They say that power corrupts, but in the case of Henrietta “Hetty” Green, a female financier who won on Wall Street, the story is a bit more complex. Green, who was born into a wealthy Massachusetts Quaker family, took her family’s talent for making money to a whole new level. In her day, Green’s fortune was linked to the likes of JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and other tycoons. By the time she was 13, Green had taken over the family’s shipping business, and when she was 20 her father bought her a wardrobe full of the finest dresses of the season in order to attract a wealthy suitor. Green sold her new wardrobe and bought government bonds with the proceeds. At a time when women were expected to align themselves with their homes and families, Green had other priorities. She relocated to New York and began trading heavily on Wall Street, leveraging her inheritance into a fortune exceeding $100 million (billions in today’s money). During the Panic of 1907, she personally bailed out the city of New York by lending millions of dollars when major banks refused. She was notorious for not turning on heat, wearing the same tattered, unwashed black mourning dress for years, and even traveling to free clinics to treat her ailments. Green managed her wealth and investments right up until her death in 1916. Despite her immense success, she became the undisputed icon of extreme thrift, being named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's greatest miser.
