Who’s Martin Lewis?
and why should you bother? - By Midori
Age: 48
Occupation: English financial journalist and broadcaster
Net Worth: around £125 million
Born & Bred: Manchester, UK
Occupation: English financial journalist and broadcaster
Net Worth: around £125 million
Born & Bred: Manchester, UK
Today’s short in our “crypto bios” category is Martin Lewis – no… not a cocktail (but that was a good guess!) but your financial adviser and (seems to be) a BitCoin activist, coming straight from Manchester, UK. Let’s get to our little insight on who the guy is and why should you even bother?
WHAT IS HE FAMOUS FOR?
Well… What are we gonna start with? The guy’s definitely had made himself a name throughout the crypto scene. First of all, he’s very well known as a money-saving expert. Ironically, he’s a founder of the Money Saving Expert website, so that definitely doubles.
Besides entrepreneurship, his other ventures include being a TV/Radio presenter, award-winning campaigning journalist, charity founder, newspaper columnist, and what-else-not.
Trivia
And for more than a decade, Martin has been helping newbies who are inexperienced in everything “financial-related” to finally come out of the dark side and start making money.
It’s also important to mention, that Martin was awarded an OBE for his charity service and advocating for consumer rights.
Martin was born in Manchester and apparently, from a young age, he already knew who he would want to become when he grew up.
This guy became famous not for empty merits, but for his expertise in the world of finance.
MONEY-SAVING GURU
Martin appeared in the various TV shows and programs, starting from the live Spotlight Programme “Save yourself a fortune” and ending with creating his own famous Moneysavingexpert.com website.
He was a Governor of the LSE (London School of Economics) before getting into journalism at Cardiff University.
After he’s finished his studies and finally graduated, Martin started working in a similar area, becoming a producer for BBC Radio.
If you are not a rookie to crypto investing (or make a living in related areas), then you have probably heard various informational insights about Martin’s possible investments in Bitcoin.
Earlier, in a previous article, we checked these claims and came to the conclusion that at the moment there is no reason to trust these rumors.
Martin Lewis
Actually, it all could’ve stayed as no more than a couple of circulating rumors, until things have gotten a more serious note, when Martin became very well-known especially for his legal battle with Facebook, as the numerous advertising offers have been published on the platform on his behalf, in order to promote investments in various crypto assets (including, well… Bitcoin).
Fortunately, everything was resolved quite peacefully and safely for both parties – the Facebook administration came up with a counteroffer to participate in the anti-fraud campaign, and Martin, in his turn, has canceled the lawsuit.
As a verdict, we have to say that despite all the circulating rumors about him, despite the huge number of people and other journalists spreading this net of rumors on the network, Martin Lewis doesn’t seem to be in any way involved in cryptocurrency trading.
Martin Lewis, hosting his own TV Show
Obviously, this does not mean that Martin is not interested in Bitcoin and crypto in general – on the contrary, considering his wealth, who else, if not this British entrepreneur, has such tremendous opportunities for a tempting asset of that kind?
Nevertheless, at the current moment, all of these rumors and claims remain to be unproven.
MONEY SAVING EXPERT
In October 2002, Martin appeared in the Meridian Trust’s (now Public Service Broadcasting Trust) live Spotlight Programme “Save yourself a fortune” on ITV Meridian as their Money Saving Expert for the first time.
The program subsequently won the Royal Television Society Educational Award – 2002 Campaigns and Seasons.
Lewis created and runs the website
MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE), which was originally designed for a cost of just £100 in February 2003.
Eventually (precisely in October 2012) he sold the website for up to £87m while remaining editor-in-chief.
The deal has made Lewis incredibly rich, with huge £35m cash upfront in addition to 22.1m shares in Moneysupermarket.com and £27m in future payments.
Later in July 2015, Lewis sold over half his shareholding, acquired in the sale of Money Saving Expert, for £25.2 million. On the back of this, he donated a further £1m to Citizens Advice and £500,000 each to The Trussell Trust and the Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG) to fund financial triage and education work. Later his charitable services and actions for consumer rights have paid off when he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours. As for his personal network is estimated at £125 million.
Before branching into broadcast journalism at Cardiff University, he also became a Governor of the London School of Economics in 2008. After graduating, he got a job in this field, grinding as a producer for BBC Radio Five Live.
Since then, the finance journalist has appeared on a number of different TV shows as a money expert.
“Saving is no longer about the markets, they’re about the playing the product game” – Martin Lewis
Whether you’re in the crypto subject or not, you probably aware of the guy anyway, hearing or reading about Lewis’ claimed “bitcoin investments and different cryptocurrency endorsements online (and on social media as well).”
We took a brief look into those investments and his steps towards cryptocurrency in general, to establish whether these claims are in fact true.
RISE TO FAME AND CONTROVERSY
After he grew in popularity for his financial advice, his figure was shared across the media and on different platforms around the world. The website has won a variety of different awards. The Times itself has reported the webpage as one of the “ten that stun with sheer insight or inspired rich media”. Soon he was invited to appear on many different talk shows to offer his expertise on the subject.
Has Martin Lewis Invested In Bitcoin?
Some reports claim that Lewis bought some significant amount of cryptocurrency (the amount of which is not yet certain) – primarily Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
Other (but quite similar) reports have also suggested that Martin has made even more significant amounts of profit off these investments and seems to be pleased with the way cryptocurrency has paid off for him.
Other (but quite similar) reports have also suggested that Martin has made even more significant amounts of profit off these investments and seems to be pleased with the way cryptocurrency has paid off for him.
Unfortunately, we cannot confirm that these claims are in fact, true, since Lewis has publicly denounced such reports and has even expressed his disappointment with the inaccuracy of said reports.
He even went further than that and in 2018 started legal action against Facebook for defamation over fake ads using his face and name, promoting “bitcoin investing” on his behalf. He later dropped the action after Facebook agreed to fund an anti-scam project.
He even went further than that and in 2018 started legal action against Facebook for defamation over fake ads using his face and name, promoting “bitcoin investing” on his behalf. He later dropped the action after Facebook agreed to fund an anti-scam project.
Well, we hope he won’t sue us.
Conclusion
Bitcoin has been on the scene for a while now (since its launching in 2009) so it’s safe to say that Lewis, being a well-established and wise entrepreneur at a time, took a closer look at this new and potentially very profitable instrument.
However, despite the fact that his name very often pops up alongside “crypto”, “bitcoin” and other trendy keywords, he doesn’t seem to be (neither he has ever proclaimed himself) a crypto expert and investor, and even if he owns a share in BTC – that’s his own business, quite an expected
piece of the puzzle, very well suiting his MONEY SAVING EXPERT-image in general. But regarding whether or not you came here for the guy’s crypto advice…
Martin Lewis is a figure too bright to be taken lightly. He remains to be a very successful entrepreneur in the first place, so if you’re looking for a solid financial consultation – we recommend you to check out his website by yourself. Thank you for reading. Stay tuned and may the force be with you.
“Naturally, I have compensated in my adult years by owning very large numbers of books.” – Martin Lewis
