There are plenty of famous faces from our region who made millions by becoming stars in the field of music, entertainment or spots.
But plenty of businesspeople have made their money without having to step into the spotlight - and there are a number of millionaires who you may never have heard of.
Some of our region's wealthiest individuals have built up their fortunes without the fame that comes with being a Premier League footballer or Hollywood actress.
From a toilet roll tycoon to a scrap metal king, each of these businesspeople is from Merseyside or the surrounding areas.
Most of them made their fortunes in the world of business, while some inherited immense wealth from parents who founded companies or passed on their titles.
We took a look at some of the region's richest people that you've probably never even heard of.
This is who they are and how they built up their fortunes.
John Whittaker
Publicity-shy Mr Whittaker was actually set on joining the priesthood before he realised the decline of heavy industry in the north meant there was money to be made from the buildings and property left behind.
Over the years he has won a reputation as a fearsome deal-maker, starting when he began buying cotton mills for their land.
In the 1980s his Peel group bought the Manchester Ship Canal, seeing it as not just a transport artery but also a source of land that could be developed.
He used some of that land to build the Trafford Centre, and later the MediaCity UK development at Salford Quays.
And in 2005, Peel bought the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, giving it control of the Mersey waterfront.
The Port of Liverpool at Seaforth remains a vital global connection for the North of England, while the former docklands to the south are starting to be transformed for the massive Liverpool Waters development – potentially including a new Everton stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Peel also owns Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
All those interests mean Mr Whittaker and his family are estimated to be worth some £1.95 billion, according to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2019.
Mr Whittaker took a hit when property company Intu, which owned the Trafford Centre, went into administration.
Alan Murphy
Toilet roll tycoon Alan Murphy made his fortune with a company that turned recycled tissue into loo roll.
Bootle-born Mr Murphy started his career at Pergamon Press before he decided to start his own business, he launched, grew and sold a chain of hair salons and the Champion Discount supermarket chain.
In 1983 he founded AM Paper Converters in Skelmersdale to focus on turning recycled tissue into toilet paper.
AM became a massive producer of own-brand products for supermarkets and grew to employ more than 600 people.
Mr Murphy - father of Hollyoaks actor Davinia Taylor - sold the business off in two parts in 1997 and 1999, making him more than £150m.
Since then, Monaco-based Mr Murphy has become one of the North West's biggest property investors.
Chris Sheppard
Chris Sheppard is the CEO of Warrington-based European Metal Recycling (EMR).
The company was founded by his father, Phillip Sheppard, who died in 2012.
Phillip Sheppard founded the company in 1994 and in 2013, their annual pre-tax profits for the UK stood at £47 million.
In the 2016 calendar year, rising sales pushed EMR's turnover past £2.2bn, according to the company's accounts.
This Warrington firm recycles millions of tons of metal a year, from cars, fridges and electrical goods to other waste.
Chris Sheppard attended the University of Cambridge and his company employs thousands of people across the world.
Lord Grantchester
Lord John Grantchester is the grandson of John Moores, the founder of the Liverpool-based Littlewoods football pools and retail empire.
His mother, Lady Grantchester - Betty Suenson-Taylor, died in 2019, aged 93. The eldest daughter of the late Sir John Moores, she was a prime mover in the development of the Littlewoods empire and the woman who sold Everton to Peter Johnson in 1994.
In 1999 Lady Grantchester was listed by The Independent newspaper as the wealthiest woman in the United Kingdom.
Lord Grantchester is a former director of Littlewoods and, according to The Business Desk, he and the rest of the Moores family are believed to be worth £1.206bn.
Jim Clarke
Clarke Energy was established by Jim Clarke in 1989 and over the last 30 years it has grown to become a multinational specialist in the sale, engineering, installation and maintenance of power plants that use gas engines.
When the company first launched, it was based in Aintree and provided spare parts to users of marine, industrial and locomotive diesel engines.
In 1992 new purpose built premises were purchased at Unity Grove, Knowsley Business Park.
In February 2017 Clarke Energy was acquired by the Kohler Company of Wisconsin, but the company retained its senior management team with Mr Clarke still listed as the company director.
Mr Clarke has featured on a number of regional rich lists down the years, and was included in The Sunday Times Green Rich List in 2009.
In 2018, it was estimated his fortune was worth somewhere in the region of £140m, according to Insider Media.
John Harry and family
S Norton, owned by the Harry family, is a Liverpool scrap metal firm which was established in 1960.
The company has long-established metal recycling operations across the UK, with sites in West Canada Dock and South Canada Dock in Liverpool.
According to Companies House data analysed on CompanyCheck, John Harry's businesses have a total current net worth of £108.7m.
