Burger van owner amasses £9m online investment fund (2024)

A burger van owner is considering hanging up his apron after making a £9million while trading stocks and shares online.

Stephen Bliss, 34, manages his trading fund at night from his home in Redcar using the social platform eToro.

During the day, he can be found at The Sizzling Griddle off the A174, providing truckers with hot tea and bacon rolls.

Stephen Bliss, 34, manages an online investment portfolio worth more than £9 million

During 2016, Mr Bliss's fund increased in value by almost 792 per cent according to his page on eToro which has been tracking all his trades since he first joined the network

Mr Bliss, pictured, is considering quitting his burger van and trading online full time

However, with a projected six-figure profit for 2018, he now wants to trade online full time.

He has been trading on eToro since 2014, although he admitted it was a steep learning curve losing almost half of his original £3,000 investment.

He said trading stocks and shares online is easy.

He said: 'You can open practice accounts and trade with virtual currency. I didn’t want to start throwing real money at it and end up losing it all.

'About two years in, I got the hang of it and started feeling confident. I put some real money in, about £3,000 and lost about half of it.

'They say never trade with money you can’t afford to lose but losing that was a bit of a blow.

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'After that, I went back to a virtual account and saved up more cash.

'You find, when you transition to trading properly, your mentality changes and it affects the way you trade.

'You’ll take positions that are in profit too quickly, when they start going the wrong way you tend to hold it longer,

'You have to take all emotions out of it. It was a big learning curve.'

He said anyone planning to trade online should educate themselves before committing funds into the venture.

Almost 7,000 people have invested money in Mr Bliss's online fund

During the day, Mr Bliss charges £2.50 for a 1/4lb burger, but at night he earns commission from the thousands of people who are following his investment fund on eToro

He described the eToro network as 'a little bit like Facebook', where you can invest money in top traders and let them make the decisions. Currently, almost 7,000 people have invested in Mr Bliss's fund which has a value of $12.75 million - £9 million.

He said: 'I’ve got about 6,600 people investing their money in me.

'I don’t let it affect me now. But when I first reached $1m I thought "wow".

'I’m bombarded with people’s queries, it’s every minute; responding takes up a lot of time, but we were asked to go to London and a Q&A live stream which helps.

Mr Bliss even accepts bitcoin in his burger van on the side of the A174

'I enjoy making money for other people. A guy messaged me saying he invested £60,000, I got it up to £200,000 and he messaged me to say he’s just gone on a trip around Malaysia with his mates on a Harley Davidson and wanted to thank me.'

The commission Mr Bliss has earned from the site amounts to six figures this year.

'I really enjoy learning about it, the returns are far greater than what you get from putting money in a bank account.

'Every year has been positive, I’ve returned 935 per cent this year which is significant, but I don’t expect to do that every year. My target is 5 per cent, which is a bit more realistic.

'Now I want to step back from the catering business and focus on the trading full-time.

'We get our regulars; a few have even invested so they pop in and we chat about it; it’s amazing how many people are starting to do it.'

How Stephen Bliss makes his money trading on eToro

Stephen Bliss has 6,600 people following his trades on the eToro online network, each investing a minimum of $100.

Investors can follow multiple traders by putting a minimum of $100 into their funds.

Etoro pays traders such as Mr Bliss a bonus for the number of people who follow them.

When Mr Bliss makes a trade, each of the people following him make the same trade automatically - paying him a commission.

The investors see the price of their fund increase or decrease to the same extent as Mr Bliss.

However, as a result of his success, the fund managed by Mr Bliss has increased to £9 million.

Mr Bliss believes he will receive commission worth six figures over the next twelve months, allowing him to step back from his catering business.

Stephen Bliss, pictured, makes a commission from each of the 6,600 people who follow his investment strategy online using the eToro trading platform

Burger van owner amasses £9m online investment fund (2024)

FAQs

Is $10 million enough to retire at 55? ›

Even when retiring early, $10 million should make your retirement years quite comfortable. By making sure you prepare for factors you can't control—like inflation, medical surprises and taxes—you can clock out for good at 50 without any worries.

How much does Dave Ramsey say you should invest? ›

Ramsey's recommendation, which he shared on his website Ramsey Solutions, is to invest 15% of your gross income into your 401(k) and IRA every month. There's a good reason you should invest 15% of your income. The math breaks down as follows. According to Ramsey, the median U.S. household income is about $70,800.

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With $8 million in savings, even a modestly invested portfolio can generate enough money to live a very comfortable life indefinitely. Of course, that's all relative as the amount of money you need in retirement is going to vary based on an individual's life choices and desires.

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Imagine you're retiring at 50 years old with $20 million in the bank. Even if the money generated little interest or even none at all, you could afford to withdraw $500,000 per year for the next 40 decades. That means you could spend nearly $42,000 each month for 40 years if you live to 90.

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If your money is uninvested and just sitting in cash, you should plan on saving at least $2.1 million, as that will fund your withdrawals through age 90. But if you invest your money at a 5% annual return — increasing annual withdrawals by 3% to account for inflation — you'll need to save only about $1.5 million.

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$10 million can currently generate about $350,000 a year in risk-free income and up to $470,000 in low-risk income based on today's interest rates and yields. With $350,000+ in income, you should be able to live a wonderful life, especially if you don't have debt.

What happens if you save $100 dollars a month for 40 years? ›

According to Ramsey's tweet, investing $100 per month for 40 years gives you an account value of $1,176,000. Ramsey's assumptions include a 12% annual rate of return, which some critics have labeled as optimistic given that the long-term average annual return of the S&P 500 index is closer to 10%.

Is $100 a month good for retirement? ›

Based on the same parameters above, you'd save approximately $327,161 by age 65 if you put away $100 a month with a 3% partial employer match of your salary.

Is $100 a month good for an IRA? ›

If you're focused on long-term growth, investing $100 each month could be a good move for you. Many people invest through an IRA account. Check out our list of the best IRA accounts to learn more about how these investment accounts function.

What is considered wealthy at retirement? ›

To be considered wealthy at age 65 or older, you need a household net worth of $3.2 million, according to finance expert Geoffrey Schmidt, CPA, who used data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) to determine the household net worth needed at age 65 or older to determine the various percentiles of wealth in ...

What is a good net worth at 65? ›

Typical Net Worth at Retirement
Age RangeMedian Net WorthAverage Net Worth
55-64$212,500$1,175,900
65-74$266,400$1,217,700
75+$254,800$977,600
Oct 5, 2023

How much do most people retire with? ›

Average retirement savings balance by age
Age groupAverage retirement savings balance amount
45-54$313,220.
55-64$537,560.
65-74$609,230.
75 and older$462,4100.
2 more rows
May 7, 2024

What does Suze Orman say about early retirement? ›

"If you don't have at least $5 million or $10 million, don't retire early," Suze asserted. Orman's assertion that individuals need "at least $5 million to retire early" stirred a mix of reactions, with some viewing it as excessively cautious while others validate her perspective.

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Putting that much aside could make it easier to live your preferred lifestyle when you retire, without having to worry about running short of money. However, not a huge percentage of retirees end up having that much money. In fact, statistically, around 10% of retirees have $1 million or more in savings.

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According to a 2020 working paper from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, the top 1% of retirees—which a retiree with $4 million in assets would fall into—can expect to pay about 22.7% in state and federal taxes.

How much should a 55 year old retire with? ›

On average, you'll need to have saved $1,051,814 to retire at 55 years old. This is based on the median earnings of Americans according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' October 2023 Current Population Survey in weekly earnings.

How many people have 10 million dollars? ›

The Global Millionaire Population, Then and Now
Wealth rangeNumber of adults (2012)Number of adults (2022)
$1-5M25.6 million51.5 million
$5-10M1.9 million5.1 million
>$10M1.0 million2.8 million
Aug 30, 2023

How much will a $10 million annuity payout? ›

For example, a $10 million 30-year annuity with a 5% annual growth rate would produce a monthly income of $53,459. But a $10 million annuity with a 10-year term and the same annual growth rate could produce a monthly payment of $105,625.42 per month.

Is 10 million net worth rich? ›

Generally, a liquid net worth of $1 million would make you a high net worth (HNW) individual. To reach very high net worth status, you'd need a net worth of $5 million to $10 million. Individuals with a net worth of $30 million or more might qualify as ultra-high net worth.

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