He put $1,000 into one drugstore stock in the 1940s and never sold — it became $2.1 million
4 min read · RealCase summary
Russ Gremel, a Chicago-based WWII and Korean War veteran who went on to practice law, put roughly $1,000 into Walgreen stock around 1947. He retired from his legal career at 45 and lived in the same home for nine decades, saving at least 10 percent of every paycheck and putting it into 10 to 12 dividend-paying companies, Walgreen among them.
His thesis was simple: "people would always need medicine and women would always buy makeup." He held the position through roughly 70 years of stock splits, which turned his original shares into about 28,000 shares by the time he was done.
By 2016, the position was generating about $42,000 a year in dividend income, and Gremel calculated his annualized return at roughly 11.5 percent compounded over the seven decades he held it. He donated the shares, worth $2.1 million, to a wildlife refuge in 2016-2017.
"You're not going to die at 70 years of age and say, 'what if?'" he said of the decision to keep the position for as long as he did, rather than cash out early.
Key takeaways
- ›Bought $1,000 of Walgreens stock roughly 70 years ago and held it without ever selling
- ›Reinvested every dividend check instead of spending it, letting the position compound on itself
- ›Final donated value: $2.1 million, plus $42,000 a year in dividend income near the end
Original source
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