How’d you get so rich? A dream to change my family’s fortune

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Reggie Nelson grew up on an East London council estate in a British-Ghanaian family that struggled with alcoholism, domestic violence and money worries. After a brush with the law at a young age, he found direction through his Christian faith and then, as a teenager, being signed to play professionally for Woking Football Club.

Following his dad's sudden death on Father's day in 2013, Reggie had to quit playing football and look for a more stable career to support his family. Inspired by words from the Bible "seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" and his sister’s favourite reality TV show 'How'd You Get So Rich?' starring Hollywood comedian Joan Rivers, Reggie set out on a mission to discover exactly how wealthy people got their money. He headed to one of London's most affluent areas, Kensington and Chelsea and started knocking on doors, boldly asking residents his million-dollar question.

A number of chance encounters that day took him on a whirlwind journey involving; cash, an Aston Martin and the door that would take him on a path to a dream career in the world of finance.

Reggie's autobiography is called Opening Doors.

He spoke to Tommy Dixon in 2023.

Presenter and producer: Tommy Dixon Editor: Rebecca Vincent

Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon,
0:06.3	and I make podcasts for the BBC. I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. But when I started
0:12.0	commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right
0:17.8	mixture of sounds could take you into a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to
0:25.2	give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole
0:29.9	new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories
0:34.1	that make you go wow like I did,'re just a tap or click away on BBC
0:38.0	sounds i walked across the road and i saw a gentleman with um and ashton and i asked him
0:45.0	what skills do you possess that's allowed you to forward this car his advice was to study hard
0:50.6	in school get experience abroad if i can like. Like, genuine, genuine, hard work.
0:55.6	After the conversation, I walked off,
0:57.3	and then he pulled up beside me in his car
0:59.7	and pulled out, like, a water cash on me's side pocket
1:02.5	and gave me 40 pounds for asking him the question.
1:04.6	Wow.
1:05.2	Yeah.
1:05.7	I was 40 pounds rich up in Kensington walking around.
1:09.4	But asking people on the streets wasn't working,
1:11.2	so I decided to go and knock on people's doors.
1:16.0	As a teenager, Reggie Nelson decided he wanted to change his family's fortunes
1:20.7	by asking anyone he could, one simple question.
1:24.5	How do wealthy people get so rich?
	...

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