Who is your financial hero?
Sallie Krawcheck, former head of Smith Barney and former CFO of Citigroup. She was a powerful player on Wall Street, with a reputation for honesty and fairness that caused friction with other members of top management during the 2008 financial crisis.
She understands that women invest differently and is now CEO of Ellevest, an investment app for American women. She is also the president of Ellevate, a global community of women committed to advancing and promoting gender equality in the workplace.
Like Sallie, I also started out as an equity analyst, seeing firsthand how brilliant, capable women in the field had to work twice as hard as their male counterparts and were often brushed off as “too nice” for senior management. Sallie is working to fix that and I applaud her.
How do you prefer to spend your free time?
I am lucky enough to live in a place that has both forests and oceans, so I spend as much time as possible in both.
My dog and I go out first every morning and last every night – rain or shine. I love to see the angle of the sun change in the fall, when it starts to move behind the mountains. In winter we have two waterfalls on either side to listen to. In the spring, the falls subside and the jump-eyed frogs emerge. The winter clouds part and the stars begin to shine brighter. In the summer, darkness is so short that it’s hard to even know when to sleep.
Wherever I live, I need to be near something fresh and green, even if it’s just a myriad of potted plants on a patio in the center of an apartment.
If money were no object, what would you do now?
I can tell you I wouldn’t sit on a beach with a drink in my hand. I am someone who always wants to achieve something. I want to make a difference in my community, so I would probably use the capital to expand my business so I can hire more employees and hopefully enrich their lives and that of their families. I want to support the performing arts, so I would also start a foundation.
What was your first memory of money?
I remember being eight years old going door to door alone, my mother watching closely from the car, selling candy for my Campfire Girls troop. I think the troop member who sold the most won some prize. I don’t remember if I won the prize or not, but I will never forget the thrill of receiving cash for something as simple as introducing myself to people and asking them if I have something they would like. I made more than my mother did that day at her secretary job.
This post Glory Gray Shares Her Big Money Lesson & How She Made More Money Than Her Mom By Age 8
was original published at “https://www.moneysense.ca/columns/my-moneysense/glory-gray/”
