Many dream of living the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Traveling the world, wearing designer clothes and accessories, financial freedom, and the leisure of easily affording hobbies are just a few of the benefits of being wealthy.

Wealth offers the opportunity to live some of our biggest aspirations and desires, allowing us to see and experience the world in many exclusive and dreamlike ways. If this is what you want from life, this article highlights ways you can start investing to achieve that.

The Psychology of Luxury

The term luxury defines a state of great comfort and opulence. The allure of such a lifestyle has fascinated many for some time, with major factors including status and social signaling, exclusivity, and emotional gratification. A lavish lifestyle is a telltale sign of an individual’s status symbol, successes, and achievements. The Journal of Consumer Research reveals that 70% of luxury consumers believe their purchases reflect their identity and societal status. These purchases elevate people’s sense of being different and belonging to a particular class of affluence.

Human nature has evolved to value rarity and scarcity as it triggers a sense of uniqueness and privilege for many. Access to this lifestyle dramatically affects an individual’s confidence, style, quality of relationships, and life in general. The 2010 study by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton (winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics) sheds some light on the correlation between wealth and life satisfaction. This study found that life satisfaction increased steadily with income level and positively correlated with achievement, career success, and overall sense of accomplishment.

Luxury is not a lifestyle that everyone can create, but the wealthy can enjoy it without worrying about the consequences. The way to find this in life is to invest in yourself, your skills, your appearance, and your possessions.

Investing in the Luxurious Way of Life

While there are many ways one can start working towards a more luxurious way of life, these are the top features to prioritize:

Self Investments

Investing in yourself is about working actively towards improving personal growth and development. It could entail learning new things, widening your knowledge, and maintaining physical and emotional well-being. Self-investment is an activity that involves a lifelong commitment to being the best version of yourself. Some ways to do this are:

• Welcoming lifelong learning
• Setting your year goals
• Constantly working with a budget
• Eating healthy
• Reading books

Self-investment helps you acquire the skills and knowledge that can be transferred into your career, financial investments, and building the wealth for that luxurious lifestyle you’re after. It is also important to note that your personality and lifestyle choices can make or break your finances. For example, regular exercise and healthy eating are factors that could help you spend less on health care costs as you age. In addition, saving, spending, and investing habits can help you grow your finances over time. Consider maintaining habits (reading, saving, budgeting, investing) that will likely help grow your wealth rather than drain your earnings.

Skill Investment

Your skills can be marketed to yield the most profitable results, especially when they are high-income skills. Online trading, stock investments, and crypto are some high-income skills that have generated millions of dollars for people. A skilled forex trader can anticipate an average return of five to 10 percent of their trades. Sometimes, they can make more. The U.S. stock market capitalization is $54 million, with over 1,918 listings in the market.

The cryptocurrency market is $2.22 trillion as of October 2024. Although it can be volatile, these markets offer substantial profit margins and an opportunity to generate generational wealth. You can take a course, learn a skill in the financial market, and trade the markets through licensed brokers. There are millions of other profitable skills to consider, such as real estate and tech skills, like coding, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, that can provide you with the wealth to level up your lifestyle.  

Appearance

Several ways of investing in your appearance will make you stand out. Purchasing quality wardrobe pieces that are exclusive and luxurious is one, and styling them right is another. Investing in your appearance can increase the quality of friendships and relationships you make. In his book Beauty Pays, the economist David Hamermesh revealed the many perks of attractiveness and appearance. He talked about how these individuals are more likely to be employed, paid higher wages, and have better-looking and higher-status spouses. Physical appearances have a meaningful impact on people’s life experiences and opportunities — so you should always look your best.

Shop from exclusive brands, and include timeless accessories and apparel in your purchases. But appearance goes beyond just clothing. It covers skin, hair, and teeth. So, you should heavily prioritize your skincare, body care, and oral hygiene.

Possessions

To lead a lavish lifestyle, your watchword for possessions and material things should be quality over quantity. Many luxury brands carry a reputation that conveys status. Possessing items from renowned designers or labels can reflect social ranking. Your home, car, art, and everyday appearances should project value and desirability. The great thing about this is that these items also have high resale values, which could be an opportunity to lock in wealth or another form of investment. According to a Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index report, timeless possessions like art, classic cars, and rare whiskey have outpaced traditional stocks for over a decade, making them a relevant option for many today. These items still have value after usage and could make great future stakes in your collections.

Curating Your Own Luxury Experiences

As much as we all crave a life of fulfillment and our deepest desires, it’s important to understand that building wealth takes time. Some of the most prominent billionaires of today started from a younger age and achieved what they have with determination and persistence. If you start today and remain consistent, you could curate your ideal life in years to come, especially when you invest in the right things.