Fractional Ownership: The Way to Live Like a Multi-Millionaire

Do you want a more splendid way of life –- but do not have the million$ in ready cash to bankroll it? You've worked hard and you've done well, but the corporate jet, the yacht and the $4 million beach house are out of reach for now.

Fractional Ownership may be the answer to your quandary! With fractional ownership, a costly asset (jet, yacht, vacation home, classic car) is owned in cooperation with a number of other individuals; each owns a percentage share of the asset and has defined rights and privileges pertaining to its use. A management company supplies the stability and organization to permit share owners uncomplicated and predictable access to the asset.

This concept operates well with many kinds of assets that may be used periodically. As an example, second homes are occupied by their owners 2 – 4 weeks per year on average. If you've visited a marina of late, you've noticed that the majority of the slips are occupied by boats – i.e., they are not being used. Corporate jets remain idle until travel is required by the executives.

Fractional ownership gives you, the share owner, dependable access to that expensive asset you wish for or need but don't want to pay for 365 days out of the year. And, because you belong to a collection of owners, all costs for maintenance, management, upkeep, repair, taxes and insurance are shared among the group. The management company provides a schedule for owners' usage, and takes care of routine maintenance, accounting and repairs.

In short: you have what you want, when you want it -- without the headaches, expense and liability of full individual ownership.

Fractional ownership is being employed more and more for ultra-luxury items. Many businesses sell fractional shares of corporate jets(flexjet.com, netjets.com); turboprop aircraft (avantair.com); and helicopters (heliflite.com, sikorskyshares.com).

Fractional ownership of luxury boats and yachts -- both power and sail -- is common. Companies like monocleyachts.com, eusamarine.com, and seanetco.com provide fractional ownership of yachts on the East and West coasts, in the Caribbean and in the Mediterranean.

Classic cars such as the Lamborghini Murcielago, Lamborghini Gallardo, Rolls Royce Phantom, Bentley Continental GTC, Aston Martin Vanquish S, high-end Porsches and the Ferrari 360 Spider are obtainable through fractional ownership with such companies as extremecarshare.com, curvyroad.com, and clubsportiva.com. Fractional shareowners in these clubs may choose a membership that permits them to rotate their ownership among the different cars in the fleet, rather than only owning a fractional share of one classic car.

Recreational vehicles are yet another category of luxury item that frequently sees only episodic use, so wisdom dictates fractional ownership here too. Both coachshare.com and sharerv.com make shares of Monaco luxury coaches available to interested buyers.

Racehorses have long been owned by syndicates –- groups of owners who jointly own them to distribute the cost and risk. Associates of syndicates were frequently friends or business associates who knew each other and privately set up the syndicate. Now fractional ownership models are coming into play. In Britain, the 2005 Vodafone Derby winner made racing history: Motivator, the winning horse, did not belong to a super-rich breeder or personality, but by a syndicate of 230 individuals from the smart-moneyed classes.

The fractional ownership concept is being creatively expanded into a lot of areas. Wine Estate Capital Management offers fractional ownership of vineyards in France and South Africa. Art doners are discovering that it is helpful to contribute a fractional share of their art to the museum of their preference, thus ensuring their continuing enjoyment of their collection for part of every year.

Luxury handbags are now obtainable by fractional ownership, so if you want to diversify your collection without purchasing them all, your quandary is resolved. Shouldercandy.com offers handbags by Chloe, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Burberry, Marc Jacobs, Chanel and more.

The most prevalent use of the fractional ownership concept, however, is in the vacation home sector. Because of the ever-increasing attractiveness of fractional vacation home ownership and the additional challenge of dealing with real property, this topic will be the subject of another article.

See a luxury fractional ownership Florida vacation home!