You may never be filthy, stinkin’ rich yourself, but at least you can live vicariously through those who are.

Thanks to a new study by AfrAsia Bank and New World Wealth, which looked at South Africa’s wealthiest directors, chief executive officers, chairmen and chief financial officers amongst other things, we know how they splash the cash.

Who’s keen to hazard a guess at what their most popular hobby would be?

Congrats if you guessed golf, which might explain why we have so many top-notch courses in this country.

TimesLIVE with the deets:

“Based on the feedback from wealth managers and other high net-worth individual intermediaries … golf is especially popular among the wealthy in SA,” said Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth.

According to the review, SA is home to some of the best golf courses in the world, including Fancourt Links, the Gary Player course at Sun City and Leopard Creek [below].

“Golf has always been a popular sport for SA’s wealthy, especially those who are retired,” said Amoils.

The review found golf was particularly popular because the money brigade chose to live on exclusive golf estates such as Zimbali and Fancourt.

Other popular hobbies included art collecting, mountain biking, cycling and horses, all of which are generally pretty pricey pursuits.

Oh, don’t forget yachting and sailing, skiing (the slopes in Europe are just divine this time of year, darrrling), flyfishing and hunting.

Then there are the collectables, like artworks and fine wine:

“Collectables include any luxury item that holds its value reasonably well over time. The global top-end art market is valued at around US$75bn. African art accounts for around US$1bn of this, with US$450m [R5.5bn] held in South Africa specifically,” the review stated.

Artworks by Irma Stern [below], whose work fetches up to R30m a painting, and Gerard Sekoto are among the favourites of the wealthy.

“According to our in-house indices, South African fine art prices have risen by 28% over the past 10 years [in dollar terms]. Global fine art prices have risen by 12% over the same period,” said Amoils.

Throw in classic car collecting and classic watches, like those of Patek Philippe, Breguet and Vacheron Constantin, and you’re ready to mix with the wealthy.

Does a 2004 VW Polo count as a classic car yet? Asking for a friend.

[source:timeslive]