A Day in the Life of Superyacht Fim CEO Anders Kurtén in Monaco

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Anders Kurtén, the 54-year-old CEO of Fraser Yachts, based in Monaco. It’s been edited for length and clarity.

I became the CEO of Fraser Yachts in 2023. We’re the world’s largest yacht brokerage with dual headquarters in Monaco and Fort Lauderdale.

I’ve been told I was carried aboard my grandfather’s mahogany sailing boat when I was just a few months old. Growing up in Finland, our summers were spent on the Baltic Sea.

I didn’t consider turning that passion into a profession at first. My career began in the mid-90s, building websites in Finland. I then worked in New York during the dot-com boom and returned to Finland for a brief stint at Accenture.

I realized I couldn’t see myself doing that for the next three or four decades. I enrolled in a wooden boatbuilding school and became a boat carpenter for a few years.

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In the mid-2000s, I was headhunted to run a small yard manufacturing performance cruising sailboats. I then spent nearly a decade at a Nordic boat manufacturer. In 2019, I entered the superyacht industry as CEO of Baltic Yachts.

My primary role at Fraser now is serving the needs of our clients with the help of my 230 colleagues. Here’s what a typical day in my life looks like.

6 a.m. — Outrunning Monaco’s traffic

I roll out of bed around 6 a.m., get ready, and head to the office. I live in Nice, France, but I moved here from Pietarsaari, Finland, for my role. The 22-minute trip can stretch to two hours during rush hour.

I primarily listen to business and language learning podcasts and some French news. I speak English, Finnish, French, and Swedish fluently, but I’m trying to master a few more.

I get to the office, park the car, and then go for a run. Depending on my energy level, it’s either a 5K or a 10K. I generally run west, starting from Monaco harbour.

7:45 a.m. — A quick breakfast

After my run, I shower at the office and grab some oatmeal and fruit for breakfast.

Once a week, I treat myself to a café au lait and a pain au chocolat at a nearby café called Bella Vita.

8 a.m. — An office with a Grand Prix view

By 8 a.m., I’m at my desk, ready to get to work. Our office is opposite the Formula 1 circuit’s La Rascasse turn. During the Monaco Grand Prix, if I had a fishing rod, I could tap the drivers on their helmets as they drive by.

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My office decor is minimalist, with pictures of my wife and kids, ages 9 and 11. Our reception area showcases impressive scale models of six-foot-long superyachts.

My mornings are for strategic work and clearing my inbox unless I’m traveling for events like the Palm Beach International Boat Show. When traveling, I rely on my team to triage incoming emails and calls.

10 a.m. — Internal meetings and the occasional client interruption

I spend the mornings taking internal meetings and catching up with my team.

Sometimes, I might be in the middle of a meeting and then get a client call that can last 10 minutes or require me to go spend a few days touring a shipyard with the client.

Navigating a universe of extreme exclusivity

Our clients are high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs). Many charter our yachts for vacations, while the wealthiest among them buy vessels outright. We manage 338 superyachts, sell about 50 yachts annually, and book thousands of charter days.

There are only about 6,000 to 7,000 superyachts in the world. The most expensive residential real estate sold in the past decade went for around $200 million. Several new superyachts easily exceed that price tag.

I have a small 30-foot outboard powerboat and a 28-foot sailboat at my summer cottage in the southwest archipelago of Finland. However, I’d need more than one boat for my dream yacht.

For sailing, I’d want something like the Baltic 47 Elsa. For motor yachts, I lean toward a classic gentleman’s yacht like the Feadship Santa Maria. Both would pair well with a vintage chase tender like the Monte Carlo Offshorer 32.

12:30 p.m. — Lunch, Monaco-style

I eat lunch around 12:30 p.m. Most days, I grab a sandwich from one of the sandwich shops nearby and eat at my desk.

When I want to treat myself, I head next door to Quai des Artistes, a traditional French bistro where I sometimes host colleagues or clients. The food is excellent.

2 p.m. – 6 p.m. — Global sync with the US team

The afternoons get busy around 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. Monaco time, when our Florida team starts their day.

We catch up on recent developments and sync projects to ensure seamless handoffs across time zones. This global coordination is especially critical for our yacht owners’ new-build projects and crewing needs.

6 p.m. — Leaving the office for a rock band jam session

I leave the office between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. to get home for dinner with my wife and kids. After dinner, I help the kids with homework and play music until bedtime.

I play the piano, my son plays the drums, and my daughter sings and plays the guitar. It’s almost like a rock band at home.

9 p.m. — The kids go to bed, and I watch Netflix with my wife

After the kids are asleep, my wife and I unwind with Netflix. We’re hooked on Nordic noir detective shows.

Depending on my workload, I might hop on a call or respond to emails from our US or Australia teams.

Midnight — bedtime

I usually go to bed around midnight and get about 5-6 hours of sleep on weeknights.

I reserve weekends for family time, unless there’s a yacht show or an urgent client matter that needs my attention.

In winter, we head to the Southern Alps, where our children ski competitively while my wife and I ski at a more leisurely pace. We also occasionally travel together for business trips and take short getaways to places like Florence or Northern Italy.