I was sacked by Barclays aged 21 but am now millionaire after bingeing BBC show

Chris Bunn, 35, was forced out of Barclays in his early 20s and "vowed to never be at the mercy of a job loss again".
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


A man who was sacked from his job at Barclays at age 21 is now a "millionaire" aged 35 after bingeing a BBC show. Chris Bunn, 35, was forced out of Barclays in his early 20s and "vowed to never be at the mercy of a job loss again".

Mr Bunn lost his job at Barclays in his early 20s and began a series of side hustles. He began to buy popular branded trainers and sell them online for double the price at a time when the industry "wasn't as big as it is now".

Chris then sold his side hustle for £10,000 before setting up a digital marketing company in 2014. In 2018 he sold that company to a Swedish tech firm for £350,000 and told the Telegraph: "I was sat on a big lump of money and, for a long time, I’d been watching Homes Under The Hammer.

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“One day, I was on Rightmove and saw a house close by that was quite run-down. It had been on the market for ages, so I put in a silly offer.” Chris offered £108,000 and it was accepted because he was a cash buyer and could complete quickly.

He spent £28,000 doing it up, later selling it for £185,000 and Chris realised flipping properties "has a bit of legs". Chris has 15 properties, all rented out, and a portfolio worth £2.8million - with £1.7million is equity and the rest mortgaged.

“They aren’t necessarily run down, but they are always discounted in some way so I can add a bit of value," he said. He explained: “With one property, the seller needed the money quickly, so he gave me a 30pc discount. The property was rentable from day one. A year later, I remortgaged and it was worth a lot more.”

“We did have a couple of two-beds, but we realised that the turnover of tenants was more frequent… In two years, we had three or four tenants and it cost us each time to re-let them, so we sold them," he went on.