Simon Cowell, Known For 'American Idol,' Learned Valuable Lesson After Going Broke: 'I Was Rushing'

After achieving success with his X Factor and Got Talent franchises, Simon Cowell spent eight years on American Idol telling contestants they were “going to Hollywood.”

Prior to that, the multimillionaire found himself broke at the age of 28 and living with his parents.

While the music mogul got his start in the industry young and became successful in his early 20s as an artists and repertoire (A&R) consultant and scout, Cowell learned a valuable lesson in his late 20s about handling money.

Simon Cowell's Words Of Wisdom

“Once I started to make a little bit of money, then I just did everything a young A&R guy would do," the British entrepreneur said at Advertising Week Europe, per CNBC. "[I] bought a Porsche, bought a house I couldn’t afford,” he said at the event. “What I didn’t learn about was credit cards.”

Although Cowell was doing relatively well financially at the time, he was spending too much money and borrowing too much as well.

“By the time I was 28, I was broke. I had to go back and live with my parents. I was nearly bankrupt, actually,” Cowell said, according to the outlet.

It took Cowell about a decade to get his next big break. He signed Irish boy band Westlife and British boy band Five to his music label, S Records (now Syco Entertainment). The near-bankruptcy taught him a valuable lesson: “It taught me I was rushing. I wanted everything to happen overnight."

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