
Smart Lifestyle Investments: Luxury Travel and Real Estate
From acquiring historic Parisian apartments to curating luxury travel experiences that double as wellness retreats, high-net-worth individuals are learning how to blend financial growth with personal enrichment. It's an approach where value is measured not just in ROI, but in legacy, experience, and emotional fulfillment.
1. Luxury Real Estate: From Paris to Provence
In France, property ownership remains one of the most stable, rewarding long-term investments available—especially in prime locations. Whether it's a Belle Époque pied-à-terre in Paris or a sun-washed estate in Provence surrounded by lavender fields, luxury real estate in France delivers both cultural cachet and strong asset potential.
Foreign buyers are often drawn to the French real estate market due to its perceived safety, rich history, and relatively steady growth. But the process isn't without its complexities. Understanding local regulations, taxes, and legal procedures is essential.
That's why French Quarter Magazine published a practical guide for Americans purchasing property in France, covering everything from notaire fees to diagnostic reports.
Unlike some fast-paced urban markets, luxury homes in France tend to retain their value over time, especially those located in heritage zones or near sought-after amenities. Many buyers now use these homes not only as seasonal getaways but also as vacation rentals—turning a passion project into a profitable asset.
Thinking of Retiring in France?
For many Americans, retiring in France is not just a dream—it's a smart lifestyle move. With world-class healthcare, a slower pace of life, and beautiful regions ranging from the vineyards of Bordeaux to the sunlit Riviera, France offers retirees both tranquility and sophistication. French residency options for retirees are relatively accessible, especially for those who purchase property and demonstrate adequate income. Small villages and mid-size towns are particularly attractive for their charm and affordability, and often provide a rich sense of community. If you're planning your golden years abroad, France offers both elegance and ease.
2. The Experience Dividend: Investing in Transformational Travel
The term 'transformational travel' has surged in popularity—and for good reason. As people seek richer, more meaningful lives, travel has become a form of emotional investment. Carefully curated journeys have a powerful ripple effect on mindset, creativity, and even business success.
Luxury travel doesn't just mean five-star hotels and business-class flights. It's about access and authenticity. Private art tours in Florence. Personal wine tastings with a French sommelier in Bordeaux. Spa rituals in Icelandic lagoons. These are the kinds of moments that can redefine what success feels like.
French Quarter Magazine regularly curates reviews and recommendations for luxury travelers who want to go deeper—whether that's through the arts, history, or gastronomy. Our recent guide to ultraluxury cruises dives into how these floating palaces combine comfort, culture, and exclusivity in a single experience.
And the investment? Many of these trips yield long-term returns in the form of relationships, mental clarity, and renewed energy—intangibles that often translate into sharper business decisions and better performance back home.
3. Cultural Capital: Art and Heritage as Long-Term Value
Some investors choose to channel their wealth into preserving beauty, history, and culture—not just consuming it. Whether through collecting fine art, donating to museum restoration projects, or investing in artisan craftsmanship, cultural capital is becoming its own asset class.
For example, France's Salon International du Patrimoine Culturel, held annually at the Carrousel du Louvre, gathers over 300 artisans—from gilders and stonemasons to furniture restorers and stained-glass artists. These experts help protect centuries-old heritage, and many investors and collectors attend the salon to commission custom work or support restoration efforts.
The 2025 edition of the event, celebrating its 30th anniversary, will be a must-visit for anyone passionate about legacy and preservation. Learn more here.
Collecting art, commissioning bespoke pieces, or even restoring historic architecture doesn't just add to your personal story—it can also create generational value. As one art investor told French Quarter, 'I'm not just buying for me—I'm preserving something that should last long after I'm gone.'
4. Brand Equity: Building Lifestyle Businesses with Soul
For entrepreneurs, lifestyle investing doesn't always mean acquiring—it can also mean building. Launching or backing a brand with a meaningful story, ethical mission, or artisanal approach is increasingly appealing to investors who want both returns and impact.
This is where fashion houses, wellness brands, and boutique hospitality ventures enter the conversation. French Quarter Magazine has profiled designers and boutique owners who built their success on authenticity, heritage, and slow luxury. From Anne Fontaine's timeless Parisian style to spa sanctuaries inside Las Vegas hotels, these brands are profitable not only because of their business acumen—but because they represent something aspirational.
Investors interested in retail, hospitality, or niche publishing are now looking at lifestyle alignment just as closely as they examine EBITDA. Does the brand stand for something? Is there a deeper purpose behind its design, experience, or community?
If the answer is yes, the investment often feels personal—and powerful.
5. Personal Branding Through Lifestyle Alignment
One underappreciated element of lifestyle investing is how these choices elevate personal brand and visibility. A CEO who summers in Saint-Tropez, supports sustainable artisans, and collects contemporary African art tells a story beyond their business card.
In a hyper-connected world where personal branding matters, lifestyle alignment offers subtle—but strategic—advantages. Whether you're building a public-facing persona or cultivating a strong private network, the way you invest your time, resources, and taste speaks volumes.
French Quarter Magazine encourages its readers—many of whom are thought leaders, artists, executives, or entrepreneurs—to curate a lifestyle that reflects their values and ambitions. Because when your life aligns with your mission, the results extend beyond balance sheets.
Final Thoughts
The line between investment and experience is blurring. Today's smartest investors recognize that true wealth isn't just about accumulation—it's about intentional living. Whether it's a stone villa in Provence, a private dining experience in New York, or a commissioned artwork in Paris, the choices you make about how you live are investments too.
As lifestyle investing continues to gain traction, the opportunities to create a portfolio that is meaningful, diversified, and enduring are greater than ever. We're your trusted companion in crafting a life—and portfolio—worth living.
TIME BUSINESS NEWS

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Housing Supply Has Bounced Back In Some Markets
Housing inventory around the country continues to grow as high prices and borrowing costs slow sales, a report found. In places like Seattle and Denver, there are more houses available for sale than there were in 2019, before the Covid pandemic. While median housing prices were about the same as last year at $440,000, 19% of sellers cut prices on their home--the highest share since not a buyers' market yet for house hunters, but the available inventory in some cities has jumped even higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to one report. Nationwide, the number of houses for sale is still lower than the pre-pandemic averages, but May housing report showed that inventory levels rose for the 19th straight month and were more than 30% higher than the same period last year. And in places like Seattle, Dallas and Austin, Texas, the number of homes for sale is more than 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Inventory in Denver is double what it was before Covid. Indeed, 22 of the top 50 metro areas now have more inventory than they did in 2019, the report showed. Chief Economist Danielle Hale said it showed that inventory levels were beginning to realign after several years of unaffordable conditions. 'In some areas, affordability concerns have also slowed buyer demand, giving the market room to breathe and contributing to gains in [the number of] homes for sale,' Hale said. 'In general, we're seeing strong inventory rebounds in metros that have built more in the last 6 years.'Although inventory levels are improving, Hale said that there is a still a 4.6 month supply of housing available nationwide, below the level of 6 months that generally defines a buyers' market. The gains in inventory are the byproduct of a housing market that has been too expensive for most Americans to afford, Hale said. With few houses to choose from, home buyers have been facing higher prices as sellers are able to charge more amid competition among buyers. Meanwhile, high mortgage rates are keeping other potential home buyers on the sideline. All of this has led to an inventory 'pile up' in some areas, as more houses sit on the market for longer, Hale said. It's also helped spur homebuilders to construct more houses to meet the demand. 'This milestone underscores both the importance of enabling housing construction and the growing divide in housing conditions across regions, where some markets are rapidly normalizing and others remain stuck in low-supply dynamics," Hale said. Supplies may be higher but sales are not; they fell by 2.5% in May when compared with last year as mortgage rates pushed near 7% during that month, the report showed. Higher inventory levels haven't pushed prices lower either. The typical listing price in May was $440,000, flat from a year-ago. However, 19% of home sellers did drop their prices that month, the highest level of price cuts since 2016. Read the original article on Investopedia Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


USA Today
39 minutes ago
- USA Today
The Daily Money: Medicaid cuts and you
Good morning! It's Daniel de Visé with your Daily Money. Millions of Americans who get health insurance through Medicaid will face new hurdles under President Donald Trump's massive tax cut and spending bill, which includes deep cuts to nation's safety-net health insurance program. The bill, which is now law, is projected to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid. Here is how you might be affected. Where do Americans really retire? Common wisdom suggests older Americans flock to sunny Florida and Arizona to retire. Financial experts urge seniors to consider cheaper retirement states, like Arkansas and Missouri. But where do Americans actually go to retire? Not where you think. How much will that wedding cost? Wedding season is in full swing, and those nuptials can get costly. While not everyone can afford a $50 million wedding that makes international news, it's well-known that even more typical weddings can be expensive for everyone involved. Here are the numbers. 📰 More stories you shouldn't miss 📰 About The Daily Money Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY, breaking down complex events, providing the TLDR version, and explaining how everything from Fed rate changes to bankruptcies impacts you. Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA Today.

Miami Herald
43 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Smaller nuclear reactors spark renewed interest in a once-shunned energy source
ABILENE, Texas - Bolstered by $3.2 million from a former Midland oilman, this West Texas city of 130,000 people is helping the Lone Star State lead a national nuclear energy resurgence. Doug Robison's 2021 donation to Abilene Christian University helped the institution win federal approval to house an advanced small modular nuclear reactor, which might be finished as soon as next year. Small modular reactors are designed to be built in factories and then moved to a site, and require less upfront capital investment than traditional large reactors. The company Robison founded, Natura Resources, is investing another $30.5 million in the project. Only two small modular reactors are in operation, one in China and another in Russia. Natura Resources is one of two companies with federal permits to build one in the U.S. "Nuclear is happening," said Robison, who retired from the oil business and moved to Abilene to launch the company. "It has to happen." Robison's words are being echoed across the country with new state laws that aim to accelerate the spread of projects that embrace advanced nuclear technology - decades after the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl calamities soured many Americans on nuclear power. In the past two years, half the states have taken action to promote nuclear power, from creating nuclear task forces to integrating nuclear into long-term energy plans, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, which advocates for the industry. "I've been tracking legislation for 18 years, and when I first started tracking, there were maybe five or 10 bills that said the word 'nuclear,'" said Christine Csizmadia, who directs state government affairs at the institute. "This legislative session, we're tracking over 300 bills all across the country." The push is bipartisan. In New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul recently directed the New York Power Authority to build a zero-emission advanced nuclear power plant somewhere upstate - her state's first new nuclear plant in a generation. In Colorado, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in April signed legislation redefining nuclear energy, which doesn't emit a significant amount of planet-warming greenhouse gases, as a "clean energy resource." The law will allow future plants to receive state grants reserved for other carbon-free energy sources. But no state is more gung-ho than Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed legislation creating the Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office and investing $350 million in nuclear expansion. "Texas is the energy capital of the world, and this legislation will position Texas at the forefront of America's nuclear renaissance," Abbott wrote in a statement. In addition to legislative action, the Texas A&M University System has invited four nuclear manufacturers to build small modular reactors at the school's 2,400-acre RELLIS campus in the city of Bryan. In Texas and other fast-growing states, rising electricity demands are fueling the push. Tech companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon that require a tremendous amount of electricity to power vast data centers are teaming with nuclear developers to provide it. Last October, Google signed an agreement with nuclear energy producer Kairos Power to deploy multiple small modular reactors capable of generating a total of up to 500 megawatts by 2035. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced in December that it is also looking to reach a similar deal. Some of the largest data centers require more than 100 megawatts of power capacity, enough to power around 100,000 U.S. households. Constellation Energy announced last September that it would reopen Three Mile Island, shuttered since 2019, as part of a deal with Microsoft to power the tech giant's AI data centers. One of the two reactors at the plant, which is located south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, partially melted down in 1979. But the remaining reactor reliably produced electricity for the next four decades. "Folks shouldn't sleep on nuclear," Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said as he welcomed back workers to the plant recently. "They should be aware of the important clean role it plays in our energy portfolio." But opponents say the renewed interest in nuclear energy is misguided. In Colorado, a coalition of two dozen environmental groups, including the state chapter of the Sierra Club, urged Polis to veto the bill. "The idea that nuclear power is a clean energy source could not be further from the truth," the groups wrote in a letter to the governor. "Nuclear power is the only energy resource that generates dangerous waste that will remain radioactive for thousands of years." Some critics say small modular reactors are actually more expensive than traditional reactors, when they are judged per kilowatt of the energy they produce. And one 2022 study, conducted by researchers at Stanford University and the University of British Columbia, concluded that small modular reactors will produce more radioactive waste than traditional reactors. "There's a pretty healthy skepticism about advanced nuclear projects," said Adrian Shelley, who heads the Texas office of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. Shelley said many environmental groups "are just deeply concerned about Texas' ability to responsibly manage nuclear storage and especially nuclear waste in the long term." Ramping up The United States currently has 94 nuclear reactors at 54 plants in 28 states. The oldest began operating at Nine Mile Point in New York in 1969; the newest reactors, Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Burke County, Georgia, began operating in 2023 and 2024. Scott Burnell, a spokesperson for the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that between the mid-1990s and 2005, there were "no applications at all" for new reactors. In 2007, there was a surge of a dozen applications when the federal government began offering tax incentives. But interest in new reactors plunged again when the fracking boom boosted fossil fuels as an economical power source. Over the past several years, activity has ramped up again. "There are a number of factors that we are seeing drive this increased interest," Burnell said. "Probably the biggest one is the growth in data centers." The commission has approved three new nuclear projects in the past three years, including the one at Abilene Christian University. It is reviewing three other applications and is discussing potential projects with a dozen other nuclear developers, Burnell said. Texas currently has two nuclear plants - Comanche Peak near Glen Rose in North Central Texas and the South Texas Project in Matagorda County on the Gulf Coast. The two plants, each of which has two reactors, provide about 10% of the state's electric power, according to the Texas comptroller. The new small modular reactors would face the same safety standards as these plants. The project at Abilene Christian began when Robison's Natura Resources established a research alliance with that school, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the project in 2024. The reactor will be constructed at a laboratory at a different site, but its home already awaits in a trench at the bottom of a cavernous room at Abilene Christian's Dillard Science and Engineering Research Center. The trench is 25 feet deep, 80 feet long and 15 feet wide, with a radiation shield made of concrete 4 feet thick. When the 40-ton reactor is finished, possibly by the end of next year, it will be transported to its home on a flatbed truck. "The future is uncertain, but we're ahead of the pack and moving at an amazing clip," said Rusty Towell, an Abilene Christian engineering and physics professor who is working on the project. "So I think that there's a great reason for optimism." Towell asserted that the project will produce only "small amounts of low-level waste" and that storing it safely will not be a significant challenge. 'What Henry Ford did for cars' John Sharp, the outgoing chancellor of Texas A&M University, said he invited nuclear companies to build small modular reactors at the school to help meet the country's desperate need for more power. He said it made sense to give developers access to the faculty and students at the university's nuclear engineering department. Sharp said his pitch was simple: "Hey, we got some land. We got it next to some really smart people. Would you like to come and build a plant? "And four folks said, 'You betcha.'" Matt Loszak, the 34-year-old CEO of Austin-based Aalo Atomics, one of the companies that answered Sharp's call, said he had two employees 18 months ago. Now he has more than 50. "We want to do for reactors what Henry Ford did for cars," Loszak said, "which is really make them mass manufacturable and make it economical to deploy around the world." Robison said he's been speaking at town halls in Abilene, a conservative community that is home to Dyess Air Force Base, for about five years. He claims the residents are "overwhelmingly excited" about having the small modular reactors at Abilene Christian, he said. "Texas is an energy state," he said. "We understand energy and what happens when you don't have it." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.