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New York, NY—Counter to stereotypical beliefs, the most likely customer for a luxury automobile is a rich woman, not a rich man. And millionaire men are far more likely to buy a piece of jewelry than their female counterparts.

These are some of the findings of a recent Shullman Research Center survey of gender-driven attitudes among millionaires.

Maybe men really do believe that he who dies with the most toys wins, or women really are innately more cautious, because overall, the survey found that millionaire women tend to have higher net worth, while millionaire men are far more likely to be the shoppers in the family than the women.

Spending overall will increase slightly among millionaires this year, according to Shullman’s survey. Very few respondents (only 2%) said they plan to increase spending a lot, while more than one third will increase it a little. Nearly all millionaires plan on saving some money, with women outnumbering men almost two to one on plans to save more this year than last year.

Among all respondents, 55% were likely to use their wealth to buy one or more luxury products or services, but by gender, 67% of male respondents said they plan to indulge in luxury, while only 44% of women did. Pleasure travel and luxury vacations ranked number-one among all purchases for both genders—as well as for purchase intentions—but again, the men were more likely to splurge for one than the women. Men also outranked women in spending for premium wines and jewelry, the number-two and number-three categories respectively of what millionaires buy. Men also outranked women in buying luxury watches (11% of respondents vs. 8%). Women, meanwhile, are more likely to buy designer apparel and fragrances, though cosmetic purchases remained equal among genders.

Other plans millionaires have for money this year include charitable giving, investing, and saving for their children’s college education.

But when the same data is classified by age, a bigger variety of differences occur among generational cohorts than gender. The survey polled Millennial (ages 18-33), Gen-X (34-48), Boomer (49-67), and Silent Generation (age 68+) millionaires. Because the Silent Generation represents only a small slice of the overall millionaire population, the survey focused on the attitudes of the remaining three groups. 

Millennials are far and away the most optimistic of millionaires, believing the U.S. economy will get better; Boomers the least optimistic.

Not surprisingly, Boomers’ biggest concern is having money to retire, and Gen-X’ers is having money for their children’s college education and enough to cover an emergency. Millennials are focused on remaining financially independent.

Millennials are the most optimistic millionaires. Chart source: Shullman Research

When asked about spending plans, the majority (72%) of Millennials plan to buy one or more luxuries, compared with about half each of Boomers and X’ers. And good news for jewelers: when asked by category what that purchase is most likely to be, jewelry was the number-one choice for Millennials. 52% said they plan on purchasing a piece of fine jewelry costing $500 or more, compared with 44% who plan to take a luxury vacation, the second-most popular choice among Millennials.

Jewelry purchase intentions plummet for Gen-X (only 4% of respondents said they plan on buying some in the next year) and rebounded slightly for Boomers (14%).

Watches, too, were most popular with Millennials. 26% said they plan to buy a watch costing $500 or more in the next 12 months, compared with 8% of Gen-X and 6% of Boomers. 

Top image: HouseofFlout.com