Posted on

Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Check Your Portfolio Right Now

Market downdrafts tempt people to adjust their investments, but that’s not always a wise choice

If you logged on to your brokerage account today and wish you hadn’t, you’re not alone.

BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink said Monday the asset manager hasn’t received this many client calls since March 2020, when the pandemic was beginning.

Retail brokerages including Fidelity Investments had technical glitches Monday morning as traffic surged from people trying to check their portfolios​ and place trades.

Studies have found that the more people look at their 401(k)s, the lower their long-term returns are likely to be.

The S&P 500 drops on almost half of trading days, so checking your portfolio more often means you are more likely to see losses. And there have been lots of losses since President Trump rolled out a series of tariffs last week.

In just two trading days last week, the average 401(k) lost 7% of its value, according to Alight Solutions , which tracks employer retirement plans​. Individual investors moved money out of stock-heavy target-date funds and into the relative safety of bonds and cash.

That’s understandable, but not necessarily wise. Here are some things financial advisers say to keep in mind right now:

Be realistic

Now that the S&P 500 is down almost 20% from its peak, many people are realizing that their risk tolerance isn’t as high as they thought it was when markets were up 20%, said Chelsea Ransom-Cooper, chief financial planning officer at Zenith Wealth Partners in New York.

“It’s a great time to level-set and reflect on what you’re comfortable with,” she said. However, if you decide to make changes, you should tweak a little at a time to avoid making emotional decisions you regret later, she said.

Sell strategically

In general, you should avoid the impulse to sell when the value of your investments falls, said Martin Lowenthal, financial adviser in Needham, Mass.

He has been telling his clients to stay the course and advising that they pull money from alternative sources such as life insurance plans if they need liquidity in the short-term.

“You shouldn’t be drawing from depressed assets if you have other places to go for income,” he said.

However, falling stock prices can create opportunities to save on taxes. If you find yourself with stocks or funds that are worth less than what you paid for them, you may be able to recognize the losses for tax purposes. Selling at a loss and reinvesting the money can help offset taxes on future capital gains while remaining invested in the market.

Buy cautiously

There may be reasons to add to investments, financial advisers say, especially if you have been sitting on cash. Cash losses value to inflation, which is expected to rise as companies digest new tariffs.

With markets starting to price in rate cuts , now might be a good time to lock in returns with fixed-rate products such as certificates of deposits or bonds, Ransom-Cooper said.

If you are younger and have a longer investment horizon, you can consider making small investments into the stock market at regular time intervals to take advantage of a potential rebound while managing risk.

“If you are concerned about inflation, you want to make sure that your money is at least trying to keep up,” she said.

Do nothing

This isn’t the first time the market has tested investors’ stomach for risk, and history says it won’t be the last. There was the financial crisis, then there was the pandemic, and “this time, it’s the tariff tantrum,” Lowenthal said.

“I’ve got full faith in the American economy to ride this out,” he said.

Posted on

INVESTORS FLIP THE SCRIPT TO HELP FIRST HOME BUYERS

For years, first-time home buyers have blamed investors for locking them out of the market, snapping up properties, and driving prices sky-high.

But a groundbreaking Rent-to-Sell scheme is flipping the script—turning investors into key allies, helping renters break free from the cycle and step onto the property ladder.

New data from PublicSquare reveals that 500 investors per month indicate their willingness to volunteer their properties, offering a much-needed lifeline to aspiring homeowners struggling to save for a deposit in NSW and QLD.

This groundbreaking model is helping first-time home buyers break free from the rental cycle by turning typical investment properties into a structured pathway to ownership.

Investors, who often face criticism for driving housing demand, are now making homeownership possible—while securing a 50% boost in rental returns and a guaranteed future sale price.

“There’s always been this battle between first home buyers and investors, but this model is proving they can work together,” said Dean Arnold, CEO of PublicSquare.

“We’re seeing investors who were once viewed as the enemy now giving renters the best shot they’ve ever had at owning their own home.

“It’s a win-win—investors get higher returns and a secure exit strategy, while first home buyers get a genuine pathway to ownership without needing a massive deposit upfront.”

With demand skyrocketing, there is now a three-month waitlist for investors eager to participate in the program, which is exclusive to NSW and Queensland. Meanwhile, thousands of pre-approved homebuyers are waiting for their chance to move in and begin their journey toward homeownership.

Making Homeownership Achievable

PublicSquare’s Rent-to-Buy model is proving to be a game-changer in a housing market where many Australians feel locked out.

First home buyers can move into a property with just 1.1% of the valuation upfront—a fraction of a traditional deposit. Instead of struggling to save while renting, tenants pay an additional 50% in rent each week, which goes directly toward their deposit.

Over time, this structured approach helps renters build savings while locking in a pre-set purchase price range, shielding them from future property price hikes.

The program ensures that only financially capable applicants are approved.

In New South Wales, only 41% of applicants meet the eligibility criteria, meaning they can afford both market rent and the additional deposit-building rent premium.

In Queensland, just 28% of applicants qualify, highlighting the program’s commitment to responsible homeownership.

The Investor Shift

With 30% of Australians now owning an investment property and the ATO reporting that 60% of these properties don’t generate enough rent to cover mortgage repayments and upkeep costs, the Rent-to-Buy model is changing the way property investment works. Investors who take part in the program benefit from:

  • 50% higher rental income, providing immediate financial relief while helping first home buyers.
  • Guaranteed future sale price range, giving certainty for both investors and buyers.
  • Long-term, committed tenants, as renters are future homeowners who treat the property as their own.
  • Portfolio growth opportunities, using increased rental income to secure more investments.

Arnold says the overwhelming demand shows the model is working.

“We’ve got over 45,000 eager homebuyers ready to take their first step toward ownership. Investors are recognising they don’t have to be seen as the bad guys—they can be the ones giving renters a real shot at owning their home, while securing their own financial future,”  he said.

A New Era 

Instead of waiting years to save a deposit while paying ever-rising rent, first home buyers now have an opportunity to move in and gradually secure their home while avoiding skyrocketing property prices. Meanwhile, investors have a sustainable way to expand their portfolios and ensure steady, reliable rental income.

“This is about flipping the narrative,” Arnold said. “For once, investors and first home buyers aren’t on opposite sides—they’re working together. Rent-to-Buy is proving that investors don’t have to be the villains of the housing market; they can be the reason renters finally become homeowners.”

Posted on

How Investing Will Change if the Dollar No Longer Rules the World

If you’ve been investing your savings for the past 15 years, there is a situation you’ve hardly ever encountered: the U.S. dollar getting structurally weaker. Given the fallout from President Trump’s “Liberation Day,” you may need to get used to it.

Wall Street was caught off guard when the greenback dropped against major currencies following this past week’s tariff news. Markets feared that protectionism could put an end to the U.S.’s economic dominance since the global financial crisis.

International money managers, who had massively biased their holdings toward U.S. assets, are feeling the urge to find another source of high returns. American investors, long comfortable ignoring foreign stocks, may no longer have that luxury.

“We are working on the assumption that in the next five years, the dollar is going to lose another 10% to 15%,” said Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Switzerland’s Pictet Asset Management.

To be sure, asset managers in many cases are making short-term, defensive moves to protect against a potential recession. It also follows a trend of money leaving the “Magnificent Seven” stocks specifically— Apple , Microsoft , Amazon.com , Alphabet , Meta Platforms , Nvidia and Tesla —for reasons not fully related to Trump .

These companies drove much of the exceptional returns of the past decade and a half, but their collective price/earnings ratio hit a staggering 46 times last December. At such a lofty level, it doesn’t take much for a fall to ensue.

Even excluding the Magnificent Seven, though, Americans who bought the rest of the S&P 500 15 years ago earned a total return of around 380%. Europeans who did the same, unhedged, earned about 490%—thanks to the dollar’s more than 20% gain against the euro, according to FactSet.

The reverse also holds: Eurozone equities returned about 220% in euros, but only 150% in dollars. Japanese equities tell a similar story—the Nikkei 225 gained 300% in yen, but just 160% in dollars. No wonder Americans haven’t rushed to add these stocks to their 401(k)s.

What is striking is that a stronger dollar should, mechanically, hurt U.S. stocks—by reducing the dollar value of overseas earnings—and help foreign ones. Historically, it has been better to buy the S&P 500 when the dollar was weakening. Over the past five years, that held true: Fed rate hikes strengthened the dollar while hurting equities.

But in the seven years before Covid-19, the dollar and U.S. equities moved in sync. That was the heyday of the “American exceptionalism trade,” when U.S. assets outperformed across the board—not just in tech. This included currency-sensitive sectors like industrials.

Two forces helped drive this. One was the fracking boom, which made the U.S. largely energy self-sufficient, cutting corporate costs and turning the dollar into a kind of “petrocurrency.” Investors learned in 2014 the counterintuitive lesson that the U.S. economy may actually suffer when crude prices nosedive, and benefit when they rise.

Indeed, the other factor was that U.S. consumer spending was unrelenting, even at times when gas-pump prices increased. For years, it has been powered by government deficit spending, a tech sector exporting services globally at scale, and the wealth effects from a booming stock market.

Most of that now risks being turned upside down, exposing investors to the prospect of falling equities alongside a weakening currency.

Trump has pledged to plug the budget deficit, which could arguably weaken the dollar. Meanwhile, he has launched a tariff war that has tanked the equity market, triggered retaliation from China and may provoke European blowback against U.S. tech giants.

The new regime could echo the early 2000s, when investors turned against both tech and U.S. stocks in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble. At the time, the dollar also had a positive correlation with equities, as capital flowed into the so-called Brics—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

In a report to clients Friday, Jeff Schulze of ClearBridge Investments noted that international equities have historically picked up the slack when the S&P 500 lagged behind. In such cases, the MSCI EAFE and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes beat the benchmark U.S. index by an annualized average of 2.0 percentage points and 12.1 percentage points, respectively.

A weaker dollar itself helps support the financial resilience of developing nations. Meanwhile, the European Union has rekindled investor hopes that it can close the growth gap with the U.S. through fiscal stimulus, industrial policy and energy independence.

At the same time, this is nothing like the 2000s. The rest of the world is far more exposed to trade than the U.S.’s relatively closed economy and will have to grapple with China rerouting a huge glut of cheap goods there.

Another option for investors, then, is to remain in U.S. equities and hedge the currency risk—but that is expensive—or to broaden exposure to discounted “value” stocks and try to identify potential long-term winners.

An economy reshaped by Trump would imply more investment and less consumption. Since the only profitable way to onshore production—whether a Nike shoe or a General Motors SUV—is to use machines instead of labor, capital goods manufacturers may eventually benefit. But they are also among the hardest hit by today’s indiscriminate disruption to global supply chains.

Given the complete lack of clarity, the only solution for those who still need the long-term upside of stocks may be to do all of it at the same time. Right now, diversification isn’t just a strategy, it is a lifeline.

Posted on

No More Roughing It: 6 New Luxury Hotels Near National Parks

America’s national parks experienced their busiest year ever in 2024 with tens of millions of visitors seeking a slice of nature at sites from Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula to the Great Smoky Mountains.

Though the U.S. park system is facing budget cuts, its popularity isn’t slowing down.

And thanks to a spate of luxury boutique hotels opening near these storied landscapes, Americans can now bond with nature more poshly.

“National parks offer accessible, restorative travel experiences, but for years, visitors had to choose between some version of camping, select service hotels or inconsistent independent properties,” said Mike Weiss, co-founder and co-CEO of Trailborn and Castle Peak Holdings based in New York.

He and his co-founder, Ben Weinberg, are among those updating the idea of “camping out” by launching boutique hotels near national parks.

While demand for legendary lodges, such as the Ahwahnee in Yosemite, the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone and the cliff’s-edge El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon hasn’t dwindled, boutique hotels draw guests with serene spas and fine-dining restaurants that offer spectacular views.

Among their non-rustic features: soaking tubs, fancy high-count bed linens and telescopes for stargazing. Here, the new hot tickets where swooning over Mother Nature doesn’t mean roughing it.

Hotel Yellowstone at Jackson Hole

Don’t let the name fool you: Wyoming’s most famous park is a 2.5-hour drive away.

But at this adults-only lodge that opened last summer, waking up in your roomy suite includes perks like views of the Grand Tetons and Snake River Valley.

Should the scenery become too overwhelmingly majestic, focus instead on the house granola or a huckleberry and peach smoothie, options on the breakfast menu.

Situated right outside the billionaire bustle of Jackson Hole, the retreat houses a tranquil spa, where guests can book 10 minutes in the Himalayan Salt Treatment Room ($60) to wind down after a day spent with Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park.

Others watch the sunset from the patio with a glass of William Knuttel “Atlas Peak” Cabernet from Napa Valley, Calif. From US$1,199 a night.

Trailborn Grand Canyon

Set in Williams, Ariz., arguably the Route 66-iest town in America, this newly opened outpost dispenses with road-trip kitsch to offer 96 colorful rooms beside the celebrated ravine.

Consider a curated hike, lounge by the pool or schedule a laser-guided constellation tour for a group of up to 10.

A Southwest-inspired steakhouse and on-site saloon (named Miss Kitty’s after Amanda Blake’s character in “Gunsmoke”) are nods at the area’s rootin’, tootin’ heritage, while extras like bocce ball courts and a scavenger hunt board for children provide entertainment before, or after, visiting the main attraction. From US $123 a night.

Firefall Ranch at Yosemite

For California travelers exploring Yosemite’s granite domes and sequoia groves, this gaggle of pet-friendly cottages and villas in the town of Groveland, Calif., makes a good base camp.

Guests can kick back in spacious indoor-outdoor living spaces, play cowgirl on a trail ride or try mountain cuisine (like bone-in wild boar) at on-site restaurant YOVA .

Opened in the spring of 2024, the welcoming spot has a heated saltwater pool and hot tubs.

Its proximity to the northwest entrance station of Yosemite is a plus too. From US $525 a night.

Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa

Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes might not be the best-known national park, but this luxury resort in the San Luis Valley (a certified Dark Sky region) is attracting travelers with its inventive design and focus on astronomy.

The rooms—transparent geodesic domes—cater to those who want to marvel at the Milky Way by night and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains by day.

Amenities include private Jacuzzis, heated floors and, of course, high-end telescopes. Situated 3.5 hours from Denver. From US $700 a night.

Ofland Escalante

Nestled between Utah’s iconic national parks—Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Zion—this adventure-focused retreat sits within a landscape no one would call dull. Choose between vintage Airstreams, cozy casitas and 4-person cabins.

When you’ve had your fill of nature, spend an evening at the drive-in movie theater, cannonball into the pool, or order patty melts and soft serve at its Americana food truck.

For a more secluded experience, deluxe cabins come with private bathrooms and fire pits. The cozier lodging options feature shared bathhouses with shower stalls. Tiny cabins start at US $169 a night, deluxe cabins, US$259; Airstreams, US$175.

The Pathmaker Hotel

Bar Harbor’s newest boutique hotel is two blocks from the sandbar to Bar Island, a part of Maine’s Acadia National Park. Situated downtown on Cottage Street, with its nearby shops and restaurants, the Pathmaker’s 46 rooms have Americana-style furnishings and smart TVs.

Dining is easy too: The mid-century-furnished restaurant serves up a complimentary breakfast, which includes Belgian waffles or spicy frittatas. From US$139 to US $329 a night, depending on the season.

Posted on

Lamborghini Unleashes the Temerario: A Hybrid Supercar Masterpiece Lands in Australia

Lamborghini has officially debuted its second High-Performance Electrified Vehicle (HPEV), the Temerario,  showcasing a bold new chapter in hybrid supercar engineering.

More than 250 guests gathered at Sydney’s Carriageworks for an exclusive unveiling that blended power, prestige, and performance with unmistakable Italian flair.

At the heart of the Temerario is a revolutionary 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine paired with three electric motors, delivering a combined 920 CV of power and a spine-tingling 10,000 rpm redline.

Capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.7 seconds, and reaching a top speed of 343 km/h, the Temerario represents the bleeding edge of Lamborghini’s hybrid transformation.

“This isn’t just a car — it’s a statement,” said Stephan Winkelmann, Chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, who was in attendance with other global executives.

“With the Temerario, we mark the final chapter of our Direzione Cor Tauri plan — becoming the first ultra-luxury brand to fully hybridise our lineup.”

Two versions — a striking matt Blu Marinus and a lightweight Arancio Xanto Alleggerita — were displayed at the event, underscoring Lamborghini’s commitment to personalisation and performance.

Guests experienced the Ad Personam customisation suite firsthand, which offers more than 400 exterior colour options and curated interior trims.

The Temerario’s cutting-edge e-4WD system, real torque vectoring, and active aerodynamics promise record-breaking power and a refined, driver-focused experience — equally thrilling on track and road.

Francesco Scardaoni, Lamborghini Asia Pacific Region Director, praised the Australian market as a key player in the region.

“Temerario fuses innovation and emotion like no other. It’s a beast that sings at 10,000 rpm and delivers a drive like nothing else in its class,” he said.

Visually, the Temerario is a design evolution: aggressive, sculpted lines, a bold shark nose, and the brand’s new hexagonal DRL signature mark its identity. Aerodynamic efficiency is integrated into every element — from the sculpted roof to the rear air intakes and wide diffuser.

Yet, for all its modernity, the Temerario remains deeply faithful to Lamborghini’s DNA: performance-first engineering, unmistakable Italian design, and a dedication to pushing limits.

As the global automotive world shifts towards electrification, Lamborghini’s latest launch isn’t just keeping pace — it’s leading the charge.

Lamborghini Power Train

The heart of a Lamborghini has always been its drive system.

With the new Temerario, Lamborghini takes an entirely new approach, with several years of development, delivering an unprecedented super sports car powertrain comprising an extremely high-revving biturbo Internal Combustion Engine concept combined with three electric motors.

“We wanted to develop an incomparable, high-performance sports engine that combines the best of two worlds: an emotional combustion engine based on a twin-turbocharged V8 and a performance-oriented electrification.” Rouven Mohr, Chief Technical Officer at Lamborghini, said.

“Our concept of incorporating three electric motors with a combustion engine ensures to achieve instantaneous acceleration, torque vectoring and energy recuperation.

“With the Temerario we are redefining the segment. Temerario is in a league of its own, in terms of engineering solutions and performance.”

The new powertrain is integral to the second super sports car in Lamborghini’s High-Performance Electrified Vehicle (HPEV) product range.

The first target was to achieve the highest possible power and torque while at the same time offering the response of a classic high-revving naturally aspirated engine. Therefore, only high-performance components are used in the drivetrain: the new 4.0-litre V8 biturbo engine has a specific output of 200 CV per litre. It works with an oil-cooled axial flow electric motor fully integrated into the V8 housing.

Propulsion is supported by two electric motors on the front axle.

“By combining a high-revving V8 biturbo with three electric motors of axial flux type we are taking a very sophisticated approach that has never been seen before in series production and the result will impress Lamborghini fans all over the world – With this adrenaline-machine, we are catapulting ourselves into a new paradigm for super sports cars,” Mohr said,

This linearity and progression, with high revving characteristics, was previously only possible with naturally aspirated engines. Thanks to the turbochargers, high torque with high engine speeds is now offered.

The new engine with the internal designation L411 is now one of the most powerful engines in the segment. The V8 biturbo delivers its peak power of 800 CV from 9,000 to 9,750 rpm and 730 Nm of torque between 4,000 and 7,000 rpm.

The electric motor, in the P1 position (between the V8 engine and the gearbox), ensures immediate response starting from low engine speed and continues consistently through gear shifts. It works as a “torque gap filler” and improves the transient response, giving the sensation of linear and limitless progression up to 10,000 revs.

Thanks to the two large turbochargers, efficiency and performance are increased at top speeds.

These are located compactly in the V of the engine as a “hot V8” to optimize the packaging and thermal management. The V8 biturbo can rev up to 10,000 revolutions per minute: the maximum boost pressure of the turbochargers is 2.5 bar (abs). The turbines are controlled with an electrical wastegate and a wheel-speed sensor.

Lamborghini has designed air filter boxes with tubular cartridges, making them highly compact to create space and become even more efficient.

Lamborghini Exteriors

At first glance, the Temerario reveals Lamborghini DNA in its typical Lamborghini silhouette: clear and puristic lines, short and compact overhangs, integrated aerodynamics and a bold shark nose.

The Lamborghini design language has evolved to create a new hexagonal Daytime Running Light (DRL) signature, rendering it strongly recognizable and identifiable from far away.

The hexagon concept is the main design theme throughout the car: on the main bodywork, the side air intakes, the taillights, and the remarkable hexagonal exhaust pipe.

“This unique hexagonal light signature ensures a high recognition value within the Lamborghini range, and is also clearly identifiable in the distance,” Borkert said.

The geometric hexagon paradigm has been one of Lamborghini’s most recognizable symbols since the 1960s.

The hexagonal daytime running lights, which incorporate an air tunnel, are part of the design philosophy of incorporating lights within the aerodynamic concept. Furthermore, air channels positioned below the headlights improve the aero performance and cooling of the front high-performance braking system for better efficiency.

The Temerario’s designers combine elements from aviation with a visceral muscularity that starts at the front.

The design is characterized by well-formed athletic surfaces and a cabin that tapers towards the hexagonal tailpipes.

The tip of the hood dominates the entire front end in a strong and striking shark’s nose design, a symbol of bravery and speed.

The sharp, elegant headlights are slightly overlapped by the hood, drawing inspiration from the sports motorcycle world.

Air-guiding slats connect the low front spoiler with the hood, while fins on the sides direct the airflow along the flanks.

Sharply shaped side skirts support the aerodynamics and increase downforce simultaneously.

With broad shoulders and long, powerful muscularity, the side stretches from the front over the door, emphasizing the extreme sportiness of the Temerario. The powerful and efficient air intakes behind the side doors ensure the necessary airflow for the V8 biturbo’s performance and visually enhance the chassis’ downforce.

A fixed rear spoiler emphasises the car’s rear width. The compact yet technical rear end incorporates details from motorsport, such as the wide diffuser that extends under the vehicle and the integrated exhaust tailpipes.

The rear lights feature the new hexagonal design, allowing air to pass through for engine cooling.

The roof is also functional in terms of aerodynamics. A slightly rearward offset profile directs the air directly onto the integrated rear wing.

The designers almost invisibly integrated air inlets behind the passenger compartment above the sculpted shoulder. This highly functional component helps supply sufficient air to the engine, radiator, and turbocharger.

The heart of the Temerario is the new 4.0-liter V8 biturbo engine with an integrated axial flux electric motor.

In realizing the new powertrain concept, designers and engineers developed a new chassis and body: the Centro Stile Lamborghini had the greatest possible freedom to present the drive system in a visually appropriate way to emphasize a true mid-engine feeling.

Lamborghini presents the V8 biturbo openly, like a motorcycle’s engine under a transparent hood.

“With the clean yet exciting styling of the Temerario, we give a new shape to the essential and iconic Lamborghini design language, and take a huge step towards the future,” Borkert said.

“The Temerario combines style and performance to perfection, presenting an unprecedented convergence of design, engineering and driver experience in a new model.”

Posted on

Bold by Design at Cape Schanck

Just listed with Kay & Burton Flinders agents Sasha Romensky and Tom Barr Smith, the unique coastal retreat at the southernmost tip of the Mornington Peninsula has a price guide of between $5.5 million and $6 million. 

Winner of the prestigious Robin Boyd Award in 2000, this bold architectural landmark was created for prominent graphic designer Garry Emery, founder of Melbourne-based EmeryStudio, which shut in 2016. 

Unsurprisingly, the Peninsula weekender of a prominent creative mind cuts a striking asymmetrical figure within its soft bush setting inside the gated National Estate surrounded by the Cape Schanck Golf Course.  

Crafted from concrete, glass, and stainless steel, the designer home starkly contrasts its natural environment and the rolling fairways of the golfing green. 

Known for their highly contemporary creations, Denton Corker Marshall have been behind an eclectic collection of commercial projects including the Stonehenge Exhibition and Visitor Centre in the UK, the Australian Pavilion in Venice as well as the Anzac Hall and Australian War Memorial in Canberra. 

The four-bedroom two-storey house is essentially two rectangular boxes, one perched atop the other, with the upper level rising above the tree tops.  

As essentially one free-flowing space, the upper floor hosts the combined living and dining room with a suspended steel hearth wood-burning fireplace.

At its heart, a sleek modern kitchen features a long freestanding island bench, stainless steel surfaces and hidden appliances behind contrasting warm timber cabinetry to promote a sense of minimalism. 

The main bedroom on the same level has an ensuite, a walk-in wardrobe plus an elevated centre stage position overlooking the land and out to the ocean. 

Downstairs, via a glass-encased, polished concrete staircase, two more bedrooms feature strategically placed angled windows capturing water views.

These rooms with built-ins share a full bathroom and laundry while a separate self-contained studio space with a bathroom and kitchenette, built-in cabinetry, workstations, and a communal meeting area, making it an inspired home office or a guest suite. 

Enveloped by more than 4000sq m of lush landscape, the property’s low maintenance grounds feature established native trees and low lying shrubs allowing for the panoramic ocean and gold course views. 

Fingal and Gunnamatta beaches are close by, and the 100km Mornington Peninsula Walk or the shorter Two Bays Walking Track or Coastal Walk, offer locals an alternative way to witness the wild ocean coastline and Cape Schanck Lighthouse.

The house is about 72km from Melbourne’s CBD and about 15kms from the townships of St Andrews Beach and Flinders. 

Emery Residence at Cape Schanck is listed with a price guide of $5.5 million to $6 million through Kay & Burton Flinders agents Sasha Romensky and Tom Barr Smith. 

 

Posted on

The Rise of Lifestyle-Driven Luxury Real Estate: Mayfair, Marylebone and Beyond

With the pandemic behind us, there has been a rise in buyers prioritising lifestyle when investing in luxury estates and this shift is transforming the market.

With an eye on long-term returns, buyers seek properties that offer exceptional value and an elevated way of life.

Mayfair, Marylebone and more are among the most sought-after locations for those drawn to exclusive, culture-rich living spaces.

Here, we’ll explore how these trends shape the landscape of luxury property investment.

Key Drivers of Lifestyle-Focused Investments

● Green spaces have become popular, with proximity to parks and recreational areas becoming a major consideration for the tranquil environment away from the busy city life.

● Cultural amenities, such as access to galleries, museums, theatres and high-end dining options, elevate the living experience, blending luxury with leisure.

● Long-term ROI enables buyers to recognise the value of properties that offer lifestyle benefits and strong, consistent returns on investment over time.

The Appeal of Lifestyle-Driven Luxury Real Estate

For high-net-worth individuals, pursuing an ideal lifestyle drives purchasing decisions. Post-pandemic, a shift has emerged: Homebuyers are looking for properties that offer more than just impressive architecture or grand square footage.

Buyers today are willing to pay a premium for properties in neighbourhoods that embody this lifestyle.

It includes places where they can enjoy privacy, aesthetic beauty and convenient access to leisure, art, and entertainment.

Suburbs That Are Attracting Lifestyle-Driven Investors

From Chelsea to Belgravia, here is a selection of prime locations captivating lifestyle-focused investors:

Mayfair: The Epitome of Exclusivity

Mayfair is one of London’s most prestigious neighbourhoods, known for its exclusivity, luxury boutiques, world-class dining and proximity to Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace, offering privacy and cultural access.

● Property prices: Prime properties in Mayfair command some of the highest prices in London, with prices per square foot consistently among the highest in the market.

● Amenities: The area features Michelin-starred restaurants, private clubs and art galleries, attracting investors with its cultural appeal and strong long-term property value potential.

Marylebone: A Village in the Heart of London

Marylebone offers a village-like atmosphere in the heart of the city, with independent shops, cafes and excellent transport links, attracting lifestyle investors seeking peace and quiet close to central London’s cultural and commercial hub.

● Property prices: Marylebone’s average property price hovers around £1.66 million, making it an attractive option for high-end buyers.

● Community appeal: Its cultural attractions, including Madame Tussauds, the Sherlock Holmes Museum and proximity to Regents Park, make it an attractive investment for those seeking quiet living with cultural access.

Chelsea: The Charm of a Traditional London District

Chelsea, one of London’s most iconic districts, offers cultural landmarks, boutique shopping, exclusive restaurants and proximity to the River Thames and King’s Road, appealing to buyers seeking an active lifestyle and luxury living.

● Property prices: In the SW3 area, Chelsea’s real estate market sees average prices of £1.91 million, with prime properties yielding strong returns for investors.

● Green spaces and proximity to culture: With green spaces like Battersea Park and cultural spots like the Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea offers a blend of tranquillity and urban energy, attracting lifestyle-focused investors.

Notting Hill: Bohemian Luxury Meets Culture

Notting Hill, known for its eclectic charm and vibrant cultural scene, boasts some of London’s most valuable real estate. With high-end boutiques and famous markets, it blends luxury living with a laid-back, creative atmosphere.

● Property prices: Properties in Notting Hill can range from £1.1 million to over £10 million, depending on location and size.

● Cultural heritage: Its artistic heritage, along with theatres and galleries, makes it a desirable spot for investors who want to live in a neighbourhood that reflects history and contemporary culture.

Belgravia: Timeless Elegance

Belgravia, one of London’s most elegant neighbourhoods, features private garden squares, neoclassical architecture and high-end retail. Its proximity to top schools and embassies attracts investors seeking security, privacy and a refined lifestyle.

● Property prices: With an average property price of £2.75 million, Belgravia remains one of London’s most stable luxury markets.

● Exclusive living: Belgravia is renowned for its exclusivity, making it highly attractive to those who want to be at the centre of high society while maintaining a low profile.

Market Data and Investment Trends

Understanding the market in these sought-after areas is crucial for potential investors.

In Q4 2024, the total turnover for prime real estate in central London was £1.59 billion, with significant interest from international buyers.

Across these luxury suburbs, the average rental yield stands at around 4.5%, with properties in Mayfair and Belgravia offering some of the highest returns due to their high desirability.

● ROI trends: Prime properties in areas like Chelsea and Marylebone have shown consistent year-on-year returns of up to 5%, making them solid choices for long-term investors.

● Buyer demographics: A growing number of international buyers from the Middle East, the US and Europe are making their way to these neighbourhoods, further driving demand for high-end properties.

The Future of Luxury Real Estate Investment

The future of lifestyle-driven luxury property investment looks promising, with high-end buyers seeking financial returns and a curated lifestyle.

As more buyers are drawn to these exclusive neighbourhoods, demand rises due to personal preferences and investment potential. These areas are poised to remain at the forefront of London’s luxury real estate market.

Charles Whitehead, Director of Pearl Lemon Properties, has more than  14 years of expertise in luxury buy-to-let properties and high-end flips, providing clients exclusive investment strategies to further enhance their property portfolios.

Posted on

Georgina Wilson Reveals Five Instagram Design Myths That Could Be Ruining Your Home

Instagram may be full of dreamy interiors, but architect Georgina Wilson says what works on social media doesn’t always translate to real life.

As one of Australia’s most-followed architects, Wilson has seen first-hand how influencer-led design shapes—and sometimes sabotages—our homes.

From impractical layouts to fast-fashion finishes, here are five biggest myths she’s busting.

1. Form Over Function

That statement pendant light might rake in likes, but can you actually open your kitchen drawers?

Many influencer-inspired designs prioritise visual drama over practicality, sacrificing comfort, efficiency and long-term usability in the process.

2. Set Design, Not Home Design

Fluted cabinetry, curved walls, oversized arches—they look great in a styled shot but aren’t always built to last.

Wilson warns that these trends are often “set pieces,” designed for impact rather than daily living.

3. The DIY Myth

With time-lapses and tutorials galore, influencers make renovations look deceptively easy.

But Wilson says DIY often results in costly missteps: “Designing a great space requires experience, technical skill and planning—there are no shortcuts.”

4. Trends Over Timelessness

What’s hot today will feel tired tomorrow. Chasing viral aesthetics can lead to expensive regrets, especially if it means compromising on layout, materials, or functionality.

“Good design should outlast any algorithm,” says Wilson.

5. Influencer Projects Are Often Free – Yours Won’t Be

Wilson points out a crucial reality: most influencer renovations are heavily subsidised by brand partnerships.

Homeowners, meanwhile, foot the full bill—sometimes for design choices that don’t serve them long-term.

Social media is a powerful source of inspiration, but Wilson urges homeowners to think beyond the grid.

“A truly great home isn’t built for the ‘after’ photo,” she says. “It’s built to be lived in—comfortably, beautifully, every day.”

Posted on

This Financial Firm Can Give Investment Advice in Gen Z Slang, No Cap

Artificial intelligence is coming to the world of investment advice, and it can speak in Gen Z slang.

That is the pitch from Arta Finance, a wealth-management startup led by an ex-Google executive and backed by the former chief executive of Swiss-banking stalwart UBS.

Arta is rolling out an AI assistant that can dispense financial advice in spoken conversations—and in any preferred tone and argot. Even for the 20-something millionaire set.

“Low-key gonna break down ur investment plan rn,” the Arta assistant says, responding to a client’s query on his investment portfolio. “No cap, ur portfolio is fire!”

“No cap” is an assurance that the statement that preceded or followed it is indeed factual.

The AI tool won’t recommend any investments that don’t match customers’ stated appetite for taking risks.

And it definitely won’t trade on its own without the users’ consent—it isn’t that kind of artificial intelligence.

But it can walk through the pros and cons of specific stocks, point out cost-saving tax strategies and offer advice on how someone might tweak their investment strategy if they take a pay cut.

Many wealth managers are exploring ways that AI can support human advisers behind the scenes, said Shirl Penney , CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, a platform for independent advisers. But bots that engage directly with clients are still relatively rare.

“It’s really about utilizing AI to minimize some of the back office operations,” Penney said, adding that the tools can be used to fill out forms or draft notes to clients.

“It’s still pretty hard for AI to tell someone they should sell their business or that they should retire—or to give advice when they’re going through a tough life event, like a divorce.”

Arta, led by Caesar Sengupta, is betting that younger, digital-native Americans will value mobile apps, convenience and lower fees over the face-to-face advice their parents and grandparents received from traditional financial advisers.

“This is essentially a relationship that is available on your phone at any point in time,” said Sengupta, Arta’s CEO and co-founder.

Arta, whose platform is also available through a desktop app, isn’t the only upstart wealth-management firm to tout its mobile services or even push into AI.

Just last week, Robinhood Markets unveiled an AI assistant for its brokerage platform.

And with fees on many financial services under siege from low-cost options, many banks and brokerages are eager to provide financial advice to a wealthier clientele who pay higher fees.

Arta’s platform is currently only available to accredited investors, meaning users will need well over six figures in assets to qualify. The company is also looking to license its technology to other financial firms, Sengupta said.

Ralph Hamers, the former CEO of UBS and then ING, said AI tools like Arta’s can reshape the financial-advice industry. He doesn’t think AI is coming for financial advisers’ jobs.

Posted on

Would You Pay $500 for Bed Sheets? I Finally Did, and Here’s Why

The other day I threw open the windows, ready to spring clean and flip the mattress. Then I started to strip my bed only to see…sheets shredded by my husband’s toenails.

How long has this situation been developing? I spend eight hours a day physically interacting with my bedsheets, so how did I miss this?

We all have private, recurring bedroom fantasies. Mine is that every night I tuck myself into crisp, unwrinkled, lavender-smelling sheets. But the sad reality is I give my bedsheets no attention—and on the rare occasions I do buy new ones, I get another cheap, $150 set that wrinkles, doesn’t wear well and feels limp after the fourth go-round in the laundry.

But spring is a season of renewal. Maybe I can change—with help.

“I’ll spend money on things for myself—like a $500 pair of boots—so why not on the bedsheets I use every day?” I asked Charles D. Lindsey, an associate professor of marketing at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Lindsey, whose research focuses on how consumers make choices, said it’s not unusual for shoppers to spend more money on items other people see.

“Clothing is a very public product, and you get social status from it. There’s the emotional satisfaction when someone says, “I love your sweater,’ ” he said. “But bedding is very private. You may be thinking, ‘Oh, that’s just something I sleep on.’ ”

A few centuries ago, I probably would have been more attached to my sheets—if I were lucky enough to have them. Before the 18th century, many people didn’t. They didn’t even have beds, much less separate rooms for sleeping, said historian Annie Coggan, an associate professor at Pratt Institute School of Design in Brooklyn. “They slept on the floor or with the servants.”

In the American colonies, beds and bedrooms were a symbol of wealth and status. “In probate inventories of the time, there was a hierarchy of how things were valued,” she added. “First was the bed linen—because a bedsheet took the most labor if you were weaving it yourself, or else it was imported from England or France, which made it dear. Then it was the table linen and then the rugs.”

These days, when an expensive queen-size sheet set with pillow cases costs upward of $500, bed linens would still rank high in the probate inventory of my estate. But my inner cheapskate can’t help but wonder: What makes sheets worth more than my $150 set?

“Oh, Michelle, when you have good sheets, it’s like having a love affair,” said Tricia Rose, founder of Rough Linen, a sheet maker in San Rafael, Calif., whose Orkney linen queen-size flat sheet is $217.

“In what way?” I asked.

“They absorb moisture so you feel cool and sleep better, they feel fresh on your bed for longer between washes and they will last 10 years if you care for them properly,” she said. Laundering in cold water is easier on the fabric, she says, and “whisk them from the dryer when they feel faintly damp instead of baking them to death.”

“But what about wrinkling? I can’t get the binding on the top sheet to lie flat even if I iron it,” I complained.

“On cheap sheets they sometimes don’t take care to cut the fabric with the grain,” she said.

Also, high-quality sheets are woven from extra-long strands of cotton or flax fibers, “which makes the yarn smoother, finer and softer,” said George Matouk Jr., a sheet maker in Fall River, Mass., whose company’s signature Lowell queen-size flat sheets cost $549 apiece. “They’re woven from cotton grown in the Nile valley, which has ideal conditions to grow the plants.”

My next call was to Manhattan interior designer Gideon Mendelson.

“If I were your client, and I hypothetically had a situation where my husband’s toenails shredded the sheets, how would you convince me to buy nice ones instead of cheaping out on them?” I asked.

“First, I would tell you what my mother, who was a designer, would say—that we all should spend on our shoes and our bed linens. Those are the things we experience the most in a day,” he said.

Next, he would recommend pedicure tools. “I hear about toenails, and dry heels, and both are bad for sheets,” he said. “I often put a nice pumice stone in the bathroom.”

“OK, I’m ready to make the leap—any other advice?” I asked.

He recommended choosing a solid color to complement the other textiles in the bedroom. “Sheets have to fit in with everything else, because they’re usually the last element you choose.”

“So, undyed linen,” I said.

“I lean toward a cotton percale myself,” he said.

But I prefer the texture of linen—and have long coveted Rough Linen’s heavyweight Orkney sheets (“The fabric weighs 8.3 rather than the typical 5.6 ounces per square yard of linen and will last longer,” Rose said).

I ordered a nearly $500 set of sheets. They were nice and flat post washing and damp-drying, and after I slept on them—so smooth! so luxurious!—I was a convert. I want these sheets to last forever.

So I put a toenail-care kit in the bathroom.

Posted on

Sold for $86 Million: An LA Compound With Rod Stewart’s Former Mansion

A Los Angeles compound that includes the musician Rod Stewart’s former home has sold to two separate buyers for a total of $86 million.

The sellers are Bradley Bell, executive producer and head writer of the long-running daytime soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and his wife, former diplomat Colleen Bell. They bought the house from Stewart for $6.25 million in 1992.

The roughly 6-acre compound is being divided into two sections and sold separately.

The bigger of the two parcels—a roughly 4-acre lot that includes the main house—was sold to David Zander , a television, commercial and film producer for about $57 million.

The remaining parcel, with a circa-1911 cabin on it, has been sold to Nick Kaiser, co-founder of the private-equity firm Marlin Equity Partners for about $29 million.

Zander has a penchant for storied real estate: He previously bought, renovated and sold Lasata, the circa-1917 Hamptons estate where Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis spent childhood summers.

Neither Zander or Kaiser responded to a request for comment.

Designed in 1925 by Montecito architect George Washington Smith, one of the masters of the Spanish Colonial Revival style in Southern California, the property’s main 17,000-square-foot, six-bedroom Spanish Colonial-style home was built for Henry Kern, a retired distillery entrepreneur, and his wife, Elsa Mary Kern.

The Kerns were tough clients for Smith, forcing him to redesign the property several times and to include greater levels of ornamentation than was his usual style, according to “The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills,” a book by the late real-estate agent Jeff Hyland.

When the Bells bought the main house, they were newly married and in their 20s; Bradley had been making a name for himself in Hollywood producing “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

“I don’t know that we could really even afford it,” said Colleen.

The property required a lot of work, but the house reminded them of Bradley’s childhood vacation home on Wisconsin’s Lake Geneva, where the pair met as teenagers when Colleen’s parents rented the house next door.

They spent two years renovating and restoring the house. Stewart, who bought the house in the 1970s, had added art nouveau-style features, including a disco room.

The Bells removed those elements and restored as many original details as possible, uncovering the coffered ceilings and removing marble floors to reveal the original tiles.

“Of course, it took longer than we anticipated and cost more than we thought it would,” said Colleen, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary under President Obama and is now director of the California Film Commission.

“We just hoped that the [television] work would continue and we’d be able to pay our bills, which it did, and the show stayed on the air.” The drama, which started in 1987, has been running for 38 seasons.

In 2004, the Bells bought the longtime home of the actor Gregory Peck for $19.5 million, razing the Peck home and merging the properties into one roughly 6-acre compound.

The couple had a longstanding friendship with Peck and his wife Veronique Peck; they all frequently had dinner together.

“When Brad and I moved in, they had left a beautiful little Poinsettia plant with a handwritten note that said, ‘Dear Colleen and Brad, welcome to the ‘hood,’” Colleen said.

After Peck died in 2003, Veronique approached the Bells and asked if they’d like to purchase the property.

The Bells weren’t planning to sell, but were approached several times by Zander’s agent. “We said, ‘OK, we’ll just show them around,’” Colleen said.

“Then, one thing led to another, and we started to think about it.” The Bells raised their four children in the house, so selling the property is “poignant,” she said.

Zander wasn’t interested in the entire property, however, so the Bells’ agent, Ben Bacal of Revel Real Estate, brought in Kaiser to take the rest.

The sale has taken more than a year to complete because of the complexities of subdividing the property, Bacal said.

Bacal represented the Bells and Kaiser. Drew Fenton of Carolwood Estates represented Zander.

Posted on

The Trump Family Advances Its All-Out Crypto Blitz, This Time With Bitcoin Mining

The president’s two oldest sons are investing in a bitcoin-mining company, adding to the Trump family’s expanding portfolio of cryptocurrency businesses.

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.’s American Data Centers will merge with and take a 20% stake in American Bitcoin, a mining operation majority-owned by Hut 8 , the publicly traded crypto-infrastructure company. Together, they aim to create the world’s largest miner of the digital currency, with designs on building its own “bitcoin reserve.”

In a matter of months, the Trumps started a decentralized-finance, or DeFi, project called World Liberty Financial , said their social-media company would invest in bitcoin and other digital assets, launched meme coins to capitalize on the popularity of the president and his wife and announced plans to issue a World Liberty dollar-backed stablecoin . And in his return to the White House, President Trump has said he aims to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”

The digital networks that comprise the cryptocurrency markets have offered the Trumps an ideal complement to their other family business: real estate, Eric Trump told The Wall Street Journal.

“We are a hard-asset family. I’m a hard-asset guy,” said Eric Trump, who will serve as American Bitcoin’s chief strategy officer. “My entire life has been spent building things, and I don’t think there is ever a better hedge against all of that than the true digital assets.”

American Data Centers was launched in February by Eric Trump, his brother Donald Jr. and Dominari , a small investment firm that recently appointed the Trump brothers as advisers.

As part of the deal, Hut 8 will shift nearly 61,000 of its specialized bitcoin-mining machines to American Bitcoin in exchange for an 80% ownership in the new entity. The companies said no cash changed hands in the deal.

Eric Trump said American Bitcoin, which aims to go public, will remain a separate venture from the Trump Organization, the family real-estate empire he runs. But World Liberty, the DeFi platform Eric Trump called his “whole heart and soul” might collaborate with the bitcoin-mining operation in the future, he said.

American Bitcoin’s executives said their plans to mine and stockpile bitcoin for their own reserve are unrelated to the U.S. strategic crypto reserve that President Trump established earlier this month with an executive order.

Bitcoin, the world’s most-popular digital asset, is created by computer servers that solve complex equations, unlocking, or “mining” new tokens.

The business of mining new bitcoin has grown more challenging as new companies have sprung up to capitalize on rising prices and the number of unmined tokens has dwindled. Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto , capped the digital currency’s supply at 21 million, and more than 90% of those tokens have already been released. Critics also raised concerns about the environmental impact of bitcoin mining , pointing to the massive amounts of energy required to run mining operations.

Some critics also said they were concerned that the Trumps’ recent investments in crypto pose conflicts of interest, given Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

“At least in the last term, it was all golf courses and hotels, whereas now he’s getting into crypto, which could have a systemic effect on the economy,” said Richard Painter , a former ethics attorney for President George W. Bush . “This is an area where conflicts of interest, whether the Trump family or anybody else, could have devastating consequences.”

Hut 8, based in Miami, will host American Bitcoin’s mining machines at its data centers and include the new company’s results in its financial statements.

Asher Genoot , Hut 8’s chief executive, said the company’s ability to secure cheap energy, build low-cost data centers and mine bitcoin at a low cost will help differentiate American Bitcoin from competitors. Hut 8 owns 11 data centers.

“There is still 100-plus years of bitcoin mining left, and bitcoin continues to appreciate,” Genoot said. “Being the lowest-cost bitcoin miner is how you will continue to manage through that volatility and being able to be at scale.”

Eric Trump said American Bitcoin and other U.S.-based miners will benefit from the recent decline in energy prices.

“That is what puts bitcoiners in this country,” he said. “It is going to put them ahead of everybody because we actually have a government that wants to see low-cost energy.”

Mike Ho, chief strategy officer of Hut 8, will serve as executive chairman of American Bitcoin. Matt Prusak, former chief commercial officer of Hut 8, will become the company’s CEO.

Venture-capital investors Justin Mateen , co-founder of Tinder, and Michael Broukhim , co-founder of FabFitFun, an e-commerce startup, will join Hut 8’s Ho and Genoot as the board of directors for American Bitcoin.

Posted on

A London Duplex With Ties to Early 20th-Century Royalty Comes with a Secret Garden

A duplex unit with access to a secret garden in the heart of London’s Mayfair neighborhood is now available for £8.25 million (US$10.67 million).

Like most homes in Mayfair, this one has a long and royal history punctuated by war. The three-story unit is located on Park Avenue on the ground-level of a grand Edwardian mansion that was once the home of the wealthy Earls of Lindsay.

One of several units in the brick rowhouse, it spans 3,394 square feet and features three en-suite bedrooms, 10-foot ceilings, a guest cloakroom beside the reception hall and French doors that lead to the private Green Street Gardens.

The “secret” gardens are the highlight of the property, said Peter Wetherell of the brokerage Wetherell, which is representing the seller, who could not be identified.

“If you just walk the streets of Mayfair you’d never know that the garden exists,” he said.

The residence is part of a nearly rectangular complex of townhouses that borders the interior Green Street Gardens, which are therefore largely undetectable from the outside. The gardens are accessible to about 30 homeowners, according to Wetherwell.

Located just a block away from Hyde Park, the site originally held a 1778 Georgian building, which was demolished during a rebuilding of the Grosvenor Estate in the late 19th century, according to information from Wetherwell. The current Edwardian mansion was on track to be built in 1913, but the interruption of World War I delayed its completion until 1925.

In the 1930s, it was purchased by Scottish nobleman Reginald Lindesay-Bethune, the 12th Earl of Lindsay, who was known to host cocktail parties for his prestigious neighbors.

The Earl died just before the beginning of World War II, at which point the home was shuttered.

Afterward the whole complex was converted to office space under a temporary provision that expired in 1990—at which point it was returned to its original residential use.

The gardens have their own backstory. They were designed by Grosvenor Estate architect Edmund Wimperis prior to World War I on the grounds that had once been the Royal Stables. The garden was meant to enhance the value of the properties that bordered it, which has apparently worked.

One of the neighboring properties, which was once the Cypriot embassy, sold for £25 million (US$32.5 million) last year. That home spans 8,435 square feet and also has access to the secret garden.

Posted on

If You Want to Live to 100, Being Stubborn Helps

Want to up your odds of living to 100?

Stay active and eat a diet full of whole foods and vegetables. Have strong connections with family and friends. Work hard. But the most underappreciated quality may be a spry and determined mind-set.

These are the findings of the Cilento Initiative on Aging Outcomes on nonagenarians and centenarians conducted by the University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and University of Rome La Sapienza. The team of researchers interviewed 29 individuals 90 and over and their family members living in the Cilento region of Italy, among the places with the highest number of 100-year-olds in the world.

About 200 centenarians open their eyes each morning to the stunning beauty of the Lucan Apennines hills in southwestern Italy. They spend their days playing with their great-grandchildren, and going on slow-paced strolls while making visits to longtime friends along the route. But it’s more than their idyllic environment that’s leading to their long lives.

They have an accepting attitude toward life’s challenges, determination to move forward, and a positive outlook on life. In other words, a healthy mind-set matters just like eating right and exercising.

One participant told the study: “There is always a solution in life. This is what my father had taught me: To always face difficulties and hope for the best.” This particular person had had surgery to fix a heart problem but never gave up.

The wisdom of the old takes on growing importance in an aging world. Currently, 722,000 people are centenarians globally. That figure is estimated to reach almost four million by 2054, says the United Nations. The number of American centenarians, currently 108,000, is expected to more than quadruple.

Scientists believe genetics accounts for at most 25% in how long we live. Mental outlook and  lifestyle  are more important, though genetics play a growing role in those living extremely long lives.

“It’s never too late to adopt a positive mental attitude and this will have benefits,” says Nicholas Schork, professor of psychiatry and biostatistics at UCSD School of Medicine, who co-wrote the Cilento study. Schork, 62 himself, notes that even someone his age or older who adopts a healthy mind-frame can extend his or her life. 

Here are four things you can do to increase your chances of a long, healthy life.

Accept Setbacks

Bad things can happen to anyone. But people who made it to the 90-year-old mark demonstrated grit to work through it and accept the worst—even the loss of a spouse.

The same participant in the Cilento study who had heart surgery said: “I lost my beloved wife and I am very sad for this. We were married for 70 years. I was close to her during all her illness and I have felt very empty after her loss. But thanks to my sons I am recovering and feeling much better.”

In a 20-year-long study published by professors at Yale University and the National University of Singapore, they found acceptance of oneself, positive attributes and imperfections alike, decreased mortality risk by 19% and added three years of life. Whereas before this study, experts considered several factors as part of long-term well-being, this research drilled deep to point out the most relevant one for longevity: acceptance.

The bottom line is we need to stay resilient and keep remaking our lives, even when fate deals us a tough hand.

Don’t Give Up

Interestingly, there was a sense of stubbornness common among the folks in the Cilento study.

“They are telling me not to go to the land anymore. The land is my life.” said one participant in the study. “They say I am ill but they don’t know that I become ill if they do not allow me to work my land.”

Another participant told how her mother-in-law, while pleasant, always insisted on doing things her way. Stubbornness isn’t always viewed kindly, but it can be a life extender for the elderly.

Work Hard

Most of the participants in the Cilento study had a robust work ethic during their life and continued to help out in old age. One family member in the Cilento study exclaims about an older participant, “I am always careful about [her] because she is so active that if you do not pay attention, she does things she mustn’t do like hanging linen!”

In Okinawa, the elderly women weave delicate clothing made up of banana trees, which is then sold in the marketplace. Likewise, in other Blue Zones, town elders keep busy, whether that means going to a family gathering or taking care of their great-grandchildren. All that gives them a sense of purpose.

In the industrial West, studies have found that people who  retire later  have lower rates of dementia. Spending retirement kicking back might seem appealing, but it isn’t the best approach when it comes to longevity.

Maintain Strong Connections

The participants in the Cilento study had ties to their family, their religion and to the region where they live. “We were a close family of five children,” said one participant. “We loved each other a lot and helped each other.” This fosters a sense of belonging and purpose.

Having strong relationships increases the likelihood of living longer by up to 50%, according to a study at Brigham Young University involving over 300,000 individuals. Dr. Brenda Matti-Orozco, chief of palliative medicine at Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey, says social connections can serve as a buffer against stress, reducing the body’s production of stress hormones like cortisol, which are linked to health problems and inflammation.

The same connection with family and faith holds true for Loma Linda, Calif. where members of the Seventh-Day-Adventist Church live long lives. Or Okinawa, Japan. Both areas are so-called “Blue Zones” with a high number of centenarians.

Most of us, of course, won’t get to spend our entire lives in such tight communities. But we can still do our best to maintain connections with friends and family; we can participate in religious organizations or social groups; we can volunteer in our communities.

A study by the University of Glasgow analyzing nearly half a million people found visits with family and friends at least monthly can help you live longer. The stronger the social connection, like an endearing friend or a loving family member, the better the health outcomes, they found. 

For folks with a youthful spirit, the chances of making it across the 100-line look better than ever.

Posted on

5 minutes with: Craig Wing, Citizen Kanebridge Ambassador

Can you share your background & journey?

Well, I suppose most people remember me from my days playing rugby league for the Roosters, Rabbitohs, and NSW.
I was fortunate enough to become a dual international after moving to Japan to play rugby union, and I thrived under the pressure that came with competing at the highest level of sport.

These days, the game has changed, but the fundamentals of how I apply myself remain the same. I now navigate Sydney’s most exclusive property markets—the CBD, Eastern Suburbs, and Lower North Shore. I work behind the scenes to secure some of the city’s most coveted homes. Given the nature of my client base, my work also extends into commercial property. While the mechanics differ, the same principles of access and discretion apply.

You started investing in property as a teenager. How has your approach evolved?

As a young athlete, I was encouraged to invest early, and property seemed like a safe bet. My first purchase was a terrace in Paddington in the late ’90s when I was 19. I focused on blue-chip assets from the start.

Over time, my portfolio grew, and I experimented with some speculative property investments, which led to tough but invaluable lessons.

Rather than walking away, I refined my approach and developed a deep passion for property. Now, I guide and invest based on first-hand experience, focusing on long-term value to ensure that decisions are grounded in fundamentals rather than fleeting trends.

As someone who has spent years in the media spotlight, how do you ensure discretion for your clients?

I’ve experienced the discomfort of having personal affairs turned into headlines. Many of my clients are high-profile individuals who prioritise discretion just as much as I do.

For me, privacy isn’t just a promise—it’s a discipline. I carefully control the flow of information, work only with trusted professionals, and secure most deals off-market to ensure confidentiality.

Some of the biggest transactions I’ve facilitated have gone entirely unnoticed because that’s how my clients prefer it. While some suggest I should publicise my work more, I build my business on trust and referrals from those who appreciate true discretion.

What do you focus on when helping your clients find the right property?

The first step is understanding why my clients are buying—whether they’re upsizing, downsizing, or investing—and defining their non-negotiables. Some prioritise privacy, others want ocean views or proximity to top schools. When multiple decision-makers are involved, aligning expectations early is key.

I also encourage long-term thinking. Will this property suit them in five or ten years? Is it a stepping stone or a legacy asset? For downsizers, is it truly future-proof?

Beyond finding the right property, I ensure it stacks up— analysing zoning control, other development, and potential risks. If needed, I bring in architects, planners, builders, or legal experts to provide a complete picture before any decisions are made.

My network provides access to off-market opportunities that most buyers will never hear about. It is a world built on discretion, relationships, and knowing what’s coming before the market does.

At this level, time is as valuable as money. My clients are high-performing individuals who can’t afford inefficiencies, so I manage every aspect of the process—from sourcing and inspections to negotiations—so they can make confident decisions without distraction.

What are some of the perks of working in the ultra-prestige property space?

One of the biggest perks is working with incredible properties—waterfront estates, architectural masterpieces, and homes most people only see in magazines. Equally rewarding is collaborating with top professionals in sales, development, design, and finance, and gaining insight into how they solve problems. Their experiences sharpen my own and ensure the best outcomes for clients.

What is most fulfilling, though, is working with self-made, highly successful individuals whose drive and discipline remind me of elite athletes.

It is a privilege to help them make one of their most significant financial decisions—securing a dream home or a strategic investment. It’s about aligning every decision with their vision and long-term goals.

What are you most looking forward to in 2025?

I’m really looking forward to our annual family trip to the Basque Coast in France to visit the in-laws. My daughter is four, my son is one and a half, and I’m amazed that my daughter is now completely fluent in French. I can’t wait to see her fully immersed in the language and culture for a few weeks. Plus, nothing beats the batter and good food, family time, and a European beach summer!