Where Should Billionaires Shelter?

Proactive wealth managers help their wealthiest clients with as many of life's questions as possible. Lately top wealth holders  have faced a vexing decision: Where to shelter in place to avoid Covid-19?

Billionaires have a range of choices....

Principal residence. A Central Park South triplex or a London town house may offer every convenience, but exposure to staff and other locals who live in these Covid-19 hot spots is undesirable.

Nantucket

Summer home. Decamping to one's summer place in Nantucket or the Hamptons is a popular shelter choice. Locals, however, have proved resentful of top wealth holders and their entourages. (If only we had enough testing to make out-of-staters less threatening.)

Go West. Billionaire landholdings typically include a Texas ranch or a spread near the Grand Tetons. These isolated properties could be a good shelter choice, assuming life in the boonies doesn’t get too boring. Here again, however, the locals aren’t necessarily welcoming.

The family yacht.  David Geffen popularized this shelter alternative. Advantage: the ability to pull up anchor for periodic changes of scene. Possible disadvantages: Most billionaires’ yachts are not as big as Geffen's. Also, there’s a risk that a crew member could become infected and make a yacht unweloomc in other ports.

The family bunker. Before MAGA, top wealth holders who feared the worst included a bunker in their survival plans. Now these underground havens offer another way to shelter in place. As with the boonies, boredom could set in and there’s no sunshine. Still, a deluxe bunker in New Zealand might have appeal. New Zealand has only been grazed by the virus, so billionaires who tire of living in their burrows might feel comfortable enough to venture out into the open air.