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
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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
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LifestyleTranscript
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.
08:37 Thank you.
08:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]