From Spare Room to Empire
A man who left school at 16 and launched an empire from his spare room is now worth £900 million. Peter Hargreaves' multi-billion pound company all started from a flat in Bristol 42 years ago. The savvy young entrepreneur, who had trained as an accountant, launched Hargreaves Lansdown with co-founder Stephen Lansdown. By 2007, the dynamic duo had watched their business grow to an eye-watering value of £800 million. Now, the investment brokerage company is worth nearly £3 billion and Peter's stake is understood to be around a whopping £900 million.
Living Modestly
Nevertheless, humble Peter admits he doesn't like to splash the cash. He and his wife prefer a modest lifestyle, with no luxury sports cars or fancy overseas pads. His "greatest pleasure" is doing a spot of gardening outside his seven-bedroom renovated Georgian mansion, to gather vegetables used for a Sunday feast. "I like doing it because it's so different to what I do in the week," he added. As well as refraining from buying luxury items, Peter doesn't spend much time with London's fellow multimillionaires. According to the humble businessman, he finishes work at around 5.pm most days after stepping down as chief executive earlier this year. It's a short commute home, as the devoted co-founder only lives a few miles from the company's Bristol offices.
Money-Saving Philosophy
He explained he enjoys investing his money rather than splurging, with much of his income tied up in assets and trusts. And, it appears Peter applies the same money-saving philosophy to his business too. "We have never taken more out of the company than it can afford," he explained. "We have always been in a situation where we could survive for a year without any new business. And we are very cost-conscious. I still look at every purchase invoice."
From Sacked to Success
Peter's journey to success started as he trained as an accountant in the 1970s. However, it wasn't all smooth sailing and he was eventually sacked. But, he claimed this was the best thing that could have happened. "I have wanted to run my own business since my time at Clitheroe grammar school," explained Peter. "I remember thinking if I could get a penny from everyone in Britain, I would earn £208,000 a year. That set me thinking: how could I establish a business where I made a small amount of money from a huge number of people?" Peter said it was a "straight line" from that moment on. More than 50 years later, the dedicated business mogul is still clocking into work. Looking to the future, he said retirement would make him "miserable" and the process will have to unfold slowly over time.
