The term ‘stockbroker belt’ has traditionally referred to the affluent, leafy commuter belt outside of London where well-to-do financiers would move to in order to escape the hustle and bustle of the City. These days, rather than stockbrokers, it’s more likely to be high earning hedge fund managers, private equity professionals and senior investment bankers living in these areas.
You will, after all, be rubbing shoulders with Premier League footballers and Russian oligarchs, whose spending power exceeds even high-earning financiers. So, where you should be living as a financier who wants to escape the banker bashing in London and live among the fellow 1%?
The prime location is the borough of Elmbridge, particularly the towns of Esher, Weybridge and Walton-on-Thames, which has long been dubbed the ‘Beverly Hills of the UK’, according to new research from accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, which bases its conclusions on the amount of income tax paid by residents from 2011/12.
Other top places for financiers to live include towns like Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross in South Buckinghamshire, Chiltern (particularly villages like Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter), Sevenoaks in Kent and the Surrey towns of Farnham and Goldalming.
In fact, 28 of the 30 locations for high earners are in the so-called ‘stockbroker belt’, suggests the research. The list below, with the exception of London and the Cotswolds, are the places to base yourself if you want to network with successful financiers…
