What is the Experience Dividend? The Case for Buying Moments
The experience dividend is the long-term psychological return on money spent on experiences rather than possessions.
Adapted from Cornell psychologist Thomas Gilovich’s ‘experiential advantage‘ research, it describes the compounding value of memory, identity, and connection that experiences generate over time.
The wealthiest people on the planet now spend roughly US$45 billion a year on luxury hospitality and fine art.
According to Altrata’s World Ultra Wealth Report 2025, that figure sits in a US$290 billion annual spend on luxury by UHNW individuals.
The share has consistently been moving towards experiences, and away from possessions, across every major wealth report published in the last 18 months.
This isn’t a recession issue. The UHNW population’s collective net worth crossed US$60 trillion in June 2025. There’s clearly no reduction in spending power, but what’s shifting is what the money is for.
What Does the Research Say About Experiences vs Possessions?
The foundation of this work originates from Van Boven and Gilovich’s 2003 paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, “To Do or to Have? That Is the Question.”
Thomas Gilovich, Professor of Psychology at Cornell, has spent more than two decades pulling on this thread.
His finding, replicated across dozens of follow-up studies, is straightforward: once basic needs are met, money spent on experiences produces more lasting satisfaction than money spent on things.
He outlines three mechanisms that explain why.
Adaptation
We adapt to possessions quickly. A new watch is thrilling for a fortnight, but six months later it’s just a watch.
Experiences resist this trend because they happen in the moment, and then exist as memory, rather than sitting in the background of daily life.
The 2014 Cornell study by Gilovich, Kumar, and Killingsworth went even further on this point, showing the anticipation of an experience tends to produce more pleasure than the anticipation of a possession.
The dividend starts paying before the experience itself, and we believe most people can empathise with this feeling.
Identity
Gilovich and his collaborators have shown that experiential purchases form a larger part of who we are than material ones.
The Ferrari you drive might be an incredible possession, but it doesn’t define you.
But the week you spend in Monaco for the Grand Prix with your father, the year before he died, is something that does define you.
Experiences write themselves into part of your being in a way possessions rarely can. This is not to say a material item cannot have this impact.
We used a watch as an example earlier in this article, which might have an emotional connection alongside being an investment.
But for the most part, experience dividends are going to be the ones you value when it matters most.
Comparison
By nature, possessions invite a form of ranking.
No matter what you buy, someone in the world will have a bigger one, a better one, or a more expensive one.
Carter and Gilovich’s 2010 paper “The Relative Relativity of Material and Experiential Purchases” showed across eight separate studies that satisfaction with experiences holds better when comparisons are introduced.
Your weekend at Augusta National for The Masters isn’t diminished by someone else’s weekend at Augusta. If anything, it’s enriched by it.
In this instance, comparison of experiences and possessions has a directly opposite impact.
Why the Data Has Finally Caught Up
It is now clear that the market is moving to where the research has been pointing for almost 20 years.
Bain & Company’s 2026 luxury barometer found that 59% of their HNW respondents expect to spend more on travel next year, with hospitality and dining a close second at 56%.
Wellness, which we know has become increasingly more significant for UHNW audiences, sits at 49%.
Luxury categories such as watches, jewellery, and leather goods, have plateaued.
Global luxury hospitality spending is projected to reach US$390 billion by 2028, up from US$239 billion in 2023.
Flywire’s 2025 Ultra-Luxury Travel Report found that 80% of ultra-luxury travellers planned to maintain or increase their travel spend through 2025.
97% said they would take a trip specifically to reduce stress or disconnect, further supporting the increased investment into luxury wellness we are seeing.
The movement towards experiences over possessions increases further down the age curve.
Altrata’s data shows that UHNWI under the age of 50 are noticeably more inclined towards experiential spending compared to their older counterparts.
Older generations still skew toward traditional assets.
However, we have seen that the vast majority of luxury brands and experiences are focusing their attention on the next generation of wealth.
These are the clients who will be spending their money in the present, and in the next forty years.
How the Luxury Industry is Responding
With almost a decade of expertise in this market, we have distinctly noticed the luxury sector trend toward buying experience for some time, and the pace has picked up in recent years.
We find that our clients, and particularly Olympus members, seek carefully crafted and personalised experiences that pay out greater experience dividends.
But it is a two-sided approach. Not only are consumers making this switch, but brands have been diversifying their portfolios and offerings in preparation of this trend.
LVMH bought Belmond in 2018, opened Cheval Blanc Paris in 2021, took a minority stake in Les Domaines de Fontenille in 2024 alongside Anaïs Ventures, and acquired the century-old Paris restaurant Chez L’Ami Louis the same year.
The Orient Express partnership with Accor launches its first sailing ship in 2026, with the historic train returning to service.
Louis Vuitton opens its first hotel on the Champs-Élysées this year. The Louis flagship in Shanghai, opened in 2025, was built as much for exhibitions and events as for retail.
Ralph Lauren now runs more than 40 Ralph’s Coffee cafés worldwide alongside The Polo Bar in New York and Ralph’s in Paris, with a London Polo Bar opening in 2028.
Bulgari, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Burberry have all opened branded hotels or yachts.
The luxury houses know their clients want to spend time differently, and they are leveraging their brand positions to create deeper experiences for their advocates.
Whilst these are traditional and established luxury brands, they are required to mould and adapt to the changing landscape of luxury to stay at the top of their field.
Why Are Shared Experiences More Valuable Than Solo Ones?
One finding in Gilovich’s research matters more than the others for anyone planning a meaningful experience.
Experiential purchases foster social connection in a way material ones don’t.
As we alluded earlier in the article, Gilovich’s work on social connection found that knowing someone else had shared the same experience produced a measurable sense of kinship.
It could be the same hospitality Football World Cup experience, a family wellness retreat, or a romantic luxury yacht charter around the Greek Islands.
Material possessions fail to replicate the kind of emotions experiences do. Two people who own the same watch feel less connection, not more.
This is the part of the experience dividend that compounds and creates serious impact.
When you take six of your best clients to the Champions League Final, you don’t return with six separate memories; you return with a shared one, built between the people who were there.
Sport holds a particular power in this example as it transcends the boundaries of age, gender and socio-economic backgrounds to provide a platform for meaningful conversations and connection.
These memorable moments become the reference point for the next conversation, the next deal, and the next trip.
It’s why hospitality at the top end has always been about who you bring as much as where you go.
Our expertise in this world means we know the Friday at Monaco is better than the Saturday, partly because of the racing on show but mostly because of the sociable dinner afterwards.
The experience dividend pays out in relationships, not only in emotions. The power of sport and corporate entertainment is something we speak about in more detail in this article.
The ‘Die With Zero’ Theory
Whilst it might look like a morbid title, the theory, from Bill Perkins’ 2020 book Die With Zero, links into the experience dividend research quite appropriately.
Perkins is a hedge fund manager, not a psychologist, and his case is that most people leave more on the table than they realise, not by spending recklessly but by saving experiences for a future self who may not be in a position to enjoy them.
Perkins coined the term “memory dividend”, which links closely to what Gilovich’s research outlines. Experiences compound through memory the way capital compounds through interest.
The earlier you have one, the longer the dividend pays out. The 60-year-old recalling a Riviera summer they had at 35 gets 25 years of return.
A 75-year-old who waited until 70 enjoys five.
The currency that runs out first isn’t money. It’s health, time, and the company of the people you’d want to share the experience with.
What This Means in Practice
What we can say for certain is that the experience economy isn’t a trend; it’s the realisation of a gradual shift which has been settling for two decades.
It’s the simple thought that the things we do produce more lasting value than the things we own, and that the value compounds when we do them with people we care about.
This leads to ‘experience dividends’ that pay out over a lifetime (or career, when in reference to client entertainment).
The question now becomes: what to do now you’re consciously aware that experience dividends exist?
The right answer isn’t complicated. You lean into it.
The right setting matched alongside the right access, and the right company can create bespoke memorable moments that last a lifetime.
If crafted correctly, the moment outlasts almost every other material possession you can buy.
We have spent almost a decade working with clients who already know the value of the right moment, and want the right people in the room when it happens.
Our team is always happy to chat when you’re ready.
