The Economic Times

In 1950s America, Ronald Read began buying everyday blue-chip stocks; decades later, the janitor left behind an $8 million portfolio

Ronald Read did not work in finance. He spent about 25 years at a Vermont gas station before working as a janitor at J.C. Penney for another 17 years. He left the store in 1997. Yet Read quietly built an investment portfolio worth millions. After his death in 2014 at age 92, his estate was valued at nearly $8 million, including stocks and property.