Timothy Armoo, a multi-millionaire who embraces a minimalist lifestyle, doesn't own a home or any other property. The most extravagant purchase he recalls is buying business-class tickets for himself and his now ex-girlfriend.
At 29, Armoo, the co-founder and former CEO of the influencer marketing firm Fanbytes, amassed his fortune when he sold the company to digital marketing agency Brainlabs in May 2022 for an eight-figure sum. Despite his financial success, the young entrepreneur, who grew up in public housing in south London, shared with CNBC Make It that he feels almost too crippled to spend the money.
“I was convinced that if I started to spend the money, it would all start to go," Armoo told the publication, adding that he developed what he called a “scarcity mindset” while growing up. “I had this spreadsheet where I would track to the penny how much I had,” he said.
Armoo describes himself as a minimalist, and unlike many of his peers, he avoids extravagant purchases. Additionally, he shared that he has no interest in investing in real estate, setting him apart from others in his field.
“I actually don’t own a house. I didn’t get involved in any residential property or any direct commercial property,” Armoo told the publication. “Most people see property as their way of building wealth, but I use businesses as my way of building wealth and I don’t have a family, I don’t have a partner now, so why?”
When it comes to investing, Armoo divides his money into two categories: one is extremely safe, and the other is “completely exotic.” He invests in index funds and holds stocks in companies like Shopify and Cloudflare.
Some of his “exotic” investments include financing avocado, soybean, and mango businesses in Kenya, Angola, and Tanzania, which supply supermarkets in Europe. He has also invested in uranium and funded the acquisition of a lithium mine. He shared that he enjoys finding different arbitrages and innovative ways to invest his money rather than just putting it all into index funds.