Work Hard, Play Hard, Save Hard — Yacht Crew’s Secret to Financial Success

Yachting is a work-hard, play-hard kind of business. You work hard on board the boat. Then the pressure builds and when you go on leave, you play hard to relax ahead of your next stint on board.

But work hard, play hard doesn’t  necessarily bring success. 

So how do you combine work and play to get the most out of your yachting career financially? 

What is the magic ingredient most yacht crew miss?

Which type of crew are you?

Do you have a short-term or a long-term view of your yachting career?
Image: Alma Studio, Unsplash

There are two types of yacht crew.

There are those who see yachting as a career and those who see it as a short-term gig, a handful of years max.

Among both of these groups, there are yacht crew who treat yachting as a financial opportunity and those who don’t.

If you put all that into a grid, you get this:

Yachting is a career and a financial opportunity	Yachting is a short-term gig and a financial opportunity
Yachting is a career, ignore the financial opportunity	Yachting is a short-term gig, ignore the financial opportunity

Yachting as a short-term gig

Some people go into yachting knowing that they will only be working on board superyachts for a few years. Others go into the business intending to make it a career, but find out it’s not for them. Either way, their time in yachting is short.

Despite that, there are huge benefits to working in the yachting industry short term. Not least of which is the attraction of seeing some of the world’s most beautiful places and meeting all sorts of people.

On top of that, there’s the pay, which is pretty good even at entry level. Especially when you take into account the lack of day-to-day living expenses: rent, food, clothing, utility bills, etc. Yacht crew have far more expendable income than the vast majority of people who work ashore.

It’s at this point that the short-term yachties split from each other.

Some will adopt a work-hard, play-hard attitude. They’ll enjoy the money they earn and spend it all. Live now, spend now. And why not? Yachting is hard work, so you deserve to blow off steam. For a few years, the lifestyle is pretty amazing. Hard work and long hours while working, followed by luxury holidays and spectacular locations while off the boat.

Fantastic!

And then, one day, all too soon, it’s gone and you’re making a life ashore among regular 9-to-5 workers. You’ll have plenty of wonderful  memories and lots of stories from your time in yachting, but there is going to be that niggling feeling that you could have done more…and now it is too late.

Turning short-term abundance into long-term benefit

Some short-term yachties take an altogether different approach and this could easily be you. 

Let’s imagine that you work in yachting for four years. And that you earn $3,000 a month for those four years.

Question: if you were offered $1,000 a month to spend on yourself, would you take it? Most people would.

So imagine if you took $1,000 from your monthly salary for yourself, and put the other $2,000 into a savings plan. After a year, you have been able to spend $12,000 on whatever you want. Most people who work ashore can’t do that. Their discretionary spending is much, much lower. You’re streets ahead of them.

At the end of the year, you’ll also have invested $24,000.

By the time you finish your four years in yachting, you’ll have put $96,000 into a savings plan. With investment growth, that should be worth at least $100,000.

So you will be leaving yachting with plenty of memories and stories AND $100,000. Isn’t this a better option? 

$100,000 is the kind of money that gives you long-term benefit.

It’s a hefty deposit on a house. It’s an entire college degree. It’s significant seed money for your own business.

Or, if you leave it invested for 20 years, without adding another penny to it it’ll grow to $250,000+, assuming a 5% annual return. Leave it invested for 40 years, you’re looking at $700,000+. That’ll give you an extra $35,000 or so annually in retirement. (Yes, it looks far away, but trust us, you’ll get there before you know it.)

Regardless of what you do with it, leaving yachting after four years with $100,000 in your pocket is a pretty good result, don’t you agree?

Long-term career and the HUGE financial opportunity

But what if you made a career in yachting and treated it like a financial opportunity? If you can walk away with $100,000 after four years, what could you do if you had a 20-year career in yachting?

Let’s do the easy, fun bit first. 

Let’s assume you’re not messing about. You’re going to sit your exams and move up the ladder; not only in terms of position, but also in terms of boat size. 

Over 20 years, your monthly salary is going to vary significantly. From $3,000 at the start to as much as $15,000 for the final few years, or more. Chances are, you will have more expenses later in life as well. Potentially a spouse and children. So it’s unlikely you’ll only be spending $1,000 a month on yourself, your family and living expenses.

So let’s say for 20 years, you put $3,000 into a savings plan. We’re being super-conservative here, but let’s just see where it goes.

After 20 years in yachting, assuming a 5% annual return on your savings plan, you’ll end up with about $1,200,000. You’re a millionaire. And that’s a conservative estimate.

In reality, you’ll probably end up with much more, if you last the distance and you’re disciplined.

But that’s exactly where the ‘hard’ part comes in.

Work hard, don’t crash hard

Right, that’s the fun part over. Time for the cold shower part. The part that makes it hard.

The idea of being a millionaire, or even a multi-millionaire, is fantastic. But a million dollars isn’t just going to drop into your lap. You’re going to have to fight hard for it. We’re not just talking about the hard work that goes into building and maintaining a career in yachting. We’re talking about something more important and fundamental:

the fight to keep you in the fight.

You are not a machine. You’re human. You don’t have an endless capacity to keep going at a punishing rate. So it’s vital for your long-term success that you look after yourself.

The ‘work hard’ needs to be balanced by significant rest. Not just by ‘playing hard’. At least, not in the traditional meaning of absolutely cutting loose. Working hard needs to be balanced by proper leisure time that allows your body and mind to recover. You should return to work refreshed, rather than worn out.

Otherwise, your career in yachting is going to be cut short by burnout, and along with it any chance you have of leaving the industry a millionaire.

To succeed, you need to plan and protect your leisure time as diligently as you plan your career progression. Exhaustion is a real danger, and you must make sure it doesn’t knock you out of the game.

Work hard and play hard to save hard

It’s vital that you look after yourself and relax properly if you want to sustain a long-term career in yachting
Image: Manuel Meurisse, Unsplash

If you balance working hard and ‘playing’ hard properly, you’ll give yourself the long-term platform on which you can build financial success. But that won’t just happen. There is work to be done. Maybe even the hardest work of all.

It is very simple to leave yachting as a millionaire. Very simple indeed. It’s so simple, you have to wonder why most yacht crew don’t manage to do it.

Well, just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.

You’ve seen how simple it is. Invest $3,000 each month into a savings plan for 20 years. Job done. You’re a millionaire.

Unfortunately, many yacht crew who are in yachting for the long haul fall at the first hurdle. They never make a financial plan that will turn them into a millionaire. They never even get as far as setting up a savings plan. They never even start the journey towards becoming a millionaire.

A financial plan is the key to everything. Not only does making a financial plan help you start the journey, it’ll help you start the journey in the best way possible. It will also help you keep going when things get tough.

Life can knock you off your financial course, but an effective financial plan is flexible and adaptable, making it easier for you to absorb life’s surprises.

Never lose sight of your hard targets

The secret to financial success for superyacht crew is simple. Hard work over a period of time, without letting your ultimate goal out of your sight: whether it is $100k or millionaire status.

That means letting your end goal guide your decisions. Each time you have to choose, choose the option that moves you forward towards your goal.

For instance, many lifestyle choices are difficult to make and long-term financial decisions are the hardest of all.

It’s a battle between the real (reward now) and the abstract (better reward later). 

But if you can resist taking your reward now in favour of a far superior one later, you’re much more likely to make the most of the best chance you’ll ever have of saving life-changing amounts of money.

You don’t have to do it alone

There is one thing that makes hard things a lot easier. That’s having someone helping you the whole way.

Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary climbed Everest together.

Russ Cook didn’t run the length of Africa unsupported.

Neil Armstrong didn’t get to the Moon on his own.

And many of the most famous French chefs you’ve ever heard of would be nothing without Eugénie Brazier.

You too can have the support of someone on your journey towards your goals.

We’ve made it our life’s work to help superyacht crew achieve their financial ambitions. We can help you too.