The Algorithm Age

At 15, Simon Squibb’s dad died suddenly, leaving him homeless , out of school and unable to find work. Then, he had a brainwave that turned his life around . ‘I was so desperate to get out of this situation I was in,’ he tells . ‘I walked past a big house that had a really messy garden, and thought maybe they’d pay me to tidy it a bit. So I knocked on the door saying I had a gardening company (which I didn’t) and amazingly, the guy who answered was like “alright, how much?”. ‘I just picked a number out of thin air – £200 pounds a month. Then he shook my hand and that was my first ever deal. Suddenly I was a gardener with a gardening contract.’ Fast forward three decades and that same entrepreneurial mindset has made him a millionaire , with 19 companies under his belt alongside a bestselling book, What’s Your Dream? You may know Simon from social media , where his brand of gonzo-style angel investing has earned him an army of loyal fans (who he calls d...

As a 19-year-old journalist apprentice I’m definitely lucky to be in the position I am, with a stable income and finding myself in a good place to start my career. I started the job in March and moved to London where I was fortunately able to stay with a friend of a friend under an informal renting agreement. However, this was only a temporary and now I am having to look for other places to stay, leaving me with the dilemma of whether to rent , or gather up my pennies to put down a deposit on an eye-wateringly pricey one-bedroom flat. My situation got me thinking about how I would be completely clueless as to where to even start if it wasn’t for my parents, who taught me to manage my money from a young age. When I turned 18, they encouraged me to squirrel away my not insignificant lump of cash – around £15,000 – into a stocks and shares ISA , a lifetime ISA and premium bonds , advice that has meant I am well on my way to being able to afford a deposit on a fl...