Elite Traveler – ET Insider – April 15, 2009

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ET Insider – April 15, 2009

Elite Traveler Insider –

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April 15, 2009

Elite Traveler Insider

By Douglas D. Gollan, President and Editor-in-Chief, Elite Traveler Magazine

Welcome to the latest issue of Elite Traveler Insider, the bi-weekly newsletter designed to update our top partners on trends in the private jet lifestyle. This information is provided to offer a better understanding of how to target these globetrotting elite travelers, their impact on your business and other trends that affect you. Remember, private jet travelers are paying up to $10,000 per hour to fly by private jet, so these super rich consumers could be and should be your best customer. We talk about them and how you can get more of them and more from them.

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Mass Affluent Outlook Goes from Bad to Worse…

2. A $1.5 Billion Payday and A Good Luxury Customer…

3. What’s The Real Jobless Rate? Try 15 percent…

4. More success stories from the past 2 weeks …

Over 90 percent of today’s Super Rich are Self Made and over 80 percent of the Super Rich have made their fortune in the past 10 years. Now is the best time to make sure they know your brand. 86% believe Elite Traveler is a good showcase for luxury products.

1. Mass Affluent Outlook Goes from Bad to Worse…

An upcoming survey by The American Affluence Center leads off by stating, “Don’t be misled by the positive headlines from the new New York Times/CBS poll. If you dig below the headlines, you will find 89% consider the current economy to be fairly or very bad and 87% believe it will take a year or more to end the recession (49% say 2 years or more).”

We will be sure to get you some highlights of the survey in the next issue.

Elite Traveler’s BPA audited circulation aboard private jets and mega-yachts in over 100 countries means your ad is guaranteed to reach the highest spending luxury audience in the world no matter where they are from and where they happen to be today – each issue is read by 407,000 readers with a Household Income of $1 million +, the highest of any magazine or newspaper in the world! Sources: 2007 Prince ET/MMR for others

2. A $1.5 Billion Payday and A Good Luxury Customer…

According to a story in The New York Post, “Life is certainly a gas for 35-year-old hedge fund whiz John Arnold.”

The founder of Houston-based Centaurus Energy, Arnold, an energy trader, rode natural gas’ wild price ride in 2008 to a $1.5 billion payday — the third-highest salary among the alpha males who dominate the secretive but hugely profitable hedge fund sector.

Correctly predicting the direction of the price of natural gas last year, as it rose from $7 to a summer high of about $13 and then back to around $7, the baby-faced Arnold, using derivatives and options, is believed to have raised his take-home pay over the past three years to about $3.7 billion — give or take a few bucks.

“As far as natural gas is concerned, he’s definitely on top of the game,” said one rival trader who asked to remain anonymous.

Arnold, who did not return calls for comment on his spectacular year, is believed to be the second-youngest self-made billionaire in the US — just behind Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg.

His phenomenal trading in 2008 continued a string of outstanding years for Arnold, who seemed to be a natural, right out of the box as he joined Enron upon graduating from Vanderbilt University. In his first year at the now-defunct energy giant, he traded energy futures and made the company about $750 million.

He was awarded an $8 million bonus and used it the next year — after Enron imploded — to start Centaurus.

Today, the firm has more than $5 billion under management and while mere-mortal hedge fund kingpins have fee structures of 2-and-20 (that is, a 2 percent fee of money under management and 20 percent of profits), Arnold is said to charge 3-and-30.

Ahead of him on the list of highest-paid hedge-fund managers, as compiled by Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine, were two men who have topped the list before: Jim Simons, a 70-year-old mathematics professor who earned $2.5 billion, and John Paulson, who became famous for shorting toxic mortgages, with $2 billion.

Arnold’s performance is not too shabby for a team of just 10 traders — plus a staff meteorologist to gauge weather patterns that could send gas prices soaring — ensconced on the eighth floor of a nondescript downtown Houston office building.

While he is spending millions of dollars building an estate in the exclusive Royal Oaks neighborhood — after raising the ire of preservationists when he razed his $4.9 million historic manse to make way for a designer estate (leading one snobbish blogger to call him a “a narcissistic goon”) — Arnold has also poured hundreds of millions of dollars into his $272 million Arnold Family Foundation charity.

He and his wife Laura are active philanthropists, often seen participating in education causes like the “Knowledge Is Power Program,” which runs a series of nationwide college- preparatory public schools for “underserved” students.

Arnold, who declined to be interviewed for this story, is also notoriously press shy. It took several days and many calls and emails to get him to even respond to a request for comment, which he declined through his assistant.

Needless to say, any luxury companies that can count the Arnolds as customers should be pretty happy. It’s why we invite you to become part of their private jet lifestyle via Elite Traveler and online at www.elitetraveler.com.

While the world’s economy today is unsteady, one thing is for sure: The wealthy consumers flying aboard private jets are your best bet, and only Elite Traveler delivers these elite travelers to our advertisers through our BPA audited circulation aboard private jets in over 100 countries, including Russia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, India, Singapore, Korea and China. All with one ad buy!

3. What’s The Real Jobless Rate? Try 15 percent…

More and more, I hear from companies that are targeting the top of the pyramid, looking for customers with $1 million + Household Income and Net Worth $30 million+. And with good reason…

A recent story in The Wall Street Journal noted, “U.S. employers shed 663,000 jobs in March, pushing the nation’s unemployment rate to its highest level since 1983 and casting a shadow over recent signs of stabilizing economy.

The deepening labor-market contraction brought job losses for the recession to 5.1 million, with two-thirds of the cuts coming since November, the Labor Department said. The jobless rate jumped to 8.5% from 8.1% — and many forecasters expect it to top 10% by later this year.

The downturn, which started in December 2007, appears to be on track to surpass the two longest recessions since the Great Depression…

…Mr. Summers said he expects several more months of payroll declines, noting, “it now appears fairly clear that the economy is going to be losing jobs at a substantial rate for some months to come.”

Economists generally expect job losses to continue through most of the year, with a firmer recovery starting in early 2010. Friday’s job report showed that every sector of the economy shed jobs, except for health care.

A broader gauge of unemployment — which counts Americans who want work but quit searching and people who want full-time jobs but settled for part-time work — climbed to 15.6%. That high level of slack underscores the difficulties of finding work, sidelining much of the labor force.”

Elite Traveler delivers over 400,000 readers every issue with a Household Income of $1 million +. More importantly, you know that folks who are flying by private jet today are still rich and still living the private jet lifestyle.

3. More success stories from the past 2 weeks…

– Mr. D. M. of Colleyville, TX spent $14,000 on a four-night stay at the Banyan Tree Mayakoba resort

– Mr. M. M. of Leeds, UK spent 5,500 pounds on a Breitling Bentley 6.75 watch

– Mr. M. R. of the Hague, Netherlands spent $14,000 at Brioni in New York City

– Ms. N. P. of New York, NY spent $2,000 on a Chanel handbag

– Mr. D. M. of Rosemont, PA spent $22,400 on a stay at 2 Four Seasons resorts in Hawaii

– Mr. J. V. of Amesbury, MA spent $23,000 on 2 stays at the Rosewood Resort Caneel Bay

– Mr. F. C. of Marlboro, NJ spent $10,000 on Stefano Ricci menswear at Neiman Marcus

– Mr. S. M. of Mumbai, India spent $9,000 on a David Yurman gold and diamond bracelet