What is a hotspot not?

A very interesting report (or as we like to call it in PR, a thought leadership platform!) called "Expat Economies" came out last week from the mighty banking machine that is HSBC. Full report available here. 


It named Bermuda as the number two global expat wealth hotspot, second only to Russia. You see that flaming red hot dot in the middle of the Atlantic, yeah baby that's us...

What has ickle Bermuda done to deserve this accolade then? Well, apparently over a quarter of expats that live here earn over a quarter of a million dollars a year. Sadly I'm not one of them. Nor are the many expats I befriended here, or at least that is what they lead me to believe. Relatively speaking, I'm earning a lot more than I did in London but you need to as Bermuda is also one of the most expensive places n the world, as well as the richest, so the bar of luxurious living is set MUCH higher. 


As a rough estimate, I reckon the average expat here, most like to be an auditor with a year's experience prior to relocating here or maybe even just qualified, is earning in the region of $85,000 a year. Not bad eh! But then when you consider that you'd be pushed to find the average habitable room in a flatshare for less that $1,400 a month, a jar of Sacla pesto (a modern day essential) will set you back $6 and a tin of Heinz beans somewhere around $2.50, you begin to realise that on a typical London wage here you would be homeless and bankrupt. 


The HSBC report for this reason us in third place in the income rankings and back to fifth position in terms of disposable income. However, when it comes to luxuries we fall back into 16th in the global chart and rightly so I think. The report metrics for luxurious living were respondents positively responding to the following statements:

Live in a nicer / bigger property

Have domestic helper / staff (e.g. cleaner/nanny) 

Own more than one property

Own nicer and more cars

Own a boat / yacht

Go on more luxurious holidays

Better healthcare

Own a swimming pool

Despite being financial better off, these status symbols are way out of reach for the average expat. There are restrictions governing home/car ownership by expats but these aside, a basic house and a car are a distant dream. A quick look on the website of local estate agent, Coldwell Banker, reveals an entry point of at least $750,000 on the housing market. When it comes to cars, no one has a particularly flashy car here. You won't see Bentleys, Lamborghinis or Aston Martins here. The 35kph speed limit would be more than frustrating if you were behind a set of those kinda wheels anyway. Just to get on the road in a crappy tin can type affair will set you back over $5,000. 

Although I'd like to add a column to the right of the table to gauge our 'it's a wonderful life though' rating as I would bet that when it comes to quality of life Bermuda would trump the rest of the hotspots by a mile or more. A laid back island life combined with a hefty pay cheque while the rest of the top quartile in the rankings are sophisticated (stressy) infrastructures. Where else in the top of the leader board would you have a commute of sub-three minutes, be able to pop for a quick swim in the ocean after work and spend the weekend either on a yacht or one of the best beaches in the world?! That, my friends, is my definition of ultimate wealth :-)