According to the Oxford Dictionary, a miser is one who hoards wealth and spends as little money as possible. From this definition, we can tell that misers are actually people who have a lot of money but have chosen to not utilize their wealth for themselves or their family and close friends.
They can often be confused with frugal people but one major difference is that frugal people do not save money while they suffer from lack and even fatal accidents or emergencies. For misers, they see no reason to spend their monies even when it is extremely important.
Some examples of misers who have made their mark in the world and have gone down in history books are Daniel Dancer and Hetty Green. It would surprise you to know how much wealth Daniel left behind when he died.
Here are 5 of the Most Famous Stinkenly Rich People who are Misers
1. Gerry Harvey
Gerry Harvey is an Australian businessman who is well known for being the co-founder and executive chairman of Harvey Norman Holdings. The entrepreneur founded this company in 1982 with Ian Norman. He also owns Magic Millions and has been an active businessman since 1961.
Gerry was born in Springwood, New South Wales, Australia on September 18, 1939. He has been named one of Australia’s richest men for years and has a net worth of over $1.6 billion as of 2022.
Despite being thus rich, Harvey is a well-known miser. He was described as one who would spend two months deciding if he’d buy a pair of shoes or not. In the book written by James Kirby titled ‘Gerry Harvey: Business Secrets of Harvey Norman’s Retailing Mastermind’ the businessman’s miser ways were well detailed.
The man who isn’t above recycling paperclips also has a reputation for once scolding his wife for buying mandarin oranges from the store because they had a tree of fruit in their garden.
2. Ingvar Kamprad
This Swedish billionaire is the founder of IKEA which is known as a multinational retail company that specializes in furniture. Ingvar is a business magnet who was born on March 30, 1926, in Pjatteryd, Sweden.
He was married twice, divorced once, and has 4 children from his relationships and marriages.
This businessman was part of the list of the World’s Richest Men according to Veckans Affarer in 2004. As of 2010, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $23 billion and this placed him in the 11th position of the world’s wealthiest people. A year later, he went down several positions to 162nd but picked up once again in 2015 when he rose to the 8th wealthiest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Then, he had a net worth of $58.7 billion.
In 2018, Ingvar had a net worth of $42.5 billion however, he still lived as though he wasn’t a billionaire. He is fondly called ‘Uncle Scrooge’ or ‘The Miser’ in Epalinges, the village he lives.
The reason for this tag is that the billionaire was stuck driving his second-hand Volvo and wouldn’t spend so much on flight comfort. He would always fly coach instead.
Ingvar once fired his barber because he found someone else who cut his hair for cheaper. He would also only go shopping in the afternoon when the prices of things had drastically dropped.
One famous story about his miserly ways is the story of the time he was unveiling a statue of himself in Sweden. The tale has it that instead of cutting the ribbon, Kampard untied it, folded it neatly, and handed it to the mayor of his hometown. According to the billionaire, he believed they would use it again.
However, some people claimed that instead of being seen as a miser, Kamprad was actually frugal and only lived the way he did in order to portray a different lifestyle for his company.
It was even revealed that he actually owned a Porsche and a vineyard located in Provence, France.
Kamprad Ingvar died in his sleep of pneumonia at his Smaland home in Sweden on January 27, 2018. He was 91 when he died and before his death, he willed half of his estate to projects in Norrland.
3. Warren Buffett
Warren Buffet has been a businessman and investor from 1951 to date. He is known for leading Berkshire Hathaway together with American billionaire, Charlie Munger. He was born in Omaha Nebraska on August 30, 1930.
In 2008, Buffet was ranked as the World’s richest person by Forbes and he had a net worth of $63 billion. As of the Forbes 2022 list, Buffet was placed in the 5th position with a net worth estimated to be $97 billion. He comes just after Larry Ellison whose net worth is $101 billion.
On why Warren makes this list, we see that he has been living in the same house he bought in 1958. At the time, the house cost the investor about $31,500.
Also, Mr. Buffet isn’t one to spend lavishly on meals and a lot of luxuries. He would rather eat Hamburgers and soft drinks than splurge on cuisines and vintage wines.
He did not get himself a private driver and would drive himself to work every day and would spend very little on clothes and accessories.
In fact, Warren traded his Lincoln Town Car for a 2006 Cadillac DTS, some years back.
For his second wedding, he bought the ring from a local jewelry shop in Omaha, where he lives. There are rumors that he even asked for a discount on the ring.
Making up for this, the American businessman is highly invested in philanthropy and charity work. He is involved in several charitable causes like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Although he isn’t really spending his billions on himself, he has promised to channel it to good causes.
4. Jean-Paul Getty
Jean Paul Getty was an American industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942. He was born on December 15, 1892, in Minneapolis, United States of America.
Getty’s wealth earned him a couple of notable titles including ‘Richest Living American’ by Fortune Magazine in 1957 and World’s Richest Private Citizen by the Guinness Book of Records in 1966 at that time, he was worth $1.2 billion which present time would be about $7.5 billion.
Getty was worth about $6 billion at the time of his death in 1976 and in recent conversions, he would have been worth $22 billion in 2020.
In spite of his wealth, Jean Paul Getty was notoriously a miser. He was wont to handwash his underwear by himself and his excuse was that he didn’t like the detergent the laundry used. He also excused his lack of traveling around due to fear of flying.
Despite his excuses, there was a clear instance of a time he refused to part with money despite it being of utmost importance. This was when his 16-year-old grandson was kidnapped in 1973.
The kidnappers asked for the sum of $17 million to be paid before they would release Getty’s grandson but he negotiated the amount till it dropped to $3.4 million. The businessman eventually paid the sum but his negotiation cost the young lad an ear.
According to him, if he paid the ransom for one, he would have 14 kidnapped grandchildren.
Another instance is when the billionaire installed a pay telephone in his house in order to curb the expense of family members and friends who would want to make long-distance calls.
Also, he threw a 21st birthday party for a relative’s friend in 1960. The celebration also doubled as a housewarming party for a newly acquired Sutton Place.
However, invited guests complained about the lack of provision of basic necessities such as the toilet and cigarettes. Instead, in his stinginess, Getty instructed them to use portable toilets outside the venue.
He died on June 6, 1976, of heart failure at the age of 83.
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5. Hetty Green
Saving the best for last, we have Hetty Green taking the spot of one of the richest persons the world has ever produced who lived as a miser.
She was a renowned businesswoman who was nicknamed the ‘Witch of Wall Street’ and is famous for being rich and a miser.
Hetty was born on November 21, 1834, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and was a very good and disciplined financier.
At the time, she was the only woman in the business that men owned. Because of this and how good she was, she became a fascination and had a lot of people interested in her life.
Green was probably too disciplined and this earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as a miser and cheap stake.
As for her miserly lifestyle, she is known to have never turned on the heat or used hot water. She dressed in one black dress and underwear which would only be changed when they became terribly worn out.
Despite her riches, Green rode in an old carriage and ate cheap food.
Her miserly extended to her hygiene and cleanliness as she did not wash her hands in order to save the cost of water. Rumor had it that she instructed her laundress to wash only the dirtiest parts of her clothes so as to save cost on soap.
She refused to pay for the rent of an office and carried out her business activities from the offices of the Seaboard National Bank.
Hetty was married in 1867 to Edward Henry Green and had 2 children with him named Edward Jr. and Harriet.
Her stinginess extended to her family members and her son, Edward had to have a leg amputated because she refused to get him the right medical care when needed.
Hetty insisted on getting a free clinic to tend to him, the leg got worse with each wasted day and eventually became incurable.
Above all, Hetty Green had excuses and reasons behind her miserly acts. She once claimed that just because she dressed plainly and did not spend a fortune on her gowns does not mean she is cranky or insane.
When her children were grown and left her, she moved from one small apartment to another in Brooklyn Heights. She also survived mainly on oatmeal, eggs, and onions which she would not heat up so as not to increase her spending.
Hetty Green fell ill and was diagnosed with a hernia but in her miserly habit, refused to have a surgical operation done and instead used a stick to press the swelling.
On July 3, 1916, this one-time ‘richest woman in America’ died at the age of 81 in her son’s house in New York. She left a whopping $100 million behind upon her death.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Green died of Apoplexy after arguing with the maid about how good skimmed milk was.
