Ultra High Net Worth Individuals and Sources of Wealth 2020

*Press embargo until July 15, 2020

Northrop & Johnson recently conducted a survey to obtain a better understanding of its ultra high net worth clients in order to better suit their wants and needs from both YACHT sales, YACHT CHARTER, and marketing perspectives.

One of the first questions in the survey was on the topic of wealth sources in an effort to ascertain the primary source of capital of clients. The second question in the survey related to the perceived amount of wealth needed to charter a superyacht and the third in the wealth-source category was on the ages of clients. Below you will find not only the survey results, but also explanations and expanded insights by Northrop & Johnson brokers as well as some general Northrop & Johnson statistics.

Broker Question: What are the primary sources of wealth for your customers? (Clients were offered a multiple-choice response)

Do you have to be an oligarch to charter a superyacht? The resounding answer is, “No!”

Sources of wealth are surprisingly diverse. In fact, 88% of the brokers say they have customers from the executive ranks of publicly traded companies. There was a split between company ownership as well. Forty-six percent (46%) said those executives come from companies they don’t own versus 40% that do. Nearly a quarter of the charter brokers have customers who started their own company (24%), while 12% say they have customers who are retired.

Broker question: What changes in customer age have you seen?

Yacht charter brokers at Northrop & Johnson sell over $100 million in yacht charter vacations annually, and the customer profile is diverse. While over 60% of customers are between ages 40 and 69, by a nearly 3-to-1 margin, brokers say customers are getting younger.

“It seems to me there are younger people chartering than before as they have money and are looking for experiences.” – Ann Avery, N&J broker

“My personal clients are all under the age of 60, the youngest being 23.”- Ed Dickinson, N&J broker

Northrop & Johnson Numbers

The average sale price in 2019 for yachts sold by Northrop & Johnson was $9.8 million. So far in 2020, the average yacht charter price is $152,000 and the average yacht sold is 132 feet.