Money Matters

>>Sales of the new Ballon Bleu watch for $48,000 are steady at the Cartier store in Waterside Shops. New Mercedes-Benz, Porsches, Bentleys and other expensive vehicles are still turning heads along the Gulfshore. And "sold" signs are popping up on multimillion-dollar homes.

Despite the nation’s economic woes, Southwest Florida residents and visitors continue to purchase luxury items.

"Our feeling is that the Cartier client is very aware of what’s going on nationally, globally—all the factors, whether it’s the housing market or an election year," Naples store director Glenn Guiler says. "The true luxury-lifestyle client has known about these things and been anticipating them."

Luxury retail is experiencing annual growth of 20 percent to 30 percent, compared to growth of less than 5 percent in the general retail market, according to The Luxury Marketing Council. In 2006, sales of luxury retail goods were estimated at $194 billion globally, representing about 16.9 percent of all retail sales.

But as the year continues, shoppers might be more careful. Nationally, some publicly traded high-end retailers are reporting declines in sales.

"They are watchful, waiting," says estate planner Michael Kilbourn of Kilbourn Associates in Naples, whose clients have $10 million to $50 million in assets. "Even the wealthier clients are concerned with the marketplace."

Paul Belfore, executive vice president of Naples Capital Advisors Inc., says his clients aren’t trying to curtail spending. The presidential campaign, not the economy, is the focus of conversation among his clients, who have at least $1 million in investable assets and $2 million net worth. Their concerns are who will win the White House, which party will control Congress and how that could impact their tax situation.

"They don’t have the same issues that the general blue-collar [worker] might have," Belfore says. "They have not changed their spending patterns to anything that we notice."