Levels of financial literacy in the UK are often not that high. Very little is taught about the subject in many schools. Most people find money management difficult and some of them fall prey to ‘get rich quick’ schemes. As the old adage goes, if it is too good to be true, it probably is.
Levels of financial literacy in the UK are often not that high. Very little is taught about the subject in many schools. Most people find money management difficult and some of them fall prey to ‘get rich quick’ schemes. As the old adage goes, if it is too good to be true, it probably is.
Footballers focus on keeping fit and developing their game and have little time, or don’t want, to think about life after football. The classic picture is that many of them are thick, but this is unfair. Of course, some are, but I have also known some very intelligent and thoughtful footballers, it is just their raw intelligence has not been harnessed.
I was once quite friendly with a Premiership manager, at least he liked the crate of champagne I sent him at Christmas. He had left school as soon as he could, but I felt that he was a very shrewd judge of people. He had the good sense to find a first rate financial adviser who did very well for him.
The Financial Times has been taking a look at footballers and their money. One good point the Pink ‘In makes is that the big salaries like Wayne Rooney’s £15m a year attract attention, but the average Premier League player earns £31,000 a week. Of course, that’s more than a lot of people earn in a year.
But remember that an average Premiership career last eight years. In the Championship average weekly earnings are £6,000 a week, £1,700 a week in League One and £800 in League Two.
One problem that professional advisers encounter is that professional sportsmen tend to be natural risk takers. This tends to push them towards the perilous end of investment and this can be an issue, particularly when they have a taste for gambling. Paul Gascoigne, an extreme case, bought 12 cars on expensive financing arrangements and he didn’t know where they all were as he had lent some to friends.
One young player, according to he FT, celebrated his first Premiership contract by buying a new Range Rover on hire purchase. His monthly payments came to more than his net wages before any other expenditure.
A good agent should help a player to find a financial adviser, an accountant and a sports lawyer. But players are still targeted by unscrupulous operators and there have been sad cases of players ending up bankrupt.