25 ways to live the good life—without breaking the bank

Drive a BMW but long for a Bentley? Dream of a hideaway home on the Maldives when you're at your cottage in the Cotswolds? Don't worry, you are not alone. A growing number of fractional ownership, part-share and affordable luxury schemes and services are available to cater to your every whim. And everything, from a fast car to a £1,000 designer bag, can be yours—for a while, at least. Claire Coleman and Raul Peschiera round up the best ways to live beyond your means

Deals on wheels

1. écurie25 "Our clients get the benefit of amazing cars but without having to worry about servicing and insurance," says Flora Heathcoats, founder of super car club Ecurie 25. "We started with six cars and tomorrow we take delivery of our 13th, a convertible Bentley Continental. Membership works on a points system: every year, you are allocated a number of points to spend, and these are skewed, so a Ferrari F430 Spider is more expensive than a Lotus Exige, summer is more expensive than winter and weekends are more expensive than weekdays. On average, though, you get about 35 to 40 days a year. At the moment, we have around 105 members and we restrict membership to ensure a good car-to-members ratio.

"Members usually have to be between 25 and 65 and have experience of driving high-performance rear-wheel drive cars. If you don't, we can send you on a course—many of our members choose to do this anyway. We'll also look at points on your licence and your no claims bonus.

"We have a mix of members: some live in London and don't have a car at all; others have two or three very nice cars but want the opportunity to drive in something a little more impractical."
www.ecurie25.co.uk
Full memberships start at £8,450 a year, with a £750 joining fee.

2. P1 international Founded by Damon Hill, this was the UK's original supercar club. It has just spent £1m on new motors. Joining fee £2,500, plus membership from £11,750.
www.p1international.com

3. Bespokes Three UK locations, no membership needed. Hire an Aston Martin DB9 Volante for £1,850 plus VAT for a long (four-day) weekend.
www.bespokes.co.uk

4. Xlr8cars London based, no membership needed. A long weekend with the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder will set you back £3,400 plus VAT.
www.xlr8cars.com

5. RPM Based in Scotland, a one-off membership fee of £7,500, gets you access to this "hypercar" club on a pay per drive basis. All cars are owned by the firm.
www.rpmclub.com

Cruise controls

6. The Whistlejacket Club Michael Fenton, co-founder of fractional sailing scheme the Whistlejacket Club wants people to enjoy the benefits of a boat, without the hassles: "We came up with the concept three and a half years ago, and the vessel is currently being converted. We'll start cruising in 2008. People want to be able to say, 'We're free this weekend; why don't we head down to the boat?'. We'll let you do this." For £9,000 a year, two people can spend 10 nights on board a 12-cabin, 243ft super-yacht with all food, drink and facilities included.

"We see it rather like a country club; you don't have exclusive use, but you are sharing the boat with like-minded people. With a maximum of 180 members, we should be running at around 55 per cent occupancy, so you should always be able to get a cabin when you want it. It's a flexible scheme—people can use their nights as five weekends, or a 10-day stretch, or they can let their friends use them and even buy extra days.

"The itinerary for the first year will probably be cruising around the Med in summer, and the Caribbean in winter. After that, it will be decided by the members—if cruising around Thailand appeals, that's what we'll do. The aim is to make the yacht lifestyle affordable without the commitment that can detract from your enjoyment. And, frankly, I defy anyone to find a decent five-star cruise for as little as £450 per person per night."
www.whistlejacketclub.com
Entry fee of £170,000 (refunded if you leave the club) and annual fees of £9,000.

7. SLM Group Offers 25 per cent shares in luxury catamarans (above) with prices starting at £130,000 for four weeks' annual use of the 55ft yachts. The SLM fleet arrives in the Med for the first time this summer.
www.slmgroup.net

8. YachtPlus Luxury 132ft yachts designed by Lord Norman Foster. Shared ownership starts at just under £1m, including five weeks' cruising a year. Annual costs £100,000.
www.yachtplus.co.uk

9. Own a slice If you want to sail your own yacht, £13,000 will get you one-fifth of a 30ft yacht, to use one week in five for three years. Running costs are £4,000 a year and after the three years you receive a share of the re-sale value.
www.ownaslice.co.uk

Cutting your cloth

10. Dress2kill Offering more than just tailor-made suits, Dress2kill is also a members' club, offering grooming services, including a barber. Founder James Hibbert says: "When you come to get a suit, you can go downstairs and have a haircut and a wet shave. You are pampered from head to toe." New shops are set to open in Jermyn Street and Leadenhall Market in 2007. Suits from £350.
www.dress2kill.com

11. Fit2Suit Offering suits from £365, Leeds-based Fit2Suit is co-owned by Michaela Begley and Ruth Innes. "A lot of tailors produce female suits," says Innes. "But fitting is the hard part, because there are more variations." These exacting standards have also led men to choose Fit2Suit and 50 per cent of current clients are male.
www.fit2suit.co.uk

12. A Suit That Fits From its low starting price of £110 you can tell that A Suit That Fits is different. It's a no frills, online service that allows you to choose every detail of your suit, without a tailor. Co-founder David Hathiramani says: "Every suit is pretty much unique. You design it yourself." Once you choose your style and options and key in your measurements, the suit is sent to expert tailors in Nepal.
www.asuitthatfits.co.uk

13. Apsley Tailors Based in Pall Mall, Apsley is closer to Savile Row, with suits and shirts built by hand from scratch. Sunil Chopra, general manager, explains: "We have our own tailors for fittings. The cutting and the first fitting is done in-house before we send it to Hong Kong where the handwork, stitching and assembling is done." After three weeks, you leave with your hand-stitched bespoke suit. Prices start at £400.
www.apsleytailors.com

Come fly with me

14. Jet Card This aircraft fractional ownership scheme was was set up by Jonathan Breeze "because we felt there was a gap in the market for people who might like the benefits that fractional ownership offers but who don't want to make the five-year commitment that many of these schemes demand".

Breeze says clients are typically individuals of high net worth, with most earning around £500,000 a year. "Maybe they have a business in the south of France that they need to visit four or five times a year, a chalet in Italy that they pop out twice a year, and perhaps they play golf in the Algarve as well. For these people, buying 25 hours of flying time a year at a fixed price makes sense. They don't have to ring around for lots of quotes. They get guaranteed availability and a guaranteed price. You have to bear in mind that with the discount we offer on return flights, people can be flying for under £500 an hour per person."

Breeze claims that's not much more expensive than flying club class and you can fly when you want, where you want and you don't have to queue.

"Businesses are beginning to see the value of this, too," he says. "One of our clients is a tax and legal team that regularly flies to see a client in Switzerland. The client; a rich man who wants to stay rich, worked out that with them charging all the hours they spend queuing at the airport to him, it made more sense for them to fly privately. And, as airports and airlines get worse, more and more of those who can afford to fly privately, will."
www.thejetcard.co.uk
A 25-hour JetCard starts at around £81,000.

15. Netjets Offers a range of schemes, including a five-year part lease from around £205,000 on your own jet and a one-year plan with 25 hours' flying time from £85,000.
www.netjetseurope.com

16. City flyer If you've got a pilot's licence, you can buy a share in a plane that entitles you to 50 flying hours a year from just £5,100.
www.city-flyer.co.uk

A taste of the good life

17. Wineshare "Since the age of 18, I've been involved in the wine industry, mostly on the trade side," says Andrew Gordon, founder of Wineshare.

"But I'd always wanted to have my own vineyard. In 1985, I bought Domaine du Grand Mayne, a rundown vineyard to the east of Bordeaux. A lot of friends and contacts thought it was a wonderful idea and wanted to be involved, so I leased out rows of vines, and it has grown from there."

Wineshare now has three other vineyards and nearly 5,000 members. "Some are long-term wine enthusiasts who love coming out to the vineyard for our vintage weekends, where they can see what's
going on and pick grapes, others are people who have been bought one of our presentation packages—a year's rental and two bottles of wine with personalised labels for £99."

Sixty per cent of the wine produced is sold to members, the rest goes to wholesalers, who supply restaurants and hotels. "Our Sauvignon Blanc has just been made the house white at the Berkeley Hotel in Mayfair. I'm surprised and delighted Wineshare has been so popular, but for me, and my wife, it still remains a very personal venture."
www.wineshare.co.uk
From £75 a year, you can own a row of vines in a French or Italian vineyard and enjoy benefits such as discounted wine from the vineyard and personalised labels.

18. Ladybank For £3,250, you can buy a 50-year share in a single malt Scotch Whisky distillery entitling you to six bottles a year plus other benefits. Distillation is planned to begin in late 2007.
www.whisky.co.uk

19. Oyster Circle For a £200,000 redeemable share and an annual fee of just over £13,000, you can spend 28 days in a selection of £2m properties from South Africa to Chamonix.
www.theoystercircle.com

20. The Markers Around £150,000 plus £7,500 a year gets you up to 56 days in luxurious homes that are a putt away from the world's best golf courses.
www.themarkersclub.com

Sun, snow and shares

21. Hideaways Club "My wife and I have spent 10 years debating where to buy a holiday home—we like to ski, play golf, lie on the beach and no one place can offer all that," explains Hideaways Stephen Wise, chief executive of the Hideaways Club. "Also, once you buy somewhere, you are tied to it and you have to worry about what to do with it when you're not there. Wanting a solution to these problems, and watching the success of residence clubs in the US, inspired the Hideaways Club."

The scheme was launched this January with 40 members and 12 properties. The aim is to grow to 600 members and 100 properties. Members buy an initial share (currently £190k but rising to £207k on launch) and the plan is to keep the share price rising, so if members leave, they get a return on their investment that reflects the appreciation of the property portfolio.

"Members will also pay £10,000 a year to cover property maintenance, our concierge services and the running of the club, for which they are allocated 10 points. A peak week costs three points," says Wise. "We're looking to establish a mix of members, some with school-age children, some not, and a mix of properties, to keep a good balance and everybody happy."
www.thehideawaysclub.com
From £190,000 a share, plus £10,000 annual fees.

A passion for fashion

22. Fashion Hire Aditi Chadha has been a self-confessed "designer bag addict" since the age of 18 when she got her first Prada rucksack. "When I came across an American company that hired out designer bags, I thought it was a concept that would work well in the UK. We launched in September 2006 and currently have around 150 members and around 175 bags, but we're adding to the collection all the time."

There are various membership schemes; the pay-as-you-go one costs £9.95 a month and then you pay for bag rental (from £20-£100 a month) and shipping charges on top of that. Or there's Gold membership at £120 a month with no additional fees and the option to hire two bags at a time. "Our members range from students and housewives to professionals—all of them follow trends, know about bags and want to have access to them at a fraction of the cost. And many desirable bags are produced in such small numbers that it's virtually impossible to get hold of them. We have to be careful when we're selecting bags for the library as they have to be relatively durable. But the plan is to retire 'gently used' bags and sell them off to our members at discounted prices."
www.fashionhire.co.uk
Membership starts at £9.95 a month for a minimum of three months. Postage and packing is £9.99 per bag and bag rentals start from £20.

Must haves

23. Favourites Offers you the chance to own one twelfth of a racehorse, from £1,495 and monthly costs of £200. The fees also buy you entry to the Owner's Stand on race day and, of course, a share of any winnings.
www.favourites.co.uk

24. RK Jewellery Based in central Scotland, this small company hires out diamond necklaces and bracelets from as little as £40 for three days.
www.rkjewelleryhire.com

25. The Artflex Allows you to invest in art masterpieces and benefit from a proportion of the profits when they're sold. Sadly, though, you can't hang them in your front room.
www.theartflex.com