Recession or Boom, It's Always Great Going for the New-Age Potentialists

The global meltdown has many firsts to its name. Here's anothe one - the rise of the "potentialists".

The recession has given rise to this new breed of people who love to live life to the fullest and still want to continue with a lavish lifestyle, according to an Aussie survey.

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Social researcher Mark McCrindle has released a study that identifies the potentialists, which accounted for about 15 per cent of Australians.

"In a GFC, people weren't saying 'gee it's harder to get the dollars, I'm really going to have to work harder for the money and do longer hours to get it'. Actually, it's the reverse. It's not about a richness of bank account but a richness of lifestyle," The Courier Mail quoted McCrindle as saying.

The Australian Social Insights Report is part of an international research project commissioned by American Express to identify the trends in what has been called a new wave of global financial optimism.

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McCrindle said that while some of the potentialists are in their 30s, but they are more likely to be in their late 40s and early 50s.

And they are most likely to be found in Brisbane, ahead of Melbourne, Perth and Sydney trailing in fourth place.

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"Queensland is the best place for it. More people are moving to Queensland than anywhere else and much of that comes about because of the lifestyle approach," said McCrindle.

The report found that four out of five Australians were inspired by the economic gloom and the devastation of friends being retrenched to re-evaluate their lives.

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Sixty five per cent said that they are now more determined to live life to the full.

The potentialists are deciding to put up with a smaller TV and an old car, prefer to spend their money on enriching their lives through developing their skills and hobbies that could result in a career change.

One in three potentialists want to earn money from cooking, while a quarter want to dedicate more time to writing.

"Work-life balance for them is not actually working less hours, it's actually having more variety in what they do. They're more likely to have two or three jobs and it's in that variety that they actually find their balance.

"They're hard driven people that just don't want the bank balance, they want a rich life experience as well," said McCrindle.

The survey found that 22 per cent of Australians would take a pay cut to work for a company which supported volunteer programs while one third would be willing to have a smaller pay cheque in return for more flexible hours.

Source-ANI