Forget a Porsche and a Rolex. A new survey has thrown up some interesting signifiers of what it means to be wealthy today. Name: Wealth signifiers. Age: We know from cave paintings and burial sites that Homo sapiens started to live a more settled life about 35,000 years ago – not just hunting and gathering, but trading, too. The ones who had the most tools, weapons, food and baskets were seen as the wealthy ones.
A bit of art on the wall, posh restaurants, a nice laundry basket from Etsy … nothing much has changed in those 35 millennia, then? Ah, well, funny you should say that. There’s actually some new research …. By? It was done by YouGov for HSBC UK’s report Your Money’s Worth: Defining Wealth in 2025. They surveyed 2,000 people across the UK.
What did they find? That wealth is signified by a Porsche and a gold Rolex? If they’d done it in the 1980s, maybe. So what are the wealth signifiers today? For 49%, it’s having investments …. Boring! Next! Closely followed by being able to retire early (48%).
Ah, yes, the dream. And to travel often (also 48%). Thanks, but can we get down to what today’s burial-site tools and Porsches are, please? A private driveway, according to 19% of those surveyed, without specifying what should be parked on it. Nice. On-street parking is so common. And for 10%, a key marker of wealth is an island.
Now we’re talking – like the ones owned by the Barclay brothers and Richard Branson? Er, not actual islands – they’re for the extremely wealthy. Kitchen islands. Fine, I’ll get one of them with a marble top. We’ll call it Capri. But it’s not just about material goods and money.
Isn’t it? Fifteen per cent think wealth is linked to strong personal relationships, while 14% see a good work-life balance and the ability to enjoy life as a sign of affluence. What? Who are these people? The younger ones. The study found that under-35s are more likely to see wealth through wellbeing.
Of course they are. They’ll grow out of it. Of course they will. Do say [in your best caveperson’s voice]: “Put that nice, big, shiny boulder down here, near the fire … Look, an island, we’re rich! Quick, get Fred and Wilma over.”. Don’t say: “I used to have a Thunderbirds Tracy Island, does that count?”.
