Swaggerish1s

The economic meltdown has had a considerable effect on people’s fortunes worldwide, even the ultra-affluent could not stay away from what has been the worst recession in history. Many of them tumbled down on their wealth count but the pain won’t be spread evenly. The uber-rich are a bit more insulated than the rest of us. Though even the rich went into hibernation mode with reluctance to spend on materialistic luxuries, that’s the hurdle high-end brands had to overcome, which explains the launch of luxury lifestyle magazines even with the recession looming large over their heads. On the contrary, many of the big names in the publishing industry had to shut down due to vanishing advertising and high running costs, but the luxury press went on despite the never-ending arguments among the wealth reporters and managers, that it wasn’t the best time to launch any magazine. Remember the launch of “Prestige New York” from Jane Leong, a Singaporean publishing magnate, earlier this year? And, now The Financial Times is following in its footsteps with the launch of its quarterly glossy FT Wealth to the United States, which is scheduled to hit the stands Oct. 16. The magazine is aimed at what it calls global citizens with personal assets of more than $1.65 million, in addition to the value of their home. The FT wealth magazine will rival the luxury quarterly WSJ magazine, launched in the first quarter of 2008. A Financial Times spokeswoman said that, “the troubled economy, which has wreaked havoc on luxury titles like those published by Conde Nast, provides an opportunity for FT Wealth.” She further added “There’s been a growing focus on wealth management.” “We’ve had tremendous success with this title overseas and expect it to do very well in the U.S.” The first U.S. issue is designed with focus on wealth management and this new luxury magazine will be distributed with the newspaper’s U.S. edition, and about 100,000 copies will hit the news-stands coming October. This recent launch in the lifestyle publishing industry has triggered the never-ending argument whether the luxury market is recession-proof after all. Share your opinions with us by leaving your comments