Ordinary people who turned out to be extraordinarily rich

Not everyone who gets rich wants to flash the cash. In fact, some people are so good at hiding their money even their nearest and dearest don’t know how wealthy they are.

Cleaners, schoolteachers and secretaries are hardly renowned for earning the big bucks – yet with a little help from shrewd investments and savvy saving, some unassuming people can turn out to be multimillionaires.

In direct contrast to the brash displays of wealth and impulse purchases that we often associate with the newly minted, these millionaires lived so frugally and were so private about their money that even their friends and family didn’t realise how much they had.

If you’re looking for an antidote to the typical ‘get rich quick’ story, you’re in the right place.

The shrewd secretary who was worth millions

Brooklyn resident Sylvia Bloom was 96 when she died, leaving behind an estate worth $9 million (£7m). Yet relatives and close friends of the former secretary, and even her husband,  had no idea just how wealthy she really was.

So how did she get so rich? For 67 years, Bloom had worked as a secretary at a law firm, observing investments made by the lawyers she served and making smaller purchases of the same stocks for herself. In this way, she quietly accrued millions of dollars over the years.

That’s led some to question the legitimacy of her strategy. While it’s not technically illegal, using confidential information about her colleagues’ investments for her own gain is a bit of a grey area.

Nonetheless, when she donated a hefty $6.24 million (£4.85m) of her estate to Henry Street Settlement’s college programme, which helps disadvantaged students get ready for college, it was clear the money was going to a good cause.

The couple who left their investments to Warren Buffett

When it comes to making money, it probably helps to have a pal like Warren Buffett on hand to help you make good choices. That was the case for lucky couple Donald and Mildred Othmer, who left a massive $750 million (£583m) behind when they passed away.

The two Omaha natives just made one simple investment: they each put $25,000 into a partnership run by Buffett, which allowed them to convert it into Berkshire Hathaway stock. This $50,000 investment kept growing until they had $750 million (£583m).

The unassuming couple left the majority of their fortune to charity, dividing it between several universities and institutions.

The secretary who made one great investment

Yet another savvy secretary who invested wisely, Grace Groner left a massive $7 million (£5.6=4m) to her former college, Lake Forest College in Illinois, when she died aged 100.

With neither a husband or kids, the secret millionaire lived an unassuming life, residing in a one-bedroom apartment and working as a secretary for her entire life.

As for her massive wealth? Groner invested cleverly in stocks and shares, allowing compound interest to build up on her investments. The money was put into a fund, established before her death, which would help fund independent study, internships and international study for students at Lake Forest College.

The millionaire shopkeeper

Known for being reserved and frugal, grocery store owner Leonard Gigowski left a massive $13 million (£10.1m) in a scholarship fund to students at his alma mater St. Thomas More High School after his death.

The modest millionaire was a devout Catholic who spent most of his life running a grocery store in Merrill Park, Milwaukee. Much of his money came from stock he’d invested in and held onto for a long time.

Friends of Gigowski’s described him as tight-fisted – he never went on holiday and would jump at the chance of a bargain. “He wanted to save money and give it to people more needy than he was,” one friend said about him.

The frugal teacher who left a fortune to charity

Margaret Southern was a schoolteacher for kids with special needs, who lived in a simple townhouse in Greenville and drove an old 1980s Cadillac. No one expected her to leave behind a massive $8.4 million (£6.5m) estate when she died in 2012 at the age of 94.

Her wealth had largely come from shares of stock which her husband left behind when he died in 1983. Adding to the shares throughout the years that followed, she built up an impressive sum.

Yet the generous schoolteacher wasn’t one for splurging on luxuries, so she generously gave half of her estate to animal charity the Greenville Humane Society, and the other half to the Community Foundation of Greenville.

The janitor who turned out to be a multimillionaire

He may not have made a huge amount of money from his day job, but Vermont-based cleaner Ronald Read was a canny investor and quietly amassed an $8 million (£6.2m) fortune over his lifetime.

His family were shocked to learn of his wealth. In 2015, stepson Phillip Brown told the local paper: “He was a hard worker, but I don’t think anybody had an idea that he was a multimillionaire.”

Read’s frugality helped. Allegedly, he drove a second-hand car and cut his own firewood. His savvy investments included holdings in Procter & Gamble, J. P. Morgan Chase, General Electric and Johnson & Johnson.

Owning at least 95 stocks when he died aged 92 in 2015, he left over half of his fortune to Battleboro Memorial Hospital.

Main image: Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock