Set Your Financial Game Plan
Welcome to The Football Finance Academy Series
We teach young players to level up their financial IQ, build wealth from the start of their career, and take control of their own financial future
Challenge: Download the goal setting tool and write out your top 3 financial goals, the steps and actions you need to achieve them.
Goal Setting Tool << Click Here
Notes:
Some concerning statistics in the sports world:
- In the EPL, 40% of players declare bankruptcy within 5 year of retirement
- In the NBA, 60% of players go broke within 5 years of leaving the league
- In the NFL, 78% players experience financial distress within 3 years of retirement
Lee Hendrie - No financial Game Plan
- 14 years at Aston Villa
- £40,000 a week (at career peak)
- 1 year after final pro game filed for bankruptcy, homes repossessed, 2 suicide attempts
- HOW: Excessive spending: houses, vacations, cars
- Lee thought money would last forever, when it dried up and bills kept coming it left him in a vulnerable position
Terrell Owens - Gave up complete control to others
- 16 years in NFL
- +$80M earned over his career
- Bankrupt, forced to sell all his homes and still struggles to support his 4 kids
- HOW: Gave full control of his finances to his team who mismanaged it
- Don't need to be an expert but need fundamentals financial skills to avoid being exploited
- It's your money. It's your life. Take control. Take ownership
Power of Attorney - or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter
Antione Walker - Didn't understand investing
- 12 years in the NBA
- +$108M earned over his career
- 2 years after retirement filed for bankruptcy, had to sell priceless possessions (NBA ring)
- HOW: Wanted to be a real estate mogul without putting in the work to learn how
- Started a real estate company in 2007, 2008 the global housing market crashed and he lost his entire investment
- There is safe way to invest and a risky way to invest, Antoine chose the risky way because he didn't understand investing
Thousands of examples like this. However, new wave of pro athletes in the states doing things different…
Jayson Tatum - Saves 100% of his NBA salary
- Drafted at 19 with a 4 year contract at $150K per week
- Saves 100% of his salary and spends his endorsement money on his lifestyle
- Jason Tatum Talks Finance
How will this decision impact his life? Let's do the math
- After 4 years, he would have saved $31MM
- Now what would happen if he learnt to invest his money and invested the $31MM at the end of his NBA career for 60 years?
- He would be able to pay himself an annual salary of $1MM every year for life, and based on the avg. return of the stock market (8%), he would accumulate a fortune of $275MM in his lifetime
- Try doing the math yourself here
Avoid the 3 common mistakes:
- Have a financial game plan before you turn pro
- Take control of your own finances
- Educate yourself about investing, before you start investing
"A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A Goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed up by action makes our dreams a reality." - Greg Reid