In their fast-paced lives, the HNWs of Europe take quick decisions on expensive purchases such as new homes, luxury holidays, and technology.

Almost two-thirds take less than a month to make the purchase and it becomes more interesting as the split between ‘work hard’ and ‘play hard’ mentalities are explored.

A fifth of individuals who have a ‘work hard’ life philosophy take less than a day, whilst this number drops to 15% for those who place more value on leisure with a ‘play hard’ attitude.

Perhaps the carefreeness which could be more easily attributed to ‘play hard’ HNWs is an incorrect assumption, as they take longer than those with a ‘work hard’ mentality to spend their hard-earned cash.

 

 

 

Charles Jaffe once claimed that “it’s not your salary that makes you rich, it’s your spending habits.” OneLife has leveraged this thought and collected data to analyse the spending habits of the wealthy.

We found that whilst 97% of European HNWs who have relocated made substantial purchases in the past 12 months, only 77% of those who have not moved made those same acquisitions.

This suggests that the internationally-mobile HNW do not hold back when it comes to enjoying their wealth.

Those who have lived abroad tend to spend most on high value technology (46%), luxury holidays (42%), and pieces of jewellery (39%).

 

 

Go hard or go home – and wealthy individuals who have moved abroad do not want to go home.

Our ‘Meaning of Life’ findings highlight that HNW re-locaters typically pick up and pursue hobbies that keep them engaged with others and/or that require active participation.

The wealthy who have remained in their home country, on the other hand, tend to prefer more relaxing hobbies, such as reading.

For example, playing music is taken up much more by the HNW jet-setters (33%) than other respondents (22%), whereas kicking back and relaxing whilst watching TV falls is more popular among those who have not moved countries (60%) over the internationally-mobile (46%).

 

 

Despite working above the standard 40 hour threshold at 58 hours a week, more European HNWs are happy with the amount of time they put in at work than not.

Fifty-eight percent are content with their working hours while only 39% say they work too much, and the remaining say they should work more.

Differences between the internationally mobile and immobile continue to show in the amount of hours worked, where those who have relocated work on average 73 hours per week and those who have not only work 47 hours.

 

 

Our research, polling the views of 500 wealthy clients from across Europe has found that 79% of HNWs consider ensuring financial security for their families as an important factor in their motivation for working hard.

Within this group of respondents, we investigated whether the internationally mobile were motivated by anything further; they reported back personal and emotive reasons including following their passions (16%) and maintaining a certain type of lifestyle (13%).

It seems that this group of European rich is driven by more than simple monetary preservation – they are incentivized by the pursuit of a dream, and by the enticing benefits that wealth provides.

 

 

They say the early bird catches the worm. And in fact, findings from our ‘Meaning of Life’ study demonstrate that HNWs who have relocated in the past ten years generally earn higher incomes than those who have remained in their home country.

On average, European HNWs who have moved abroad get paid €567k, whilst those who have never lived abroad earn approximately €424k.

But this wealth creation potential does come with a price. These international globe-trotters adopt much more of a ‘work hard’ philosophy than other HNWs, generally spending more hours in the office per week (approximately 73 hours versus the 47 spent working by non-relocaters), willingly making several sacrifices to pursue career goals.

 

 

In an increasingly globalised world, high-net-worth individuals are breaking boundaries with their penchant for international travel. Certain sociologists and economists have questioned whether this new pattern of rootlessness amongst HNWIs will alter the fabric of countries and communities, considering these influential wealth creators would no longer be as grounded in local businesses and charities.

So why are they moving?

Because relocating is no longer something that’s purely interesting or exotic – but something that many HNWs feel that they need and want to do.

In fact, findings from our ‘Meaning of Life’ report show that 41% of European HNWs have moved to another country to live or work in the last decade, but more importantly, more than one in two plan to relocate in the next ten years.

 

 

Globalisation is creating a world in which HNW mobility is increasingly the norm. But what are the implications of this cross-border lifestyle on the personal and professional contexts of Europe’s wealth creators? And, how does their attitude to work and play affect their requirements for financial advice?

Our latest report reveals the answer to these questions by asking 500 wealthy Europeans to tell us about their lives. We sought out individuals in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, who had an average net worth of EUR3.6 million.

 

Key findings:

– Forty-one per cent of European high-net-worth-individuals (HNWI) have moved to a new country to live or work during the last decade and more than one in two plan to do so within the next 10 years.

– Individuals who have relocated typically enjoy higher incomes than those who have not, but these rewards come at a price. These international globe-trotters work harder than average, spend longer in the office and willingly make sacrifices to pursue career goals.

However,

– When they play, these individuals play hard. Relocaters typically pursue hobbies that require active participation. Whether it is playing music, participating in team sports or pursuing solo success at driving, writing, collecting or volunteering, these individuals prefer active pursuits. Passive hobbies such as watching TV or reading hold less appeal.

– Less than 1 in 3 HNW Europeans use a financial advisor as their main source of advice. Instead, they use a broad range of sources, suggesting that they are willing to take advice but yet to find that one, truly meaningful advice relationship.

When surveyed about their life attitude, HNWs are more than able to categorize themselves as ‘play hard’ or ‘work hard’. Only 5% did not have a distinct preference while 74% describe themselves as ‘work hard’ and the remaining as ‘play hard’. When the demographics are broken down by gender, slightly more females have a play hard mentality (26%) than males (19%).

 

 

Those who ‘work hard’ earn slightly more than those with a more ‘play hard’ attitude (€0.49m annual income vs €0.45m). Subsequently, they also hold more wealth (€3.68m vs €3.29m).

 

Less than a third of HNWs we surveyed state retirement is among their financial goals.

However, those at the top of the wealth curve are more likely prioritise this activity; 38% of HNWs worth over €5m are putting money into the bank for their later life, while only 32% of those worth €2m- €5m and 24% worth less than €2m are doing so.