When even international stars such as former England goalkeeper David James are declared bankrupt it should make young soccer players, suddenly flush with mind-boggling riches, sit up and take notice of the perils that lie ahead.
James, who won 53 caps for England and lifted the 2007-2008 FA Cup with Portsmouth earning an estimated ￡20 million (US$26 million) during his career, is an example Peter Fairchild of City of London firm Smith&Williamson likes to use.
He and his colleagues make presentations to young players about planning their finances for the day they retire.
Photo: AFP
Fairchild said that clubs, beginning with Liverpool in 2012, had warmed to their ideas.
“We [the clubs said] want to grab their attention and shock the boys,” said Fairchild, after Agence France-Presse was given rare access to a session with second-tier side Queens Park Rangers at their training ground west of London.
“So for once they have to get off their mobile phones and social media and take note of what people are saying, because there is a long-term benefit for their lives and it affects them,” he said.
“‘Use some real-life case studies,’ they told us,” Fairchild said. “Quite often the guys have their heroes on the screen and when they see them they go: ‘They are bankrupt? They can’t be.’ To which I reply it is the case and please, please take heed. Don’t fall into the traps they did and seek advice so you get it right from the start.”
According to XPro, which helps players plan for their lives after they hang up their boots, two in five soccer players go bankrupt within five years of retirement.
“It is a great shock when you see the big names like David James,” under-23 central defender Alex Finney said.
“I mean they were the top 1 percent of people who made it in football, it is a scary thought that people like them can have nothing at the end of it,” Finney said. “It is an eye-opener for the boys in that it warns you be ready for what life can hold for you.”
Fairchild said the players’ presentations are free.
“In dealing with experienced clients and established players we found too often, despite their sizeable earnings, their financial affairs were not in the apple-pie order you necessarily might think,” he said.
“When we dug under the surface we found a whole host of reasons: Wrong advice, wrong people involved with the wrong motivation for dealing with players,” he added.
Finney, whose path took him from Leyton Orient to Bolton Wanderers and then Queens Park Rangers, with whom he has agreed a new one-year contract, concurs.
“I am quite an open-minded person and I understand everyone wants to make money off the back of others, and not a lot of people want to make it off themselves,” said Finney, whose mother is an accountant and looks after his tax affairs. “People have tried to approach me. I know people who have been approached by a ‘salesman’ with a great pitch and lost money. You have to have your eyes open the whole time.”
Fairchild can recite any number of horror stories from the sport, although they are not all doom and gloom.
There was a member of Manchester United’s treble-winning squad in 1999 who lost a fortune through gambling and not paying taxes — he excuses it by saying he was the pauper of the squad at ￡60,000 a week.
On the other side, there is a recently retired former England international who during his playing career built up an impressive property portfolio.
For Finney it is crucial to have someone reliable, with the expertise to manage whatever assets he might earn in the future.
“I asked the investment management expert [Michael Saunders] what his background was — not out of a lack of respect — because I don’t want to trust someone with my money if they don’t have a background in managing other people’s money and lack the understanding of the service I want,” he said.
“However, this [session] was useful as they are a third party, an independent voice neither involved in the football side or the politics,” he added.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RSS