New numbers.
Here are some facts by the number: 20 percent of the world’s 100 billionaires are below 50. With all this newfound wealth comes spending. Superyachts are right up there on the must-have list. From an industry perspective – it’s worth looking into just the math alone.
The younger the median age of the wealthy becomes, the more time they have to spend it. Long gone are the days of “old money vs. new” when the average superyacht owner is heading to the 35-45 years old range.
But this does beg the question, just for a moment, about the wealth gap in the country and its widening.
Archetypes.
This new group of superyacht owners (the self-made millennial) sees the whole thing as an occasional recreation, and not the impassioned interest of yesteryear. It’s no longer just status symbol, but rather a component of how they live their lives – which almost feels like a normalizing of wealth. We think their on to something.
In that same paradign shift, you are also seeing less actual ownership and more of a leaning towards chartering. Which is an interesting approach to leveraging your wealth without bogging down your cash in depreciable assets. The same thing goes for super and hypercars – the lease is no longer frowned upon, but actually celebrated as a savvy tax write-off.
New needs, new design.
The new superyacht for millennials has done away with the golden days of opulent dining rooms and salons, with a shift into state-of-the-art gyms, spas and focus on open-air sports and social spaces.
They’ve also parted ways with offices, and think of these floating cities as escapes to comfort not convenient replicas of their home offices on the water.
With shifts at the top of the financial food chain, we’re curious to see the trickle-down effect on consumption habits. Less waste? More value? A focus on extended leisure?
We’ll see.
