The Generosity of a Reformed Stockpicker

“After trying and failing to pick stock winners himself,” a retired ophthalmologist in Washington, D. C., “made his fortune by investing in the funds in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.”

Unmarried and living modestly, the retiree has used the fruits of his investing for philanthropy, dispensing millions to area charities. He agreed to tell his story to The Washington Post “to encourage others to invest wisely, research thoroughly and support those doing good work that will make a difference in peoples’ lives.”

Will the publicity cause the wise indexer to be inundated with requests for handouts? Not likely. He says he “would never donate to an institution that approached him first.”