Rich people like Stephen Spielberg, Bono, and Jay Z use them for high-end vacations. They make you think of wealthy people having fun off a beautiful foreign coast. One of the most expensive hobbies right now is "super yachting." And there's a good reason for that: it's costly. A luxury yacht is one of the priciest things you can buy. The law doesn't say what a "superyacht" is. Most of the time, the term is used to describe yachts 75 feet or longer, have a full-time professional crew, and are used for business or pleasure. So the cost to get started and the cost to keep going can be very different. Let us answer the question “can I afford a super yacht?”
Is It True That A Supercar Costs More Than A Super Yacht?
Families have small boats or yachts in many countries surrounded by land. They have average incomes and use their boats on weekends and holidays to get around on the water. In our country, people don't usually think about buying a yacht. People may think this because they think ships are costly. But boats are not all the same, and neither are their prices. The yacht can be either a motor yacht or a sailing yacht. It can also be a boat, a superyacht, or a classic model yacht, a massive boat with a high comfort level.
Running Costs
After buying a yacht, the owner should expect to spend about 20% or more of what they paid for it each year to keep it running. So, in theory, a yacht worth $10 million would cost $2 million a year to run. Most of the time, fuel (lots of it), insurance, maintenance and repairs, docking fees, and crew salaries are the most expensive parts of running a boat.
Dockage fees can cost up to $350,000, and it can cost up to $70,000 to keep the dock running. Maintenance and repairs can cost a lot of money, and so can paying the crew. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the leader of the United Arab Emirates, owns the 590-foot superyacht, Azzam. It is estimated that it costs $60 million a year to keep up, but it does have two helipads and a missile defense system.
Crew
Luxury Yacht Group gives guidelines for how much a typical boat crew should make. It says that a captain with more than five years of experience and a ship between 100 and 170 feet long could make up to $192,000 per year. It would be best if you also thought about chefs, stewards, deckhands, engineers, and more. So that new yacht owners don't get any nasty cost surprises, Luxury Yacht Group made a helpful crew costs calculator and another one for operating costs.
Docking
Prices vary from port to port around the world, but during high season, it can cost well over $4,000 per night to park your boat at one of the most exclusive marinas. During a popular event like the Monaco Grand Prix, a five-day stay at a berth can cost $84,999 or more. On Superyachts.com, there is a map of marinas worldwide that you can use to find out how much they charge to stay there for the season.
Services
Don't forget the "must-have" toys. No floating playground can be complete without fun machines like submersibles, and Jet Skis and essential, like a floating beach club or an infinity pool cinema. A Russian businessman named Roman Abramovich is the owner of Eclipse. It has two places for helicopters to land, a three-person "leisure" submarine, and also two swimming pools, out of which one can be turned into a dance floor.
Pricing
Several banks and marine lenders can help you pay for a superyacht through a lease or a marine mortgage. And if you rent out your superyacht, you can make a lot of money. But if you have to think about how much it will cost, you might not want to buy one of these boats. Instead, you could rent one to get the same feeling of floating luxury without all the work of owning one. There are also "fractional ownership" plans that let a group of investors share financial responsibility (and use a superyacht) without putting up the total amount of money.
Conclusion
You might be interested in a luxurious floating playground if you are one of the world's ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs). But don't feel bad if you're not a billionaire. You can still rent a yacht, join a fractional arrangement, or choose a less expensive, less "super" yacht. Still, there will always be a place for the very expensive and flashy among the world's elite.
