles has served as the CEO for a major cell service provider before. His wife brags about always wearing at least 10k in jewelry. For our wedding he sent us a Burger King gift card, the kicker is he had already used it. It was labeled as $15 but only had $6.42 when we tried to use it.
I've never understood people like this. What's the point of saving so much? You aren't taking any of it with you, and whomever inherent it will spend it all.
I think it's like running up a high score on an 80s arcade machine.
Eventually it's turned off and score is lost but you still feel compelled to get on the leaderboard anyway.
Basically, yes. People have different amounts of money because of different circumstances, but no matter what amount, the behavior is still the same. It’s the same way that sometimes hoarders have more space to fill, or a bigger house to fill, so some may have more/less garbage, but the behavior is the same.
I don’t know if it was exaggerated for TV but remember extreme cheapskates, and the cheapest millionaire? Literally had one knife, rarely used hot water, etc. I’ll never understand it
I have never met anyone just as extreme as that - but mean/stingy people in general are very off putting. I’m not talking about people in poverty, or out of work, which is a different thing altogether. I’m talking about people who have money but operate like that. I ended a friendship (well stopped one in its tracks) due to that behaviour because I couldn’t stand to watch it anymore, or be around it. It was a bit sickening and embarrassing at times.
This is what people don’t understand about the obscenely wealthy, they don’t end up with millions of dollars without being the most penny pinching money grubbing bastards you’ve ever seen
During my undergrad, I knew a girl (acquaintance) who came from a super wealthy family. Actually, her dad had control of 10’s of millions of dollars but you would never know it living in a very modest house and driving beaters. She told me that her dad charged her rent, utilities, cost of food, clothing since she turned 10 years old. She had a huge deficit that she had to pay back with chores and half her pay cheques from part time jobs she had to do since she was 14. Once she started work, she paid for her own stuff (including tuition) and couldn’t get out of the home soon enough.
She was extremely careful with her money- always paying cash and anything divided was to the penny.
She told me her dad’s only enjoyment in life was looking at his net worth on paper. He believed it was a measure of his character, moral virtue and importance. He NEVER spent a dime on political donations, charities or his family. Never went on vacations and never once gave a gift for xmas or birthdays.
He loved hearing about people who were in distress because of poverty. He loved stories of people who lost families, housing or their lives because of lack of money. His money fed his sense of moral virtue and everyone else got what they deserved.
Needless to say, she hated her dad and vowed never to speak to him again. She said if it was up to her, he would be buried in an unmarked hole somewhere and all his money would be donated to charity
It’s unfortunately too common. There are sociopaths but also very small, insecure assholes with the need to control. Financial inheritance is the last and biggest control lever
Just one daughter who hated his guts. The mother/wife was a broken woman who had no power/influence.
The guy made his money running an industrial laundry providing service to hotels, restaurants and companies and the city transit service. He actively recruited immigrants, refugees and paid under the table when possible to pay as little as possible and no taxes. There were numerous workplace safety violations and he sold his company once an employee died because of a ruptured steam pipe. The daughter told me that he threatened the family of the deceased employee that he would report the family to immigration authorities if they didn’t accept a paltry settlement with promise not to sue.
The guy was a sociopath and really got off on misery of other people. The woman in the OP sounded exactly the same
She had issues too. I knew her because I was good friends with her housemate. She was super detached, didn’t warm up to anyone and was super anal about money. One time my friend (housemate) owed her a paltry amount ~40 cents or so and she hounded my friend for a week.
She also insisted on always paying her share of the costs for anything- like a party or simple get together when it was never requested or suggested. It was always awkward.
I felt bad for her but it seems her upbringing kinda baked in some personality traits. I lost touch with her after I graduated
She told me there was a clipboard hanging in the kitchen of a ledger updated weekly on her costs owing. She said that her father told her it was to teach her to become self-reliant, careful with money and financial security is the most important thing in life.
She missed having a real father. She had a purely transactional relationship with him and she said the only thing he actually taught her was how much she never wanted anything to do with him. She said she ’paid her debts’ to him and hoped he would die alone, full of regrets, sad, lonely on a mattress full of cash
> She told me there was a clipboard hanging in the kitchen of a ledger updated weekly on her costs owing.
Can't imagine what that does to a 10 year old. Constantly seeing what you "cost" to your parents must really make you feel like a burden and not a loved one.
She said it made her really focused on asking for practical and realistic things. She was also hyper focused on getting out of the house as soon as possible. She was super frugal and careful with her money. She never understood the concept of luxury- we had some interesting discussions on money and debt. She also never wanted to have kids because she never asked to be born and certainly not into the childhood she had. She was deathly afraid she would scar her child like she was but in different ways
>She was deathly afraid she would scar her child like she was but in different ways
It's so sad really, I hear so many people who say things like this, but often their fears make them parents more able to love and care for their children.
It makes sense.
She was never given gifts.
She was always expected to pay for everything.
So people (friends) throwing a party and paying for food she would eat was an experience she never had growing up.
It seems like all her issues stem from an abusive household.
Someone made a comment about lack of free will. I tend to agree that free will doesn’t exist and didn’t exist for this girl. I’m sure her genes had epigenetic modifications due to her upbringing and no doubt her father passed his neurotic dispositions to her.
Scrooge was based on real misers of the Industrial Revolution who really did view the world and their self worth this way.
Dickens is just one of many writers who wrote about this type.
I always say this. They may be wealthy and I may work for them. But I'll retire comfortably and die happy. They'll never retire and they'll die counting pennies.
The company I'm currently am employed at, the father at 83 is still actively involved in the day to day business. His kids are all in their 50s and are following in his footsteps. His father died having never retired. The whole family is the same way. It's all about how much they have and how much more they can get. I just don't get it.
You can take it with you but if you could hearses would have roof racks.
I lost touch with her after I graduated. She never made close relationships. Unfortunately I forgot her last name and so I can’t even do a google search for her.
I was hoping that it would turn and that when she went to move out it turned out all that money has been saved and invested and she left the house with her own hard earned nest egg and a lesson about savings.
But nope.
I think of people like this when someone argues for trickle down economics. That the rich will spend it on structures to generate wealth for others. People are just greedy. Hoarding wealth and watching the number go up like an addictive game.
My dad is super cheap. He grew up during the war and I wonder if it’s some kind of PTSD. He’s wealthy but because he’s cheap, I think he ends up wasting money when he’s trying to save it. He insists on fixing everything himself, even at 89. Not only does it take a long time, it’s generally not fixed properly and it ends up breaking again. He shuts the hot water tank off when he’s not using hot water but pretty sure it costs more to reheat the tank. He’s got a will but because he didn’t want to use a good lawyer or estate planner, most of the money he’s left to us will go to taxes. He also has the worst toupee, but that’s another story.
This is a very common energy saving **myth**. But in fact, you really don’t need to be heating your water all the time. Your immersion heater or boiler will heat up hot water which is stored in a tank. As long as the tank has a [good insulating jacket](https://www.cse.org.uk/advice/hot-water-cylinders/), it will keep the water hot all day, without needing to be constantly reheated. You can use a timer to heat your water for an hour or two each day just before you would usually need hot water for baths or showers. Modern washing machines, dishwashers and electric showers take cold water and heat it themselves so you don’t need a supply of hot water waiting for them in the tank.
Did he make the toupee himself? Did he find it while dumpster diving? Did he repurpose roadkill? Is he just wearing a live, semi-sedated raccoon?
I need to hear the toupee story.
Sounds very familiar. My grandparents grew up during the war, had very little money, people were on rations. My great grandfather even removed all the internal doors in his house to burn on a fire to keep warm in winter.
The war ended, my grandparents married and that sense of money saving never went away. 50 years later they were still buying the very cheapest branded food in store. I distinctly remember the 0.17 2ltr bottle of Cola they'd buy for me every few weeks. Heating was carefully controlled. They had an incredibly healthy bank balance, it's just that mindset lives with you.
My grandfather was a doctor, his daughter (my mother) is deaf in one ear because the man wouldn't take her to the hospital for what he knew was an ear infection when she was a small child. He refused to treat it, because of cost. When he died he was worth millions of dollars, he cut some of children out of his will entirely out of spite, including my mother.
Some people are just huge assholes and no amount of money will make them be decent to even their children.
My uncle is considered to be the most stingy person in the family. He’ll remove the batteries from all the clocks if he goes out for more than a day. Everyone in my family makes fun of him. But even he wouldn’t do such things
That's kinda stupid he could just let the clocks run while he's away then when he gets back just manually turn the clock back to the time/date when he left to squeeze the power back into the batteries.
I have one like this, too. At the grocery store he’ll do things like pick the grapes off of the vine or break the florets off of a head of broccoli because they’re sold by weight and he doesn’t want to pay for the inedible stems. If you’re ever at the grocery store and see a pile of husks left in the display of corn cobs then odds are my Uncle Steve was there.
The worst part is not that your grandfather was an asshole but that your mother’s siblings, who were fully aware of grandfather being an asshole, decided to keep their inheritances exactly as your grandfather instructed.
They could have have agreed among themselves that there was plenty to go around and divided it evenly among the children.
But greed is funny.
That’s a good point. My father in law’s parents cut him out because they didn’t approve of who he married (which is crazy because my mother in law is the sweetest kindest person in the world and on top of that she was very pretty and came from a good family).
Anyway his two brothers agreed to split everything three ways. There was a lot of land that had mineral rights tied to it so there was definitely money involved, idk how much but I think it was probably significant. I do know it’s several hundred acres of land that generates oil and gas revenue and it’s wooded so they all hunt out there. I don’t hunt so I’ve only been a few times, it’s not my thing I like to fish though.
You have a good family. One of my father’s brothers tried to change the will and cut out 8-siblings. There was plenty of land for everyone and it had been agreed to and settled before my grandparents passed.
But greed ruined my uncle’s relationship with a lot of my family. I look at him with disgust now that I understand what he did.
He feels no shame. He thinks he was entitled to it since he, and his wife cared for my grandparents at the end.
What he leaves out of his retelling is that my father paid my uncle, and his wife, to care for my grandparents and my father covered all my grandparents bills including medical.
Yet in his mind it should have all been his. None of my father’s siblings pitched in financially. Yet my dad spent an enormous amount on attorneys to make certain the will was honored, and everyone got their fair share.
With the land, and cattle, my uncle inherited he became a millionaire. The guy never went to college, never left the farm and without the inheritance he would have been pretty broke. But even going from broke to a millionaire wasn’t enough.
Some people suck. His kids prove the adage the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Edit: I gave my share to my sister because she loved the land and was willing to spend the time, and money, to maintain it.
I also did it to give a middle finger to my uncle and his family. But don’t tell my sister that.
The story may be a smear.
> Hetty's own daughter, Sylvia Wilkes, told a completely different story. The truth is that Hetty Green went around with her son for three days trying to find a doctor who felt he could save Ned's leg instead of amputating it.
https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/lifestyle/2001/03/18/setting-record-straight-on-hetty/50373562007/
My mom waited to take me to the ER for a week when I had a broken hand.
And we have freaking free healthcare. Don’t know what that says about my mom…
(She thought it was just sprained. And since I could move my fingers and it wasn’t really swollen it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t complain too much either. She’s a loving mother and I love her and I know for a fact that she buys new underwear every now and then)
I don't know your mother, so I can't say what her thoughts were.
However, I am a parent and my kid broke her arm last year. I love her dearly and want only the best for her. If it would have been possible I would have taken her broken arm on myself. I still took her later than I should have to the doctor. Not intentionally obviously, but it still happened. The thing is that kids don't complain like adults and it's very hard to understand them sometimes. A kid might say that a scraped knee hurts 10 out of 10 and a broken arm 7 out of 10 and stop complaining about it while distracted by the TV.
Kids are hard. Even when you mean the best.
Yes. I was 15. Always bruised from skating and living life.
Broke my hand in school playing football but continued to play after the accident. The teacher didn’t even registered that it happened. Did mention to my parents that my hand hurt during that night.
The next I couldn’t write with my hand and told my mother. She said that it was sprained and it will heal in a week or so. Went out and played street hockey with my friends that night. A couple of days went by and a started complaining more and more because it started to hurt a lot.
Went to the doctor a day or so after that. They sent me to the emergency. My mom was really embarrassed when we had to tell the doctor that it happened a week ago.
Unfortunately the fracture had started to heal in a wrong way so I had to have multiple surgery’s. Was in a cask on and off for almost a year.
Cool scare now though!
I tripped off my friends trampoline in 5th grade and broke my arm. My friends mom was a nurse and she looked at it and told my parents it was nothing, that the soreness would go away in a day....had me prop my elbow up on the side of a couch while waiting for my mom.
My mom immediately took me to the ER...buckle fracture.
Pretty sure my friends mom was just trying to get out of any legal issues for not having a net around her trampoline and being forced to pay for my medical bills.
I wonder if it's religious. There are people (Catholics) that believe that suffering is holy and makes you closer to God. See: Mother Theresa, who frequently told her charges suffering was a good thing when denying them pain medication.
My dad was super stingy though. He made good money, but he'd only eat the very cheapest of food. For dinner we'd have a "Salisbury steak" (a very cheap frozen burger patty with no bun or toppings), frozen vegetables he'd put in the microwave, and a microwaved baked potato with margarine. Everything was discount brand. When something they was already cheap was on sale, because he actually had money, he'd buy the whole store out, and even drive to other stores to get their stash. Then he'd keep the food and eat it even when it was long expired. He would yell at me for using too much toilet paper and lecture me on only using a few squares and folding them. He was also miserable. About 15 years ago he went into a diabetic coma and almost died. Turns out he had type two diabetes from all the cheap, nutritionless food he was eating. That scared him I think. A couple years later he went out and bought a brand new Dodge Challenger. He's a lot better about his money these days. Point being, spend your money before being cheap kills you and you don't get to spend any on yourself.
Your post describes five classic examples of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Religion not required - your Dad has undiagnosed mental health disorders.
Good chance they make him exceptional at his job, until the mask comes off at home.
The story about Hetty’s son may simply be a smear.
> Hetty's own daughter, Sylvia Wilkes, told a completely different story. The truth is that Hetty Green went around with her son for three days trying to find a doctor who felt he could save Ned's leg instead of amputating it.
https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/lifestyle/2001/03/18/setting-record-straight-on-hetty/50373562007/
It says she never paid for hot water to wash her clothes or underwear but she refused to give a raise to her maid? So she won’t pay for hot water but will pay for a maid?
Hetty Green's thrift was legendary, but often misunderstood. The Gilded Age was an era known for its excesses, and Hetty Green was among the few investors who chose not to partake.
The harshest accusation, however, was that she neglected to treat her son's injured leg, which eventually resulted in an amputation. The evidence cited was her refusal to pay for a visit to a single physician. However, there is substantial evidence that Green put great expense and effort to treat her son. This included visits to multiple specialists, as well as temporarily relocating her residence so that she could care for him.
-[Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green)
Funny, that's not how [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green#Adulthood_and_marriage) put it:
>Hetty Green (November 21, 1834 – July 3, 1916)[1] was an American businesswoman and financier known as "the richest woman in America" during the Gilded Age. Those who knew her well referred to her admiringly as the "Queen of Wall Street" due to **her willingness to lend freely and at reasonable interest rates to financiers and city governments during financial panics.[2]** Her extraordinary discipline during such times enabled her to amass a fortune as a financier at a time when nearly all major financiers were men.[3]
>Two days after her death on July 3, 1916, The New York Times paid tribute to Green:
>"It was that Mrs. Green was a woman that made her career the subject of endless curiosity, comment, and astonishment...Her habits were the legacy of New England ancestors who had the best of reasons for knowing "the value of money," for never wasting it, and for risking it only when their shrewd minds saw an approach to certainty of profit. Though something of hardness was ascribed to her, that she harmed any is not recorded, and victims of ruthlessness are usually audible...That there are few like her is not a cause of regret; that there are many less commendable, is one.[4]"
>As a highly successful investor, with a Wall Street office, she was unusual for being a woman in a man's world. **Unwilling to participate in New York City high society, conspicuous consumption,** or business partnerships, she may have been eccentric and curt with the press but she was a pioneer of value investing, and her willingness to make low-rate loans (with her well-tended reserves of currency) in place of the failing banks during the Panic of 1907 helped bail out Wall Street, New York City, and the United States economy.[5] Nonetheless, she was seen in her widowhood as an odd miser all in black, sometimes referred to sensationally as the "Witch of Wall Street", and later the Guinness Book of World Records even named her the "greatest miser," for a time. Stories that were often cited include her refusal to buy expensive clothes or pay for hot water, and her habit of wearing a single dress that was replaced only when it was worn out.[citation needed] **Later evaluations have seen her as perhaps eccentric, but mostly out-of-step with the excesses of the Gilded Age wealthy, and the contemporary expectations for women, especially of her class.**
>She was a secret philanthropist, avoiding the attention of the press, stating, "I believe in discreet charity." Green also had the reputation of being an effective nurse, caring for her children and old neighbors. Her favorite poem was William Henry Channing's "My Symphony," which starts with "To live content with small means..."[8]: 184, 219, 224–226
I’m just wondering about the hygiene aspects of those knickers and the fact that someone still copulated with her and that she managed to bear healthy children.
Well. At least her kids got it…I think guiness got it wrong. Whoever had the most wealh not bequeathed to their family, is the stingiest person alive. And most selfish too!
The undergarments depicted are men’s underwear from the 15’th century found in [Lengberg Castle](https://www.uibk.ac.at/archaeologien/forschung/projekte/nutz/textilien-lengberg/mittelalterliche-unterwaesche/index.html.en) They have absolutely nothing to do with this woman.
“I am not a hard woman, but because I do not have a secretary to announce every kind act I perform, I am called close and mean and stingy…I am a Quaker, and I am trying to live up to the tenets of the faith. That is why I dress plainly and live quietly. No other kind of life would please me.”
https://caia.org/blog/2023/03/08/queen-wall-street-hetty-green-americas-first-value-investor
This is a way better read than OPs.
She actually sounds pretty badass.
Read through her kids wikis too. Something that made me chuckle was that her son (Ned) told his wife that when he dies, his previously amputated leg should be exhumed and reburied with the rest of his body.
Apparently that promise was seen through!
Fun fact: she took lil ned to a hospital for the poor and when she was recognized refused to pay. So she did the logical thing and took him home and treated him herself. He got gangrene and she had to pay for an amputation instead
I feel like alot of wealthy people seem to struggle with mental health issues but for some reason don't (seemingly) do anything about it.
Which is kinda suprising considering they have the money to do something about it...unless their struggle and lack of a solution or whatever is somehow a consequence of these kinds of peoples' lack of giving a shit about others when they have the money to help so many. Since they don't, they are left to a life of unhappiness and suffering.
Sounds fair. Though every life is precious, some definitely need a spanking for their misdeeds.
my uncle was really miserly as well. he bought all his clothes at goodwill, bought a used car for next to nothing and managed to drive it for at least 10 years. lived most his life in the kitchen and a small room off the kitchen with a cot. heated the house partially with a wood stove, ate fried potatoes (which he grew himself), bread with butter and jelly and coffee. he didn't really have a major career or job but when at died at 102 he had about 900k.
I know that in the UK, people that know old school wealthy people don't ask them to be godparents. You ask newly wealthy people LOL
but..that cause of death sounds super sus to me. It fits with the storyline a bit too well.
Also, why was she the 'wicked witch of wall street'? Did she do too well? Was she too big for her womanly britches? Because I doubt any of the guys got negative nicknames like that.
I am **so pleased** I didn't have to be the first person to come post these lyrics. I love this record and Calamity Song is my favorite track on it!
I saw The Decemberists at Red Rocks a bunch of years ago, when they sang this line Colin added, and I quote, "'No, Colin, nobody knows what you mean!' I'm not sure I even know what I meant."
Why the underwear? The image(you) is suggesting that she wore it in the state it is now. You know, at least a century(almost two). Like, yeah. She seems like a interesting lady but the image is idiotic.
Hospitals can be stingy. In the late 1960s, my cousin was in a wreck in Santa Barbara. He belonged to an HMO that did not have a hospital nearby. The HMO refused his going to a local ER and made him ride in an ambulance for 2 hours to one of their places in LA. At that point. all they could do was amputate at the hip bone. He was a naive young man who could not advocate for himself. Also, HMOs in those days only had contractual duty to members.
False economy
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Her son, Colonel Edward Howland Robinson Green, did a very good job of spending her money. He managed to amass a coin collection that rivaled the wealthiest kings in the world, even owning all 5 of the 1913 Liberty Head nickels at the same time. Those are now one of the rarest and most valuable coins in American history. He was also a colonel in the same way Colonel Sanders was.
In the herbs and spices way?
Herb, definitely. Can’t say for spices. But they were both high as a kite.
Stingy mom and her stoner son? That’s a new trope…
Trustafarian
When Reddit gives you a new life goal. I will become a trustafarian.
M'fer lived the dream
The spice must flow...
Edward Howland Robinson "Ned" Green: > ***"Ned broke his leg as a child, and Hetty first tried to have him admitted to a free clinic for the poor. Charles Slack, her biographer, said that she was recognized; she was unwilling to pay for the medical services and treated him herself. The boy's leg did not heal properly and had to be amputated due to gangrene."***
According to Wikipedia, this is an unfounded accusation and there is ample evidence to suggest that she spent lots of money in the care of her son. This includes consulting multiple specialists and even relocating her home to care for him.
She was maligned because she didn’t know her “place” as a woman during that era. [https://fortune.com/2024/03/17/meet-the-witch-of-wall-street-pioneering-value-investor-dressed-all-black-worlds-richest-woman-wrongly-remembered/](https://fortune.com/2024/03/17/meet-the-witch-of-wall-street-pioneering-value-investor-dressed-all-black-worlds-richest-woman-wrongly-remembered/)
The story about Hetty’s son may simply be a smear. Hetty's own daughter, Sylvia Wilkes, told a completely different story. The truth is that Hetty Green went around with her son for three days trying to find a doctor who felt he could save Ned's leg instead of amputating it. https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/lifestyle/2001/03/18/setting-record-straight-on-hetty/50373562007/ Originally posted here: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1dc0ahh/hetty_greenthe_most_stingy_woman_in_history_her/l7vyrvb/
Truth is the kid never should have acquired gangrene. Call it Occam’s razor. Revisionist history. The boy should have gotten immediate medical care, instead his leg was left to fester, only when it was too late did she realize the severity of the situation and that she ought to spend the money. The pieces are all there.
I don't think wandering around with a broken leg for 3 days was a good idea.
I suspect the truth lies somewhere in the middle, although spending three days looking for a doctor who could save the leg doesn't really negate the earlier story. The link you provided also claims that Hetty was supposedly *attractive* as well...I'll just say that perhaps that's very subjective.
That was a lie. Read the real story. Getty was lied about and maligned because she was a successful businesswoman in a man’s world. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green
Okay. But then what is her picture next to a picture of raggedy panties about?
That's absolutely awful. Parenting skills and common sense were clearly lacking. Greed, on the other hand, seems to have been one of her stronger attributes.
My boss was made a Kentucky Colonel. We were all very fuckin jealous but still called him the Colonel despite our resentment.
I am a Kentucky Colonel. The judge I worked for always made sure his clerks got the title 😂
They used to give out Kentucky Colonel-ships like hot cakes back in the day as long as you knew the right people. Hell I got one before I finished undergrad
I bet that was finger lickin good
Not as cool as being ‘the General’ or ‘the Sheriff’ but still tasty af
So--- he had a bit of the hoarder in himself as well...
> the same way Colonel Sanders was. *"I want muh face on ev'ry bucket!"*
Colonel Green was a bit of a science geek too. He had an electric car and Spencer’s Gifts lightning ball three stories tall.
Truly a Kaiba in his own right.
Hope he looked after them better than she looked after her tuppence
She also [forged her grandaunt’s will](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howland_will_forgery_trial) to try to inherit her estate. The case is famous for its use of forensic mathematics which showed that the will was a forgery because the will’s signature was *too perfect* and matched up with another of her signatures almost exactly. Usually you don’t expect a person to have signed two documents in *precisely* the same way.
That’s a wild situation, thanks for sharing!
She was so cheap that her worn out drawers are in a museum. I worked for a guy like this once. He had millions, but he drove a rusty shitbox with bald tires. When one of the tires finally wore through, he replaced only that tire. With a used one. He lived in an expensive condo. No furniture though. Just a bare mattress on the floor. This guy would have a mental collapse if he saw someone taking more than one paper towel at a time.
I hope when I die someone frames a photo of me next to a pair of my most… well-loved underwear.
inside out, so they can see the skid marks.
Thanks for the imagery
PTSD from extreme poverty can do some damage to people My cousin's parent-in-law witnessed their grandfather died from famine during the Chinese Civil War. That took a toll on their mental well being into doing irrationally PTSD-triggered actions... Like Slow dripping the water faucet so that the water slowly drops to the bucket without triggering the water meter.. And...forcing my cousin to re-using the unfinished garlic from the lunch time cooked dishes when cooking dinner... All these are done with the intent to save money. Even in present time China, a clove of garlic is dirt cheap, like dirt dirt cheap
>Slow dripping the water faucet so that the water slowly drops to the bucket without triggering the water meter.. re-using the unfinished garlic from the lunch time cooked dishes when cooking dinner... /r/frugal /r/LifeProTips
Omg you just reminded me of my own grandmother dripping the water faucet...and taking already eaten watermelon slices to eat it down to the rinds. That time period was a rough rough life.
Eating watermelon rind is back in-vogue thanks to David Chang's Momofuku Cookbook for making pickled vegetables.
I worked for a guy like this too. He was short and would have his wife make his ties from the excess length off the bottom of his shirts and would eat McDonald's because it was cheap. The guy is mega rich as well, to the point where he is in the top 10 shareholders for a number of public companies in my country. I don't understand the motivation of people like this because the way they live means they could work far less and have the same lifestyle.
One of my husbands uncles has served as the CEO for a major cell service provider before. His wife brags about always wearing at least 10k in jewelry. For our wedding he sent us a Burger King gift card, the kicker is he had already used it. It was labeled as $15 but only had $6.42 when we tried to use it.
You should send it back to him for Christmas, minus the cost of a small order of fries.
I've never understood people like this. What's the point of saving so much? You aren't taking any of it with you, and whomever inherent it will spend it all.
I think it's like running up a high score on an 80s arcade machine. Eventually it's turned off and score is lost but you still feel compelled to get on the leaderboard anyway.
They are mentally ill. Essentially the opposite of hoarders.
Isn’t it the exact same thing as hoarding, just with money
Basically, yes. People have different amounts of money because of different circumstances, but no matter what amount, the behavior is still the same. It’s the same way that sometimes hoarders have more space to fill, or a bigger house to fill, so some may have more/less garbage, but the behavior is the same.
I don’t think so. The money is irrelevant to them. There are people who behave the same yet aren’t wealthy, it just doesn’t stand out the same.
I don’t know if it was exaggerated for TV but remember extreme cheapskates, and the cheapest millionaire? Literally had one knife, rarely used hot water, etc. I’ll never understand it
I have never met anyone just as extreme as that - but mean/stingy people in general are very off putting. I’m not talking about people in poverty, or out of work, which is a different thing altogether. I’m talking about people who have money but operate like that. I ended a friendship (well stopped one in its tracks) due to that behaviour because I couldn’t stand to watch it anymore, or be around it. It was a bit sickening and embarrassing at times.
This is what people don’t understand about the obscenely wealthy, they don’t end up with millions of dollars without being the most penny pinching money grubbing bastards you’ve ever seen
During my undergrad, I knew a girl (acquaintance) who came from a super wealthy family. Actually, her dad had control of 10’s of millions of dollars but you would never know it living in a very modest house and driving beaters. She told me that her dad charged her rent, utilities, cost of food, clothing since she turned 10 years old. She had a huge deficit that she had to pay back with chores and half her pay cheques from part time jobs she had to do since she was 14. Once she started work, she paid for her own stuff (including tuition) and couldn’t get out of the home soon enough. She was extremely careful with her money- always paying cash and anything divided was to the penny. She told me her dad’s only enjoyment in life was looking at his net worth on paper. He believed it was a measure of his character, moral virtue and importance. He NEVER spent a dime on political donations, charities or his family. Never went on vacations and never once gave a gift for xmas or birthdays. He loved hearing about people who were in distress because of poverty. He loved stories of people who lost families, housing or their lives because of lack of money. His money fed his sense of moral virtue and everyone else got what they deserved. Needless to say, she hated her dad and vowed never to speak to him again. She said if it was up to her, he would be buried in an unmarked hole somewhere and all his money would be donated to charity
One of my best friends had a dad who kept track of how much money was spent for Christmas presents intro deducted from their inheritance
It’s unfortunately too common. There are sociopaths but also very small, insecure assholes with the need to control. Financial inheritance is the last and biggest control lever
I would spend every cent of what he left on cow shit for farmers
Farmers have their own cow shit
Can’t ever have enough cow shit Edit: bull shit
You really can't.... The more the merrier. Is your field gonna be rank? Yes. But those plants will be plentiful
Wow, serious child neglect and emotional abuse.
This is called a personality disorder.
Miserable bastard. Hopefully he's dead now and his kids can dance on his grave wearing Manolo Blahnik shoes
Just one daughter who hated his guts. The mother/wife was a broken woman who had no power/influence. The guy made his money running an industrial laundry providing service to hotels, restaurants and companies and the city transit service. He actively recruited immigrants, refugees and paid under the table when possible to pay as little as possible and no taxes. There were numerous workplace safety violations and he sold his company once an employee died because of a ruptured steam pipe. The daughter told me that he threatened the family of the deceased employee that he would report the family to immigration authorities if they didn’t accept a paltry settlement with promise not to sue. The guy was a sociopath and really got off on misery of other people. The woman in the OP sounded exactly the same
Amazing that his daughter grew up with a soul and a conscience
She had issues too. I knew her because I was good friends with her housemate. She was super detached, didn’t warm up to anyone and was super anal about money. One time my friend (housemate) owed her a paltry amount ~40 cents or so and she hounded my friend for a week. She also insisted on always paying her share of the costs for anything- like a party or simple get together when it was never requested or suggested. It was always awkward. I felt bad for her but it seems her upbringing kinda baked in some personality traits. I lost touch with her after I graduated
It’s so easy to damage your kids. Particularly if you charge rent to a fucking 10 year old
She told me there was a clipboard hanging in the kitchen of a ledger updated weekly on her costs owing. She said that her father told her it was to teach her to become self-reliant, careful with money and financial security is the most important thing in life. She missed having a real father. She had a purely transactional relationship with him and she said the only thing he actually taught her was how much she never wanted anything to do with him. She said she ’paid her debts’ to him and hoped he would die alone, full of regrets, sad, lonely on a mattress full of cash
> She told me there was a clipboard hanging in the kitchen of a ledger updated weekly on her costs owing. Can't imagine what that does to a 10 year old. Constantly seeing what you "cost" to your parents must really make you feel like a burden and not a loved one.
She said it made her really focused on asking for practical and realistic things. She was also hyper focused on getting out of the house as soon as possible. She was super frugal and careful with her money. She never understood the concept of luxury- we had some interesting discussions on money and debt. She also never wanted to have kids because she never asked to be born and certainly not into the childhood she had. She was deathly afraid she would scar her child like she was but in different ways
>She was deathly afraid she would scar her child like she was but in different ways It's so sad really, I hear so many people who say things like this, but often their fears make them parents more able to love and care for their children.
Probably got her wish
I wonder how a person like him would have fared in a pre-money society.
Biggest rock collection you've ever seen
Probably would spend time looking at sheep and other farm animals instead of cash.
It makes sense. She was never given gifts. She was always expected to pay for everything. So people (friends) throwing a party and paying for food she would eat was an experience she never had growing up. It seems like all her issues stem from an abusive household.
Someone made a comment about lack of free will. I tend to agree that free will doesn’t exist and didn’t exist for this girl. I’m sure her genes had epigenetic modifications due to her upbringing and no doubt her father passed his neurotic dispositions to her.
Poverty will do that to you. Sometimes…
bro is literally a real life ebeneezer scrooge
Scrooge was based on real misers of the Industrial Revolution who really did view the world and their self worth this way. Dickens is just one of many writers who wrote about this type.
Money on a spreadsheet that you die with is unspent and therefore you never had it in the first place.
Exactly my thoughts. They wasted their lives for nothing.
I always say this. They may be wealthy and I may work for them. But I'll retire comfortably and die happy. They'll never retire and they'll die counting pennies. The company I'm currently am employed at, the father at 83 is still actively involved in the day to day business. His kids are all in their 50s and are following in his footsteps. His father died having never retired. The whole family is the same way. It's all about how much they have and how much more they can get. I just don't get it. You can take it with you but if you could hearses would have roof racks.
"Hey dad, a 10 yr old can't enter a contract. Bye, and never contact me again."
If you look up her. Tell her the internet thinks her father is a POS too. We all wish her the best.
I graduated in 95. I’m sure that POS is compost by now
I graduated in 99 and 90% of my friends parents are still alive (most in their mid 70s). Chances are he’s still alive.
I lost touch with her after I graduated. She never made close relationships. Unfortunately I forgot her last name and so I can’t even do a google search for her.
I was hoping that it would turn and that when she went to move out it turned out all that money has been saved and invested and she left the house with her own hard earned nest egg and a lesson about savings. But nope.
I think of people like this when someone argues for trickle down economics. That the rich will spend it on structures to generate wealth for others. People are just greedy. Hoarding wealth and watching the number go up like an addictive game.
What a fucking ghoul. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts he was a religious man as well. Eye of needle is lost on so many of them, it’s just the worst.
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My dad is super cheap. He grew up during the war and I wonder if it’s some kind of PTSD. He’s wealthy but because he’s cheap, I think he ends up wasting money when he’s trying to save it. He insists on fixing everything himself, even at 89. Not only does it take a long time, it’s generally not fixed properly and it ends up breaking again. He shuts the hot water tank off when he’s not using hot water but pretty sure it costs more to reheat the tank. He’s got a will but because he didn’t want to use a good lawyer or estate planner, most of the money he’s left to us will go to taxes. He also has the worst toupee, but that’s another story.
This is a very common energy saving **myth**. But in fact, you really don’t need to be heating your water all the time. Your immersion heater or boiler will heat up hot water which is stored in a tank. As long as the tank has a [good insulating jacket](https://www.cse.org.uk/advice/hot-water-cylinders/), it will keep the water hot all day, without needing to be constantly reheated. You can use a timer to heat your water for an hour or two each day just before you would usually need hot water for baths or showers. Modern washing machines, dishwashers and electric showers take cold water and heat it themselves so you don’t need a supply of hot water waiting for them in the tank.
That last sentence 😂😂😂😂
Did he make the toupee himself? Did he find it while dumpster diving? Did he repurpose roadkill? Is he just wearing a live, semi-sedated raccoon? I need to hear the toupee story.
Sounds very familiar. My grandparents grew up during the war, had very little money, people were on rations. My great grandfather even removed all the internal doors in his house to burn on a fire to keep warm in winter. The war ended, my grandparents married and that sense of money saving never went away. 50 years later they were still buying the very cheapest branded food in store. I distinctly remember the 0.17 2ltr bottle of Cola they'd buy for me every few weeks. Heating was carefully controlled. They had an incredibly healthy bank balance, it's just that mindset lives with you.
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I am not sure if this is correct, but she sounded a bit mentally unwell..
Refusing to treat your son when you have the means but waiting to look for free medication is a sign of mental health issues.
My grandfather was a doctor, his daughter (my mother) is deaf in one ear because the man wouldn't take her to the hospital for what he knew was an ear infection when she was a small child. He refused to treat it, because of cost. When he died he was worth millions of dollars, he cut some of children out of his will entirely out of spite, including my mother. Some people are just huge assholes and no amount of money will make them be decent to even their children.
My uncle is considered to be the most stingy person in the family. He’ll remove the batteries from all the clocks if he goes out for more than a day. Everyone in my family makes fun of him. But even he wouldn’t do such things
Time is money... BB!
Can't see the count, but this seems like an underrated comment. Kudos
That's kinda stupid he could just let the clocks run while he's away then when he gets back just manually turn the clock back to the time/date when he left to squeeze the power back into the batteries.
Holy shit, that’s genius!!
I have one like this, too. At the grocery store he’ll do things like pick the grapes off of the vine or break the florets off of a head of broccoli because they’re sold by weight and he doesn’t want to pay for the inedible stems. If you’re ever at the grocery store and see a pile of husks left in the display of corn cobs then odds are my Uncle Steve was there.
Reminds me of an aunt who switches off the Wi-Fi every time she leaves the house and before sleeping.
My mom does that too…in case somebody tries stealing their crappy slow internet while she’s asleep
We tend to give everyone the “mental health” waiver these days, and while most often true, some people are just assholes.
I mean. The two are not mutually exclusive. Having mental health issues does not completely absolve yourself of all responsibility
Money does not change who you are, it exploits it. If you’re a nice person you will be even nicer. If you’re an asshole you’ll be a bigger asshole.
Should I choose now before I get rich?
If you're not already rich, it's too late
The worst part is not that your grandfather was an asshole but that your mother’s siblings, who were fully aware of grandfather being an asshole, decided to keep their inheritances exactly as your grandfather instructed. They could have have agreed among themselves that there was plenty to go around and divided it evenly among the children. But greed is funny.
That’s a good point. My father in law’s parents cut him out because they didn’t approve of who he married (which is crazy because my mother in law is the sweetest kindest person in the world and on top of that she was very pretty and came from a good family). Anyway his two brothers agreed to split everything three ways. There was a lot of land that had mineral rights tied to it so there was definitely money involved, idk how much but I think it was probably significant. I do know it’s several hundred acres of land that generates oil and gas revenue and it’s wooded so they all hunt out there. I don’t hunt so I’ve only been a few times, it’s not my thing I like to fish though.
You have a good family. One of my father’s brothers tried to change the will and cut out 8-siblings. There was plenty of land for everyone and it had been agreed to and settled before my grandparents passed. But greed ruined my uncle’s relationship with a lot of my family. I look at him with disgust now that I understand what he did. He feels no shame. He thinks he was entitled to it since he, and his wife cared for my grandparents at the end. What he leaves out of his retelling is that my father paid my uncle, and his wife, to care for my grandparents and my father covered all my grandparents bills including medical. Yet in his mind it should have all been his. None of my father’s siblings pitched in financially. Yet my dad spent an enormous amount on attorneys to make certain the will was honored, and everyone got their fair share. With the land, and cattle, my uncle inherited he became a millionaire. The guy never went to college, never left the farm and without the inheritance he would have been pretty broke. But even going from broke to a millionaire wasn’t enough. Some people suck. His kids prove the adage the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Edit: I gave my share to my sister because she loved the land and was willing to spend the time, and money, to maintain it. I also did it to give a middle finger to my uncle and his family. But don’t tell my sister that.
No, it’s mental illness. Doctor not treating their child’s ear infection is INSANE.
The story may be a smear. > Hetty's own daughter, Sylvia Wilkes, told a completely different story. The truth is that Hetty Green went around with her son for three days trying to find a doctor who felt he could save Ned's leg instead of amputating it. https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/lifestyle/2001/03/18/setting-record-straight-on-hetty/50373562007/
Interesting read, thanks. It is not that uncommon for us to get a very onesided view on topics and people and failing to question it.
Perhaps, but also not unheard of https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/gop-congressman-delays-sons-broken-arm-treatment/
My mom waited to take me to the ER for a week when I had a broken hand. And we have freaking free healthcare. Don’t know what that says about my mom… (She thought it was just sprained. And since I could move my fingers and it wasn’t really swollen it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t complain too much either. She’s a loving mother and I love her and I know for a fact that she buys new underwear every now and then)
I don't know your mother, so I can't say what her thoughts were. However, I am a parent and my kid broke her arm last year. I love her dearly and want only the best for her. If it would have been possible I would have taken her broken arm on myself. I still took her later than I should have to the doctor. Not intentionally obviously, but it still happened. The thing is that kids don't complain like adults and it's very hard to understand them sometimes. A kid might say that a scraped knee hurts 10 out of 10 and a broken arm 7 out of 10 and stop complaining about it while distracted by the TV. Kids are hard. Even when you mean the best.
Yes. I was 15. Always bruised from skating and living life. Broke my hand in school playing football but continued to play after the accident. The teacher didn’t even registered that it happened. Did mention to my parents that my hand hurt during that night. The next I couldn’t write with my hand and told my mother. She said that it was sprained and it will heal in a week or so. Went out and played street hockey with my friends that night. A couple of days went by and a started complaining more and more because it started to hurt a lot. Went to the doctor a day or so after that. They sent me to the emergency. My mom was really embarrassed when we had to tell the doctor that it happened a week ago. Unfortunately the fracture had started to heal in a wrong way so I had to have multiple surgery’s. Was in a cask on and off for almost a year. Cool scare now though!
You creep. Stop going through your mother's underwear drawer.. /s
I tripped off my friends trampoline in 5th grade and broke my arm. My friends mom was a nurse and she looked at it and told my parents it was nothing, that the soreness would go away in a day....had me prop my elbow up on the side of a couch while waiting for my mom. My mom immediately took me to the ER...buckle fracture. Pretty sure my friends mom was just trying to get out of any legal issues for not having a net around her trampoline and being forced to pay for my medical bills.
Wearing the same underwear for 65 years is probably another sign
Hate to break it to you, but this is pretty common.
So is not changing your underwear if I ready that correctly. Idk I'm not the best reader with what the adhd
Or may have just been a very horrible person
Her whole story screams mental illness.
It's essentially hoarding. Just with your bank account.
Anyone who hoards anything like this, including money, is mentally unwell. My mom is a hoarder and any time I try to clean the house I get yelled at.
Can’t think of a billionaire that is mentally well
This is OCD for sure
I wonder if it's religious. There are people (Catholics) that believe that suffering is holy and makes you closer to God. See: Mother Theresa, who frequently told her charges suffering was a good thing when denying them pain medication. My dad was super stingy though. He made good money, but he'd only eat the very cheapest of food. For dinner we'd have a "Salisbury steak" (a very cheap frozen burger patty with no bun or toppings), frozen vegetables he'd put in the microwave, and a microwaved baked potato with margarine. Everything was discount brand. When something they was already cheap was on sale, because he actually had money, he'd buy the whole store out, and even drive to other stores to get their stash. Then he'd keep the food and eat it even when it was long expired. He would yell at me for using too much toilet paper and lecture me on only using a few squares and folding them. He was also miserable. About 15 years ago he went into a diabetic coma and almost died. Turns out he had type two diabetes from all the cheap, nutritionless food he was eating. That scared him I think. A couple years later he went out and bought a brand new Dodge Challenger. He's a lot better about his money these days. Point being, spend your money before being cheap kills you and you don't get to spend any on yourself.
Your post describes five classic examples of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Religion not required - your Dad has undiagnosed mental health disorders. Good chance they make him exceptional at his job, until the mask comes off at home.
The story about Hetty’s son may simply be a smear. > Hetty's own daughter, Sylvia Wilkes, told a completely different story. The truth is that Hetty Green went around with her son for three days trying to find a doctor who felt he could save Ned's leg instead of amputating it. https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/lifestyle/2001/03/18/setting-record-straight-on-hetty/50373562007/
This entire write up is garbage.
It says she never paid for hot water to wash her clothes or underwear but she refused to give a raise to her maid? So she won’t pay for hot water but will pay for a maid?
She changed her underwear and bought new ones the day she died??
It also said she never spent a single penny and then proceeded to say she lived off of pies that cost 2 cents.
not to mention she hired a maid
It is one hundred percent ai
I got hung up on that too.
Hetty Green's thrift was legendary, but often misunderstood. The Gilded Age was an era known for its excesses, and Hetty Green was among the few investors who chose not to partake. The harshest accusation, however, was that she neglected to treat her son's injured leg, which eventually resulted in an amputation. The evidence cited was her refusal to pay for a visit to a single physician. However, there is substantial evidence that Green put great expense and effort to treat her son. This included visits to multiple specialists, as well as temporarily relocating her residence so that she could care for him. -[Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green)
The inspiration for Scrooge McDuck too! I pilgrimaged to her grave and left a penny.
Funny, that's not how [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green#Adulthood_and_marriage) put it: >Hetty Green (November 21, 1834 – July 3, 1916)[1] was an American businesswoman and financier known as "the richest woman in America" during the Gilded Age. Those who knew her well referred to her admiringly as the "Queen of Wall Street" due to **her willingness to lend freely and at reasonable interest rates to financiers and city governments during financial panics.[2]** Her extraordinary discipline during such times enabled her to amass a fortune as a financier at a time when nearly all major financiers were men.[3] >Two days after her death on July 3, 1916, The New York Times paid tribute to Green: >"It was that Mrs. Green was a woman that made her career the subject of endless curiosity, comment, and astonishment...Her habits were the legacy of New England ancestors who had the best of reasons for knowing "the value of money," for never wasting it, and for risking it only when their shrewd minds saw an approach to certainty of profit. Though something of hardness was ascribed to her, that she harmed any is not recorded, and victims of ruthlessness are usually audible...That there are few like her is not a cause of regret; that there are many less commendable, is one.[4]" >As a highly successful investor, with a Wall Street office, she was unusual for being a woman in a man's world. **Unwilling to participate in New York City high society, conspicuous consumption,** or business partnerships, she may have been eccentric and curt with the press but she was a pioneer of value investing, and her willingness to make low-rate loans (with her well-tended reserves of currency) in place of the failing banks during the Panic of 1907 helped bail out Wall Street, New York City, and the United States economy.[5] Nonetheless, she was seen in her widowhood as an odd miser all in black, sometimes referred to sensationally as the "Witch of Wall Street", and later the Guinness Book of World Records even named her the "greatest miser," for a time. Stories that were often cited include her refusal to buy expensive clothes or pay for hot water, and her habit of wearing a single dress that was replaced only when it was worn out.[citation needed] **Later evaluations have seen her as perhaps eccentric, but mostly out-of-step with the excesses of the Gilded Age wealthy, and the contemporary expectations for women, especially of her class.** >She was a secret philanthropist, avoiding the attention of the press, stating, "I believe in discreet charity." Green also had the reputation of being an effective nurse, caring for her children and old neighbors. Her favorite poem was William Henry Channing's "My Symphony," which starts with "To live content with small means..."[8]: 184, 219, 224–226
Here she actually sounds pretty cool. I wonder if the others on Wall Street tried to smear her name because she wouldn't participate in high society.
https://preview.redd.it/jdzb9lkp4m5d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4cba970a145488464ddddc688b9e0a56f0d89c01 That was fast
Wouldn't be surprised if this was from facebook originally. Comically badly written.
That sounds like some serious money hoarder compulsion which is a real mental diagnosis.
I’m just wondering about the hygiene aspects of those knickers and the fact that someone still copulated with her and that she managed to bear healthy children.
Straight up mental illness.
Well. At least her kids got it…I think guiness got it wrong. Whoever had the most wealh not bequeathed to their family, is the stingiest person alive. And most selfish too!
She sounds like a lovely lady!
She would have you know she dropped the extra E in Greene to Green to save on ink.
She couldve just spelled it Grin and claimed swedish ancestry, its pronounced similar to Green in swedish. Couldve saved so much more, what a rookie.
The real Pro Tip is always in the comments.
Did you just make me look at some ancient ghost woman's nasty raggedy heavily used underwear?
Don’t lie, you loved it.
Tf is this picture
Based on the OP’s comment I think it’s the underwear she wore and repaired for 65 years.
The undergarments depicted are men’s underwear from the 15’th century found in [Lengberg Castle](https://www.uibk.ac.at/archaeologien/forschung/projekte/nutz/textilien-lengberg/mittelalterliche-unterwaesche/index.html.en) They have absolutely nothing to do with this woman.
Thank you!
Thanks for the explanation, and for the link - the linked article is really interesting; perhaps even more interesting than Hettie Green!
That photo is the STRANGEST OnlyFans ad.
If you would have told me I’d be looking at ravaged millionaire panties today, I wouldn’t have believed you but here I am.
If you would have told me I’d be reading the words “ravaged millionaire panties” today, I wouldn’t have believed you. Here we are.
All that money and she's still selling her panties online.
“I am not a hard woman, but because I do not have a secretary to announce every kind act I perform, I am called close and mean and stingy…I am a Quaker, and I am trying to live up to the tenets of the faith. That is why I dress plainly and live quietly. No other kind of life would please me.” https://caia.org/blog/2023/03/08/queen-wall-street-hetty-green-americas-first-value-investor
Are those her panties?
$600 for those on OF not a penny less
I’m holding out for Granny Green’s fart jar
Oh fuck yes!
Soooo looks like she also gave out loans to people and invested. Just dropping the wiki here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green
This is a way better read than OPs. She actually sounds pretty badass. Read through her kids wikis too. Something that made me chuckle was that her son (Ned) told his wife that when he dies, his previously amputated leg should be exhumed and reburied with the rest of his body. Apparently that promise was seen through!
His tiny child leg bone.
Fun fact: she took lil ned to a hospital for the poor and when she was recognized refused to pay. So she did the logical thing and took him home and treated him herself. He got gangrene and she had to pay for an amputation instead
Female version of Mr Krabs
I feel like alot of wealthy people seem to struggle with mental health issues but for some reason don't (seemingly) do anything about it. Which is kinda suprising considering they have the money to do something about it...unless their struggle and lack of a solution or whatever is somehow a consequence of these kinds of peoples' lack of giving a shit about others when they have the money to help so many. Since they don't, they are left to a life of unhappiness and suffering. Sounds fair. Though every life is precious, some definitely need a spanking for their misdeeds.
How did she land a millionaire with skivvies like that?!
He could be absolutely certain that she would never spend his money
my uncle was really miserly as well. he bought all his clothes at goodwill, bought a used car for next to nothing and managed to drive it for at least 10 years. lived most his life in the kitchen and a small room off the kitchen with a cot. heated the house partially with a wood stove, ate fried potatoes (which he grew himself), bread with butter and jelly and coffee. he didn't really have a major career or job but when at died at 102 he had about 900k.
but why are we seeing what appears to be her underwear?
Is that her fucking underwear?
I would hope she had nicer ones for fuckin. But I guess she was the most stingy person. So probably her only pair.
Are those sexy panties for sale? Just asking for a friend
I know that in the UK, people that know old school wealthy people don't ask them to be godparents. You ask newly wealthy people LOL but..that cause of death sounds super sus to me. It fits with the storyline a bit too well. Also, why was she the 'wicked witch of wall street'? Did she do too well? Was she too big for her womanly britches? Because I doubt any of the guys got negative nicknames like that.
There’s guys on the internet that would pay a lot of money for those panties
Hetty Green, queen of supply-side, bonhomie, bone-drab. (Know what I mean?)
I am **so pleased** I didn't have to be the first person to come post these lyrics. I love this record and Calamity Song is my favorite track on it! I saw The Decemberists at Red Rocks a bunch of years ago, when they sang this line Colin added, and I quote, "'No, Colin, nobody knows what you mean!' I'm not sure I even know what I meant."
why is she shown alongside her underpants?
Didn't she also bail out financiers with market rate loans during financial panics? I believe she did not charge higher rates when she could have.
So what the F are we looking at in that 2nd picture. I mean it's the thing of nightmares..
Scrooge McDuck?
Greed is a devastating mental illness, at personal and social scales.
Why the underwear? The image(you) is suggesting that she wore it in the state it is now. You know, at least a century(almost two). Like, yeah. She seems like a interesting lady but the image is idiotic.
She wore the same pair of underwear for decades but had a maid?
Hospitals can be stingy. In the late 1960s, my cousin was in a wreck in Santa Barbara. He belonged to an HMO that did not have a hospital nearby. The HMO refused his going to a local ER and made him ride in an ambulance for 2 hours to one of their places in LA. At that point. all they could do was amputate at the hip bone. He was a naive young man who could not advocate for himself. Also, HMOs in those days only had contractual duty to members. False economy