I was at home with my son one night watching Tony Robbins YouTube videos when I came across this random video player, which I have no idea why I hit play right now. But after 7 minutes, I got my answer.
Have you ever dreamed of leaving a legacy for future generations? I’m sure you are, but this remarkable story about former UPS executive Ted Johnson is as supernatural as anything he’s ever read.
I am honored to share this story with you because I heard this story at the perfect time, in the perfect place in my life, and with the perfect person by your side: my 4-year-old son Zachary. I’m not much of a hockey fan, but I got the treble the night I came across this story about Ted Johnson, a superhero in his late 90s, a former UPS executive, who packed up a mountain of cold. cash turning a paltry $14,000/year salary into $70 million at retirement.
After doing my due diligence, I discovered an article published in the New York Times, October 15, 1991, which interviewed Theodore R. Johnson at his apartment in DelRay Beach, FL. Johnson was quite the blue-collar man, just striving to live a humble existence, while avoiding all the red-carpet fame and fortune that normally accompanied his “Mother Teresa”-like antics.
Johnson ended up with an investment of $70 million dollars of money for doing the right thing: paying himself first throughout his career, each and every week.
This man is the spokesman and representative of the “holy grail” of all willing savers who gave it all away. He supplemented his savings by buying as many stock options as he could in The United Parcel Service, Inc (UPS) before retiring as vice president of labor relations in 1952.
So what did he do with his $70 million you want to know? Johnson donated $36 million to various charities: he started a scholarship fund for the children of UPS employees ($7.2 million) and is responsible for the largest donation to the American Indian College Fund in the organization’s history ($3.6 millions). Ironically, Ted Johnson did not know “an Indian” personally, but thought they got a lot of “raw deals” in life.
Also receiving $3.6 million each were Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf in Washington, DC; the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, in St. Augustine, and a scholarship fund for poor children. In short, do you feel confident leaving your legacy now? Pretty amazing story if I could say so myself!