For many Brits, Martin Lewis is the go-to expert for all things money-saving and personal finance, with his accessible advice coming as a godsend to countless families navigating the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Just this week, during an energy special of his Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV, the 52-year-old money whizz helped one grateful household save £454 on their annual energy bill following a five-minute comparison online.
Money Saving Expert Martin, whose OBE was upgraded to a CBE in 2022, has undoubtedly helped thousands of people through his financial expertise, as well as his dedicated charity work, which has previously seen him raise an astonishing £4 million for the Coronavirus Poverty Emergency Fund.
Behind the scenes, Manchester-born Martin knows the ups and downs of life all too well. He's now happily married to television presenter Lara Lewington, 45, with whom he shares his 'mini MSE' daughter, Sapphire Susan Lewis, born in 2012. However, his family life was once far from idyllic, with a terrible tragedy casting a dark shadow over his teenage years. Despite it all, determined Martin has managed to live a life filled with success, with his career going from strength to strength...
As a teen, Martin studied government and law at the London School of Economics before doing a postgraduate in broadcast journalism at Cardiff University. His first media job was working as a producer for the BBC's business unit, but it was on digital start-up channel Simply Money that he debuted his Money Saving Expert persona. When the channel went bust in 2001, he was given a Money Saving Expert slot on Open House with Gloria Hunniford, and it is around that time that he is said to have started sending a regular email to friends titled Martin's Money Tips.
According to BBC Radio 4's Profiles segment, his friends started passing it on to their friends, and as demand grew, he decided to set up his own platform. In 2003, he launched his hugely successful website, MoneySavingExpert.com, for just £100 with only himself as staff. In 2012 he sold it to the Money Supermarket Group for £87million, £10million of which he set aside for charity.
He remained as editor-in-chief and later as executive chair, and according to The Sunday Times rich list 2021, he now has a net worth of a staggering £123million. And his achievements are astonishing given the terrible tragedy that befell Martin and his family when he was just 11 years old.
Of the earth-shattering event, he told Radio 4: "Three days before my 12th birthday, I went to Sunday school - or Jewish Sunday school as it was - someone strange picked me up, and when I got home, I was told mum had been horse-riding with my sister and there had been an accident involving a lorry. The next day, my dad told me she had died the next morning - and that was the end of my childhood. I cried every day until I was 15.".
The heartbreak drove Martin into seclusion for most of his teenage years, and good friend Kerry Perkins - who he met at uni - said he would never be the same again. "But I think he would be the first to admit that it was the making of him in many ways because he has that drive from losing his mum and wanting so much to prove that he could do everything for her," she said. "I know she's always with him even though she isn't actually present in his life any more.".
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