Distasteful truth about arrogant Martin Lewis: He’s the most trusted man on TV but this is how he’s built himself a huge fortune while giving you tips that will never make you rich… and betrayal he’s desperate to hide

People’s champion. The bane of corporate shysters. The savior of the country’s piggy banks.

If there’s one man who believes in self-promotion, it’s Martin Lewis, the self-described “Money Saving Expert”.

But the harsh truth is that if ever one man has done more than anyone else to hold back Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit and thereby turn us into a gold-grabbing society, it is him.

Thanks to countless media appearances and a hugely influential website – it claims to have 16 million monthly visitors, with 14 million signing up for its regular newsletter – countless Britons have swallowed what you might call the Lewis Doctrine. This suggests that the way to manage your finances is to spend endless hours trying to find a cheaper car insurance deal, turning credit card balances into short-lived zero percent deals, or scrolling through charts comparing pathetic interest rates on bank savings accounts.

You can’t call it bad advice because it will save people a tenner here and a tenner there. But this is a fundamentally negative mindset. The simple truth is this: No one gets rich by saving.

And hoarding cash in high street savings accounts does little to stimulate the economy. It’s the next worst thing to stuffing banknotes under the pillow, especially at a time when most banks pay less than the rate of inflation.

But despite this, Lewis carefully preserved his reputation as something of a saint among monetary experts. In fact, a recent poll suggested he was the most trusted name in television after Sir David Attenborough. Frankly, you’d have a better chance of making a fortune by giving your money to one of Attenborough’s gorillas to invest it on your behalf in the stock market, rather than following Lewis’ miserly advice.

Of course, it’s important to be careful for those who are truly vulnerable. Those who have almost nothing cannot afford to lose what little they have; Those who have debts can benefit from advice on how to pay them off. Likewise, retirees who cannot afford to take big risks with the nest eggs that should last them into old age would be wise to approach the stock market with hesitation. Everyone, even the richest, should have a ‘cushion’ to avoid having to sell their assets when they need money urgently.

But excessive caution is destructive when applied to the entire country. Margaret Thatcher understood this very well and sparked a boom by encouraging people to invest in the groundbreaking ‘Tell Sid’ share-buying campaign of the 1980s. But Thatcherism has become a dirty word. With his platform, Lewis can do a lot to reinvigorate these values, especially when it comes to investing.

If Lewis were a true investment guru, he’d tell you that almost anything is better than playing it safe. Let’s imagine that in 1965 a kind relative put aside £100 for you. If this money had gone into an ordinary bank or building society savings account it would be worth £1,500 today (though crucially it would almost certainly have lost value after inflation).

In gilts (British government bonds) it would be around £2,800. Corporate bonds issued by companies may currently be worth £9,200, while in bullion they could be worth around £12,000, thanks to the rise in gold prices.

But if that £100 had gone into stocks and shares, vulgar, volatile stocks in which dividends are constantly reinvested, how much do you think you’d be sitting on now?

Answer: More than £40,000.

This is not because stocks are ‘safe’. And not because they’re smooth. But because they represent ownership of productive enterprise rather than a careful hoarding of cash.

Prudence will never multiply your money. At best, it protects him, even if only in the short term. But history has shown that stocks are a wealth-creating machine. Cash may protect you from disaster, but stocks build civilizations.

The irony, of course, is that all these little tips from Martin Lewis worked. he He is a very rich man indeed. Ten years after launching the Money Tips service, which has now become its own website giant, he sold the platform to moneysupermarket.com while retaining his leading role as ‘Chief Executive’ in a deal estimated to earn him £100 million. He keeps plastering his face all over the website.

The site profits from financial ‘affiliations’ through its links; This means that most of the clicks users make to open a new bank account or buy a new iPhone make money for the monetization expert.

What I find really distasteful is his presence on television, where, as I said, his ego pops up like a hot stock.

On Monday Lewis was on the set of Good Morning Britain to confront Tory leader Kemi Badenoch over student loans.

Martin Lewis represents the worst British attitude to money, writes Will Nutting

He was on the set of Good Morning Britain on Monday to confront Tory leader Kemi Badenoch over student loans, looming over her and intimidating her in a manner that was rude, arrogant and a valuable indicator of his grandiose view of himself.

He heckled Kemi, literally belittling her, gesticulating like a teacher losing patience with a slow child: ‘If you want to help middle-income students, the most important thing is the repayment threshold.’

When she tried to answer he spoke to her as if he didn’t know anything. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more egregious example of ‘man-splaining’; Yelling at a woman as if she can’t understand what a man knows. The rudeness and authority were extraordinary.

To be fair, he later apologized. And Kemi is more than capable of taking care of herself. But he’s also the Leader of the Opposition, for God’s sake.

This is what happens when people stay on TV for too long; They start to believe their own nonsense (and I could use a much stronger word). I remembered how Jamie Oliver barracked Tony Blair in Downing Street while campaigning for school meals in 2005 and told the then prime minister that his policies were ‘a bit soggy’.

Who do these people think they are? Oliver is a chef, while Lewis is essentially an influencer. But they act as if they should rule the country.

The student loans point is very important. Lewis seems anxious to forget that not so long ago he was actively encouraging young people to take them outside. He even went so far as to call for student loans to be rebranded as ‘graduate contribution’ in 2012, thus trying to avoid portraying them for what they are: plain, painful debt.

He has now changed his attitude. But it is too late for countless graduates who are tens of thousands of pounds underwater, unable to keep up with spiraling interest payments and stymied in their efforts to acquire property or start a family. Typical repayments for those starting university between 2012 and 2022 now swallow up 9 per cent of graduates’ income, above a puny threshold of around £28,500.

Now is the time for Martin Lewis to be honest with his flock and tell them that frugality is not the same as wealth. If you have ambitions of becoming rich one day, don’t listen to Martin Lewis.

Will Nutting is the founder and CEO of Nutstuff, a no-nonsense investing newsletter read by leading fund managers and investment advisors.