How This 92-Year-Old Became One Of America’s Top Money Managers

Forbes

At 52, Joan Payden quit her job and emptied her 401(k) to start her own money management firm. Four decades later, she is still handling investments for ultra-wealthy clients—and is one of America's richest self-made women.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2024/05/27/how-this-92-year-old-became-one-of-americas-top-money-managers/?sh=4a961d91325d  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 At 52 years old, Joan Payden quit her job and emptied her 401(k) to start her own money

00:05 management firm.

00:06 Four decades later, she is still handling investments for ultra-wealthy clients and

00:11 is one of America's richest self-made women.

00:14 Hi, everybody.

00:17 I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes.

00:19 Joining me now is my colleague, Forbes staff writer, Jemima McAvoy.

00:22 Jemima, thanks so much for coming in.

00:23 Thank you for having me.

00:25 We have an exciting conversation today.

00:27 Forbes' 2024 list of America's richest self-made women is officially out.

00:33 You are highlighting one of the oldest women on the list, a 92-year-old who made the cut,

00:38 Joan Payden.

00:39 Who is she and why is she on the list?

00:41 Yes.

00:42 Joan Payden is one of the newcomers on this year's list.

00:44 I think we have about a dozen newcomers, but she is by no means a newcomer to her industry,

00:51 which is money management.

00:52 Joan started in her 50s what is now one of the biggest private money management firms

00:57 in the United States.

00:58 It is called Payden and Riegel.

01:01 They are basically focused on fixed income strategies.

01:04 She has grown this company over 40 years, over four decades.

01:09 She at 92 is still the CEO and majority owner.

01:12 It is a $1.2 billion firm, according to our estimations.

01:18 She owns most of it.

01:19 She is one of the top money managers in the country at 92 years old, which is a pretty

01:23 big feat.

01:24 She started this firm in her 50s, but bring us back to the very start of her career.

01:30 Talk to us about that because it was really a different time.

01:33 I think at one point in your story, you highlighted that she walked in and out of 600 men, there

01:38 were about four women.

01:40 She was outnumbered by men, 600 to four.

01:42 Talk to us about the beginning.

01:43 Yes.

01:44 She has always been ahead of her time, a trailblazer, you could say.

01:49 As you said, she tells the story about how there was only a few other women out of the

01:55 600 men.

01:57 She thought that the ratio was pretty good, considering what she was used to in the field.

02:03 After a few years, she really loved the job.

02:04 She loved engineering, but there was a little bit of an industry downturn.

02:09 She and 300 of her colleagues were laid off.

02:15 By her own account, she was wandering around New York, wondering what to do with herself,

02:19 interviewing for jobs.

02:21 She got an offer from Merrill Lynch in money management at a pretty big discount from what

02:25 she was getting paid as an engineer.

02:28 She thought, "Why not?

02:29 Let's take this job."

02:30 She fell in love with money management.

02:32 Actually, what you're saying, her getting laid off ended up in the long run being the

02:36 best thing, both for her fortune and her career.

02:39 In her 40s and her 50s, she became somewhat of a trailblazer, as you're reporting.

02:44 Can you take us to that time?

02:45 Yes.

02:46 She was definitely a trailblazer.

02:47 After joining Merrill Lynch, she eventually moved to Scudder Stevens and Clark, which

02:51 was another big investment firm, where she became the first female partner.

02:56 She had to overcome a lot of obstacles to do that, because at the time, again, women

03:00 weren't necessarily afforded the same opportunities that they are today.

03:05 She recalls how every year, the partners at the firm chose who would be partner, but they

03:12 met to decide in a men's-only golf club, so she had to sit on the porch and she wasn't

03:17 allowed inside.

03:18 It took a lot longer than she felt like it should have, but she did eventually get that

03:22 role.

03:23 Then a few years later, she leaves to start her own firm, takes some of her colleagues,

03:27 and starts Payden & Riegel.

03:30 She was certainly a trailblazer in money management, as one of the first women to do that.

03:35 It's really incredible at 52, she really started this second act with her life, her career.

03:41 Talk to us about her own firm and where it went, how it grew over the next 40 years.

03:47 She had a lot of respect in the industry already, which helped with recruiting clients at first.

03:53 It was definitely fixed income isn't necessarily the sexiest investment strategy, but she apparently

03:59 is just extremely passionate about this, and her love of all things bonds really convinced

04:06 people to come to her firm.

04:09 Today it deals with some of the wealthiest people in the world, they keep their money

04:14 with her.

04:15 Central banks, pension funds, so they have a bunch of major clients, and it has $160

04:21 billion in assets under management, which is huge.

04:26 She's just grown this over 40 years, and a lot of the same people that started out are

04:31 still there today.

04:34 She has clearly created an environment that is very prosperous.

04:37 How did she do it?

04:38 When you were reporting on her, what is it about her firm that sets it apart from everyone

04:44 else?

04:47 The investment management industry is dominated by a few really big names, you probably know

04:52 like Fidelity, and there's these huge firms like BlackRock, and it's a little less personal.

05:00 So Payden & Regal is kind of a mid-sized firm, even though it does have a massive amount

05:05 of money under management.

05:07 And so from my conversations with people, what they stand out for is the personal touch,

05:12 it's a bit more of a boutique feeling is what it seems like.

05:16 And Joan has spoken about how she, for a long time, welcomed all of her clients at the door.

05:22 And, you know, she goes into the office every day, and this is her baby, and the firm is

05:29 owned by upper management, so these people have a financial incentive to make it work.

05:34 So there's just a lot more of a personal touch than I think you get with some of the other

05:38 bigger firms.

05:39 She's 92 years old, or 92 years young, rather.

05:43 She's not the oldest on the list, there is a 97-year-old.

05:47 But you would think at this age, you'd be retired.

05:50 That's not the case when it comes to Joan, talk about what she's doing.

05:53 Certainly.

05:54 So Joan is definitely nowhere near retired, and according to her representatives, has

06:00 no immediate plans to step down as CEO.

06:04 But she has been planning what she wants to do with her fortune and her legacy.

06:09 A big part of that is she attended Trinity Washington College, which is in DC, it's the

06:16 small women's college, and she's been a top donor at that school and supported it through

06:21 a pretty major transformation.

06:23 So as I mentioned, it was a women's college, a small women's college, and then when colleges

06:28 started going co-ed, the amount of people applying to the school declined, and it kind

06:33 of ended up near bankruptcy in a tough financial situation.

06:38 So the school had to figure out what to do.

06:40 So Joan was on the board of trustees, and she's a major donor to the school, which is

06:46 just a tiny, tiny little school compared to Harvard and Yale that have all this money.

06:52 Her money goes a long way.

06:53 But anyway, they decided that what they were going to do was transform to work more with

06:59 the local community in DC, and now they're a majority black school, I think majority

07:06 black and Hispanic school, 85% of students get Pell Grants, so a lot of financial aid,

07:11 it's very affordable.

07:13 And so now they're working on just making sure that as many people of color in the DC

07:18 area that want to be able to go to college but don't want insane amounts of student debt

07:23 have a place to go.

07:24 And so Joan has been a key player in this transformation, and that seems to be a big

07:30 part of her legacy and what she wants to do with her fortune.

07:34 Aside from all of those donations to higher ed, is there any other indication of what

07:39 she's going to do with her fortune?

07:43 From my conversations with people, that is her main focus.

07:45 She doesn't have any direct family members, so she doesn't have any children, so it doesn't

07:51 seem like she's going to leave it to - there's no children to leave it to, so it seems like

07:56 she wants to keep and give a significant part of it to charity.

08:02 She lives a very modest lifestyle for someone of her wealth.

08:08 We estimate her to be worth about $700 million, and you would not know that.

08:12 She doesn't really have any flashy things.

08:15 She apparently just loves her cats and working and her philanthropy.

08:21 I want you to repeat that number.

08:23 She is one of America's richest self-made women.

08:27 What is her net worth?

08:28 $700 million, according to our estimates.

08:30 Jemima, per usual, thank you so much for your reporting and our conversation.

08:34 Thank you so much.

08:35 Thank you.

08:36 Thank you.

08:37 Thank you.

08:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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