There have been many other changes during Benham's 60-year career. She went from Pressprich to Shearson Hayden Stone and then to Printon, Kane Research. Railroads today are globalizing, one of the most exciting developments of the 1990s. Railroad analysts today need a knowledge of the law and an understanding of the value of the rails' physical assets, says Benham. In addition, financing has changed, with an increasing emphasis on earnings, growth and cash flow.
More women are railroad and transportation analysts.
She believes that she set the course for women on Wall Street. A lot of firms hired women because I was a success. Wall Street, too, has changed. She laments that almost weekly there are fraudulent schemes designed by men greedy for money and power and without any sense of responsibility for those who work for them. I am a practical railroader, dealing only in finance.