Ever heard of the saying the grass is not always greener on the other side? This may be true in many aspects of life but when it comes to the more extravagant luxuries in life, the grass may be greener for some. The ‘one percent’ of the world also known as, the rich and extremely wealthy, enjoy expensive hobbies mostly because they can afford it and if you have all the money in the world, why not live your best life, right?

But what does ‘living your best life’ mean to the millionaires and billionaires of the world?

Take a look at some the world’s most expensive hobbies:

Scuba Diving

What many dream to do once in a lifetime, there are some who scuba dive all year round for fun. However, exploring the great underworld of some of the world’s most beautiful oceans does not come cheap. Scuba diving equipment is estimated at $500 (USD) (R8000 in South Africa) but that’s not all, those who wish to journey beneath the oceans on a regular basis would still need to fork up about $300 (R5000) for their scuba diving certification. Not to mention, the travelling costs to jet off to various scuba diving destinations around the world which could cost over an estimated R50 000.

Collecting cars

For the average individual owning a car that gets you to where you need and back is enough. However, for the world’s wealthiest people, collecting and maintaining various luxury and vintage cars are considered a sport or hobby. Popular cars amongst collectors include a Ferrari, Bugatti, Jaguar E-Type, Porsche 911, Mercedes Formula 1 racing car and many more. One of these cars could cost anywhere between or over $4,4 million to $10,8 million (R74 million to R184 million).

Polo

It is the sport that is often seen in movies and in prestige magazines, Polo, commonly known as ‘the sport for the rich and upper class’ is a hobby that requires not only skill but a fortune in membership fees. To enjoy such a fine and expensive hobby, one would need to cover the costs of owning and maintaining a Polo horse which can be estimated at a total of R596 000. In addition, a yearly, Polo membership fee is required, this could start from an estimated $8000 (R136 000) or more.

Yacht racing

To sail the oceans across the world on an extravagant yacht – one could only dream of this luxury. While most are dreaming of what it would be like to set foot on a $2 million yacht (over R34 million) some make their homes in extravagant yachts and if that’s not enough they race them too. Yacht racing is certainly a sport or hobby reserved for the elite one percent of the population. This hobby requires purchasing a yacht which could cost between $2 million to $800 million (R34 million to R13 billion) maintaining a yacht, estimated at $100,000 (R1,7 million) a month and additional costs to race your yacht could cost anything between $8 million to $10 million (R136 million to R170 million).

Collecting Exotic pets

Not only is it a hobby which seems to be growing more and more in popularity amongst celebrities, it is also a very expensive hobby. Purchasing and owning an exotic pet or a few exotic animals is the ‘new normal’ for many of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Owning exotic animals such as tigers, octopus, white lions, chimpanzee’s, Fennec Fox and many more comes at high cost given that most of these animals are endangered and are not your ordinary K9 or feline fur pets. Many of these animals could cost anything between $140,000 to $300,000 (R2,3 million to R5,1 million) to purchase and between $40,000 to $50,000 (R681,000 to R852,000) to maintain.

This concludes that some hobbies are just not for your everyday, ‘average joe’. Want to upgrade your lifestyle and live like ‘the other half do’? The lifestyles of the rich and famous could be yours today. Place your bets on LottoStar’s Africa Millions draw and you could win a payout of over R1,9 billion.

Live your best life with LottoStar!