If there's one thing that you read extremely wealthy people saying in interviews quite a lot it's that having money isn't necessarily that big a deal in itself - money, after all, is just a concept - and the money we have in our bank accounts has no physicality - just existing in cypberspace until we use a debit card to buy something with it, or maybe magic the money into reality using an ATM.
What these people also say is that what money has meant for them is ore choice. And if you found yourself with, say £5 million in the bank tomorrow morning, what would change? Would you want to move somewehere sunnier - somewhere you'd p[reviously only dreamed of?
According to a recent survey, millionaire expats are increasingly being drawn to overseas destinations, with the amount of UK millionaires considering emigration now at record levels. As the blog points out, it's often quality of life that's the motivation - although no doubt there will be countries that offer a number of tax benefits for those who have a lot of moolah.
The expat section of Skandia's "Millionaire Monitor" of 2012 report stated that (according its survey results for that year)
- 22.8% of respondents who were considering leaving the UK said better quality of life abroad was their motivation for a possible move
- 13.7% of high net worth individuals said that high taxation was their reason for wanting to become an exptriate
Other reasons included 'society issues' in the UK (such as crime, poverty and so on), having family already located abroad, employement opportunities, and even the weather.
Interestingly, the top destination for UK millionaire expats was ... France. I'm scratching my head as to why that could possibly be. France has
- Lovely summer weather, especially in more southerly areas like Provence
- Some of the best food on the entire planet
- beautiful countryside
- easily accessible from the UK by rail, sea and air
- amazing cities
- art and culture by the bucketload
Yes, so it's all a bit of a mystery.