How the Super Rich Spend Their Money

Forget sports cars, diamonds and yachts.
Today's rich prefer to spend their money on
vacations, entertainment and collectibles.
According to a new study from Spectrem Group,
Americans worth more than $25 million think of
themselves as frugal but actually live large. More
than half agreed with the statement that "saving
and investing my money gives me greater
satisfaction than spending it."
And when asked about how they became wealthy,
"frugality" ranked among the top five factors,
below hard work, education, smart investing and
taking risk.
Yet their spending numbers show that they still
enjoy the finer things in life—or at least, the finer
experiences in life.
Fully 60 percent spend more than $10,000 a year
on vacation or leisure travel, the highest of any
category. More than a quarter of spend more than
$25,000 on trips, and 14 percent spend more than
$50,000.
"They work hard, so they like nice vacations,"
said George Walper, president of Spectrem Group.
"And they take nice vacations because they can."
By contrast, jewelry, cars and boats weren't as
popular. More than three-quarters of the rich
surveyed didn't spend any money on boats. Only
30 percent spend more than $10,000 on jewelry a
year, and fewer than one in five of them spent
more than $50,000 on a car. (Granted, the few
rich who do like cars spend a lot: 10 percent said
they spend $100,000 or more).
"It's not about flashy purchases anymore,"
Walper said. "Most folks are toning it down a little
in terms of what's in style and what's
ostentatious."
Perhaps the trend toward more private displays
of wealth is why spending on club memberships
remains high. The survey found that two-thirds of
the rich spend money on clubs and nearly one in
five spends more than $10,000 a year on arts
and entertainment. Fully 60 percent spent money
on collectibles, which many prefer to see as an
investment.
The rich also like to spend more on charity than
on political contributions. More than half made
political contributions, although most were under
$10,000. Fully 58 percent, however, made
donations to charity of more than $10,000 a year,
while 25 percent made donations of more than
$25,000.
ROBERT FRANK
FROM CNBC