3 ideas
Hetty Green inherited a New Bedford whaling fortune and grew it by buying railroad bonds, real estate, and government debt. She kept large cash reserves at Chemical Bank, and when the Panic of 1907 froze credit, she was one of the few lenders with money available. She lent millions, including over a million dollars to New York City, on her own terms. She died in 1916 as the richest woman in America, with an estate usually estimated at $100–200 million.
Hold idle cash and avoid leverage during booms, even though this means accepting low returns and looking foolish. When a panic comes, overextended holders must sell assets or borrow at any price, and the cash-rich party can set prices and interest rates. The return comes less from picking assets than from being solvent when others are not.
Behavior the public labels eccentric stinginess can be the visible surface of a consistent capital strategy. Refusing to spend, avoiding debt, and keeping cash on hand are what make countercyclical buying possible. Contemporaries, and a press inclined to caricature a woman financier as the 'Witch of Wall Street', judged the lifestyle and missed the method.