• A secretary bought three shares of her company's stock for $60 each in 1935.
• Grace Groner reinvested her dividends for 75 years, and her stake ballooned to $7.2 million.
• Her employer, Abbott, shared Groner's story in a recent website post.

A secretary paid $180 in 1935 for three shares of her employer's stock. By the time she died in 2010, her investment had mushroomed to $7.2 million.

Abbott, a pharmaceutical company, gave a shout-out to the former employee in a recent post on its website.

"As we celebrate 101 years of dividend payouts, we're remembering one of the earliest Abbott investing success stories, that of Grace Groner, who worked as a secretary at Abbott for over 40 years," the post reads.

"In 1935, Groner bought three shares of Abbott stock for $60 each. She consistently reinvested her dividend payments and quietly amassed a $7.2 million fortune. Groner passed away in 2010, at the age of 100, and it was only then that her multimillion-dollar estate was discovered."

She gifted her entire fortune to a foundation she'd established in support of her alma mater, Lake Forest College. She earmarked the money to finance internships, international study, and service projects for students.

Groner hung onto her Abbott shares for over 75 years without selling a single one, despite several stock splits, and used her dividends to bolster her stake.

She was likely able to leave her nest egg intact for so long because of her simple lifestyle. She lived in a one-bedroom house, bought her clothes at rummage sales, and didn't own a car, the Chicago Tribune reported in 2010.

Her shares would be worth north of $28 million today, excluding dividends, given that Abbott's stock price has roughly quadrupled since 2010. The drugmaker's market value has risen to around $200 billion, meaning it now rivals Disney, PepsiCo, and Morgan Stanley in size.

• Billionaire investor Ray Dalio wants people to give charity gift cards instead of material gifts.
• Recipients can decide which charity they want the money to go to.
• An expert in billionaire philanthropy said it could be good for wealthy people who donate to charity anyway.

Wall Street billionaire Ray Dalio is asking you to consider ditching buying gifts and instead give charity cards.

His "#RedefineGifting" campaign encourages his followers to give charity gift cards to their loved ones and request them in return.

Since 2020, Dalio, who founded Bridgewater Associates, has partnered with the nonprofit TisBest to give away 90,000 charity gift cards worth $5 million. The purchaser decides the amount, and the recipient chooses one of the 1.8 million US-registered charities on Tisbest's platform to donate the money.

"The shopping season has begun — a month-long compulsion to buy something, for everyone. We're pressed. We're stressed. And we waste time and money on gifts that might have little meaning," Dalio posted on X.

"Consider giving people donations to their favorite charities. And request that they give a donation to your favorite charity," he added.

A November Gallup poll found that US shoppers plan to spend an average of more than $1,000 on gifts this year for Christmas and other holidays.

Dalio has said in previous posts that he's given charity gift cards to his friends and colleagues for more than 10 years and has enjoyed learning about their favorite charities.

Dalio has pitched the "infectiously joyous and healthy" cards as simpler, easier, and different from material gifts that might be unwanted.

But charity cards may not go down well with those who — struggling financially amid historic inflation and heightened interest rates — would prefer a material gift.

Hans Peter Schmitz, a North Carolina State University professor researching billionaire philanthropy, told Business Insider that gift cards seemed a particularly good idea for wealthy people who might donate to charities anyway.

He advised ensuring everyone was on the same page and giving a more conventional gift alongside a card to avoid disappointing the recipient.

"It may be best to first ask and agree with family and friends that this is what everyone wants," Schmitz said. "It may also be worthwhile adding such a charitable gift along with something more personal."

"Any gift should still signify a personal connection and express more than just an expected transaction," he added.

• Warren Buffett said he would gift Berkshire stock worth $1.2 billion to family foundations.
• The investor also wrote a mini letter to shareholders running to almost 1,500 words.
• Buffett spoke about his estate planning, his children, his luck in life, and philanthropy.

Warren Buffett surprised shareholders on Monday with a near-1,500-word letter alongside his usual Thanksgiving gift to four of his family's foundations.

The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO said he would shortly convert 1,600 of his Class A shares into 2.4 million Class B shares, worth about $1.2 billion.

He pledged to distribute 1.5 million of those shares to The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation — named after his late wife — and 300,000 shares to each of his three kids' foundations: The Sherwood Foundation, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation.

Buffett picked more trustees to share his wealth

In his unexpected missive to Berkshire shareholders, Buffett said the gifts would reduce his personal stockpile to 206,363 A shares, worth $149 billion. He's now given away 56.6% of his shares since pledging 99% of them to good causes in 2006.

The "Oracle of Omaha" said he and his late wife owned 508,998 A shares at the time of her death in 2004.

All else being equal, if Buffett still owned all those shares they'd be worth $367 billion, making him the world's richest man and wealthier than Elon Musk, who's worth $348 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Buffett said his late wife's estate was worth about $3 billion, and 96% of that went into the pair's foundation. She bequeathed $10 million to their three children — Howard, Susie, and Peter — which was "the first large gift we had given to any of them," he said.

"These bequests reflected our belief that hugely wealthy parents should leave their children enough so they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing," Buffett wrote.

The legendary stock picker reiterated his comments earlier this year that he now believes his kids are ready to handle the vast responsibility of distributing his Berkshire shares, which make up 99.5% of his wealth.

But he acknowledged that his children, now in their late 60s and early 70s, might be unable to deploy his fortune before they die. "And tomorrow's decisions are likely to be better made by three live and well-directed brains than by a dead hand," Buffett wrote.

"As such, three potential successor trustees have been designated. Each is well known to my children and makes sense to all of us. They are also somewhat younger than my children," Buffett said, adding those individuals are "on the waitlist" and he hoped his children disbursed all his assets.

The reality of philanthropy

Buffett explained why the foundation that holds his wealth after he dies will require a unanimous vote for every action it takes. The investor said his children will be inundated by requests and the policy will help ensure the money is used wisely. Also, when one says "no" to a request for a gift, they can prevent follow-up asks by firmly saying their siblings would never approve it.

The billionaire also offered some advice on passing down wealth.

"I have one further suggestion for all parents, whether they are of modest or staggering wealth," he said. "When your children are mature, have them read your will before you sign it."

Involving them in the process will ensure they understand your logic and their post-mortem responsibilities, Buffett said.

Spreading the luck

In the letter — which was curt compared to Buffett's famous annual letter, which ran over 6,000 words this year and has previously exceeded 13,000 words — Buffett reflected on how lucky he was to be born in the US as a white male. He noted that his two sisters, Doris and Bertie, grew up with fewer opportunities than him.

Buffett said he felt confident he'd be rich early in his life, but he never dreamed of the wealth that has become attainable in the US in recent decades.

"It has been mind-blowing — beyond the imaginations of Ford, Carnegie, Morgan or even Rockefeller," he said. "Billions became the new millions."

Buffett said that "the real action from compounding takes place in the final twenty years of a lifetime. By not stepping on any banana peels, I now remain in circulation at 94 with huge sums in savings — call these units of deferred consumption — that can be passed along to others who were given a very short straw at birth."

The investor said he and both his wives believed in equal opportunity at birth and didn't find conspicuous consumption to be "admirable," and he was pleased so many of his shareholders have gifted their wealth to society.

Buffett added that his children shared his and his siblings' values and while they're "comfortable financially," they're not "preoccupied by wealth. Their mother, from whom they learned these values, would be very proud of them. As am I."

• Dolly Parton has an estimated net worth of $450 million, according to Forbes.
• Her music catalog is worth about $150 million, but her Dollywood theme parks are her biggest asset.
• She's given over 100 million books to children and donated $1 million toward the Moderna vaccine.

Dolly Parton is one of country music's biggest superstars. She's also a philanthropist who has given away millions to fund children's literacy and public health initiatives.

Parton's many accolades include spots in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Living Legends Medal from the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center Honors, a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, and 11 Grammys.

With ventures like the Dollywood theme park and a line of Duncan Hines cake mixes, Parton is worth an estimated $450 million, Forbes reported. Here's how she makes and spends her fortune.

Dolly Parton skyrocketed to country superstardom with songs like "Jolene" and "9 to 5."

Dolly Parton wrote her first song at age 5 and played her first show at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry at 13. She released her debut album, "Hello I'm Dolly," in 1967.

About one third of her fortune comes from her music catalog, which is worth an estimated $150 million, Forbes reported.

Parton has released over 50 studio albums and achieved 26 No.1 hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. She has also lent her songwriting talents to other artists, such as Whitney Houston's megahit "I Will Always Love You."

Parton still owns nearly all of the publishing rights to her music, reportedly earning between $6 million and $8 million in royalties every year.

When her contract with Combine Music expired in 1966, Parton founded her own publishing company with her uncle and then-manager Bill Owens, according to her official website.

This has allowed her to maintain the publishing rights to almost all of her music and receive a publishing fee anytime one of her songs is played on the radio or used in film or TV, Forbes reported in 2021.

Dollywood, her theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is her biggest financial asset.

In 1986, Parton partnered with the existing Silver Dollar City theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, to remodel and rebrand it as Dollywood. She grew up less than 10 miles away, in Sevierville, Tennessee.

"I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, that I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area," Parton told the Associated Press in 2010. "Sure enough, I was lucky, and God was good to me and things happened good. We started the park and 25 years later, we're still at it."

The park spans 160 acres in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Parton's 50% stake in the theme park is worth about $165 million, Forbes estimated in 2021.

Dollywood remains the top tourist attraction in Tennessee with around 3 million visitors each year, according to CBS affiliate WVLT. A one-day adult ticket costs $92.

Her shares in Dollywood's Splash Country water park are worth an estimated $20 million.

Opened in 2001, the 35-acre water park is located next to Dollywood. It operates seasonally, from May to September.

Parton also co-owns the DreamMore Resort and Spa with a stake worth $15 million.

The 20-acre hotel features a shuttle to and from Dollywood and pieces of Dolly Parton memorabilia.

A chestnut "Dream Box" displayed in a glass case on the hotel's lower level contains a recording of "My Place In History," a song Parton wrote to be released on her 100th birthday in 2046.

Her lines of housewares, Duncan Hines cake mixes, and "Doggy Parton" pet apparel provide additional revenue streams.

Parton's colorful collection of cookware and home decor is available at stores like Kohl's and JCPenney.

Her "Doggy Parton" pet gear, including bandanas, wigs, and toys, is available on Amazon, and a portion of sales support Willa B. Farms animal rescue.

After releasing two Duncan Hines cake mixes in 2022, the singer expanded the line to include mixes for corn bread, brownies, and biscuits along with her coconut- and banana-pudding cakes.

Parton purchased the Brentwood, Tennessee, home she shares with husband Carl Dean for $400,000 in 1999.

The grounds of the 3,324-square-foot home include a tennis court, swimming pool, garden, and barns for livestock, the Daily Express reported.

In an interview published in the 2017 book "Dolly on Dolly," Parton said that she and Dean would take pictures of Southern mansions in Mississippi on their annual anniversary trip and note features they wanted to incorporate into their eventual dream home.

"I knew that house before it was built and I built it long before we could afford it 'cause I knew we'd be able to — someday," she wrote, according to an excerpt published in The New York Post. "I scouted all over Tennessee for a piece of land with hills in front and a stream around it. It's got a bitty bridge, and I made sure it's just narrow enough so's no tour bus can git over it. Carl and me can walk around stark naked there and nobody'd see. We have chickens and cows and a vegetable garden. It's a quiet, homey place for me and the special people in my life."

It's a far cry from her roots: Parton grew up in a two-room log cabin with her parents and 11 siblings in Sevierville. The cabin had no electricity or running water, but Parton remembered her years there fondly in her 1973 song "My Tennessee Mountain Home."

Dollywood features a replica of her childhood home built by her brother, Bobby, and furnished by her mother, Avie Lee.

While she wears elaborate bedazzled outfits for public appearances and performing onstage, Parton is more frugal when it comes to her everyday clothes.

In a 2020 appearance on the Scandinavian talk show "Skavlan," Parton said she buys most of her clothes off the rack and doesn't splurge on designer items.

"I really like to earn money, but I love to spend it, too. But I spend it on things that I feel like that's needed," she said. "I'm not the kind of person that will go out and spend like three or four thousand dollars on a coat or one outfit."

She added that the steep price tags on expensive items make her think of her parents, who "could have fed a family of 12 on what I would pay for a coat." 

Parton is renowned for her generous charity work through The Dollywood Foundation, which she founded in 1988.

"I just give from my heart," she said in a speech while accepting the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2022. "I never know what I'm going to do or why I'm gonna do it. I just see a need and if I can fill it, then I will."

She gives away around 2 million books to children each month through the foundation's Imagination Library.

Parton founded her Imagination Library in 1995, inspired by her father's struggles with literacy. The nonprofit sends free books to children from birth through age 5 each month.

"This actually started because my father could not read and write and I saw how crippling that could be," she told the Associated Press in 2022. "My dad was a very smart man. And I often wondered what he could have done had he been able to read and write."

She continues to invest in her hometown, funding a new medical center and scholarships for students in her old high school.

LeConte Medical Center opened in 2010 with the help of Parton's philanthropy and fundraising. She also funded its Dolly Parton Center for Women's Services and Dolly Parton Birthing Unit.

The Dollywood Foundation offers $15,000 scholarships to five high school seniors in Sevier County, Tennessee, and covers college tuition and books for its theme-park employees, CBS News reported.

Her $1 million gift to Vanderbilt University in 2020 proved integral to the development of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine.

A report in the New England Journal of Medicine on the development of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine acknowledged the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund among supporters of the research.

Parton qualified to get the vaccine she helped fund in Tennessee in early February 2021, but she said she wanted to wait "until some more people" got theirs.

"I don't want it to look like I'm jumping the line just because I donated money," she told the Associated Press. "I'm very funny about that."

In a video of her getting the vaccine in March 2021, Parton sang a rendition of her hit song "Jolene," changing the lyrics to sing "vaccine, vaccine," and encouraged everyone to go get vaccinated as soon as possible.

In October, Parton donated a total of $2 million toward Hurricane Helene relief.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm on September 26, flooding neighborhoods and leaving over 1 million homes and businesses without power.

At an October 4 press conference in Newport, Tennessee, Parton announced that she planned to donate $1 million from her personal fortune to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene and an additional $1 million through her businesses such as Dollywood and Dolly Parton's Stampede.

"I can't stand to see anyone hurting, so I wanted to do what I could to help after these terrible floods," she said.

She continued, "I hope we can all be a little bit of light in the world for our friends, our neighbors — even strangers — during this dark time they are experiencing."