Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen only has enough money to last him 20 years

While some may consider it rude to talk about money, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has very candidly opened up about his finances.

The interior designer, 61, admitted that he only has enough money to last 20 years and quipped that he needed to ‘die by at 81’ or would end up in ‘Jane Austen penury’.

Laurence revealed that his formerly lavish lifestyle with ‘first class trips to Barbados’ and out of control spending were ‘long gone’ after getting to grips with his shopping addiction during lockdown. 

He explained that in his younger years he was footloose and fancy free before the financial realities of life dawned on him after reaching a certain age. 

‘There’s a moment when you sit down with all these financial advisers and they say: we can guarantee the kind of lifestyle you’ve got for 20 years. So basically, I’ve got to die at 81 or else I’m going to be in total Jane Austen penury.

‘The years of splurging and “We’ll fly first class to Barbados” are long gone. I knocked off the shopping addiction in lockdown’. 

He went on to tell The Times: ‘Before then, you’d have a good lunch, then trawl through Burlington Arcade and have three of those, one of those and one of those, just because you could’.

Laurence lives with his wife Jackie, their two grown-up daughters, Hermione, 26, and Cecile, 29, and their husbands Dan and Drew – as well as their four grandchildren, Albion, eight , Demelza, three , Romily, two, and one-year-old Eleanora.

Such is the shared responsibility between the adults, that Laurence has signed away two thirds of the deed to his Cotswolds manor to his two sons-in-law. 

Speaking to The Sunday Times last year, Laurence mused: ‘I’m no longer lord of the manor,’ as he detailed his unique living arrangement. 

Yet daughter Hermione revealed: ‘Hilariously, Cecile and I aren’t on the deeds, because we inherit it anyway — it’s actually the husbands.’ 

Laurence then explained: ‘One of the most amusing things was having to sit down with a solicitor for them to assess whether Jackie and I were being coerced into this by our bullying sons-in-law. Our friends just can’t believe it. They go, “what happens if you all fall out?”‘

Yet Hermione explained that while they bicker all the time, they simply have to ‘get over it’. 

Detailing why he wanted to pass on his property now, Laurence – who has an estimated net worth of £8 million – shared: ‘We’re not going to be those old people sitting on a great big pile of cash. Terribly unhappy, terribly lonely. 

‘Owning a lot of stuff but not actually having the benefit of it. We are very, very privileged, but we have made this decision. We have manifested this life’.

His decision to reassess his finances and assets came after Laurence confessed he was  going through an ‘end of life crisis’ following a near-death experience on Netflix show Bear Hunt.

During filming in Costa Rica in May 2024, Laurence was among celebrities taking part in a water challenge and was told to leap from a boat into the river.

However, he became entangled in a bungee rope and got stuck underneath the boat. 

He was dragged underwater for several heart-stopping minutes before being pulled to safety by members of the team supervising the stunt, and lost consciousness.

Laurence then joked that his wife Jackie said he was in a ‘mid-life crisis’ when he told her he was appearing in the show.

‘She feels it’s got midlife crisis written all over it, although, as I keep telling her, I’m too old to have a midlife crisis, this is more like an end of life crisis,’ he mused. 

‘She’s actually, frankly, incredibly jealous. She would love to do it and has always been mildly irritated that no one’s ever asked her to do something like this. 

‘Because she literally has always had in her handbag, a SAS Survival Guide, to get herself out of all sorts. I meant to bring it actually and again, how foolishly, I completely forgot.’

Laurence has spoken previously about his unconventional set-up, telling the My Dirty Laundry podcast that they invited the children back when he and his wife ‘were rattling around the house like dried peas in a luxury tin’.

He added that living with your entire family is ‘something more people should be doing’ and doesn’t mind his lavish interiors now be filled with children’s toys.

‘We certainly aren’t sliding into our sixtieth year with boredom calling. We want to use our time wisely and valuably. The way you design your world helps the way you feel,’ he said.

‘We have our big manor house filled with children and pieces of brightly coloured plastic and Peppa Pig again.

‘I think its something that more and more people should be doing, for us boomers generation we’re all sort of surprised we’ve made it to 60. 

‘I think everyone thought we would live fast and die young rather than live very, very slowly and die really quite old.’