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“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).”
― Mark Twain
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Hetty Green Was Smart, Highly Disciplined, And Would Kick The Gunslingers To The Curb
Benjamin Graham is long recognized as the founder of value investing. Hetty Green, a little known name from history, pioneered its principles decades earlier. Born before Graham, Green instinctively practiced thrift, skepticism, patience, persistence, and an aversion to leverage, traits that allowed her to prosper through multiple market panics during the Gilded Age. Far from the “Witch of Wall Street” caricature, she was a prudent financier who lent generously to major investors, corporations, and even the city of New York, notably during the Panic of 1907. Combining rare financial acumen with integrity and foresight, Hetty Green stands not only as the greatest female investor in American history but, arguably, the greatest investor of all time.
If you don't learn from the past, you're destined to repeat the same mistakes.
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| Evolution of The Trade = SURFING |
Hetty Green was born into New Bedford’s whaling wealth, but her rise as a financial force came from discipline, not inheritance. Her family, the Robinson's, were frugal New England merchants who treated money as something to guard, not flaunt. As a teenager, Hetty read financial reports aloud to her grandfather, learning the language of markets and capital flow long before women were welcome in finance. When she eventually inherited her family’s fortune, she fought through legal challenges and societal bias to gain full control, emerging as one of the few women of her time with true financial independence.
Once she controlled her capital, Hetty invested with unusual restraint, insight, and had the ability to withdraw from the majority. This is a critical factor for success in this business. She ignored the speculative manias of her era, favoring assets with tangible value such bonds, mortgages, profitable railroad companies, and municipal debt of cities in solid positions. Her strategy revolved around patience and liquidity. She held large cash reserves, like Warren Buffett, knowing that market panics would create opportunities. Just like Warren Buffett. During the crises of 1873, 1884, 1893, and 1907, when others were desperate for funds, Hetty became a lender of last resort, even to the City of New York. Her frugality, often mocked by the press, was a deliberate. The simple life afforded her the flexibility and control when the gunslinger traders were forced to sell when hot trends broke.
By her death in 1916, Hetty Green had built a fortune worth billions in today’s dollars, one of the largest ever amassed by a woman, or anyone, of her time. Much of it later benefited hospitals, schools, and public causes, quietly countering her reputation for stinginess.
Her life remains a lesson for anyone willing to listen. Characteristics such as value over vanity, patience over FOMO, independence over joining the majority. Hetty Green proved that real wealth derived not from speculation, but from clarity, discipline, and the courage to stand alone when everyone else is losing their heads. This is why Insights surfs rather than trades trends, and we don't care what everyone else is doing.
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