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Join hosts Riccardo Stewart, Jeff “The Professor” Locke, Zach “The Truth” Miller, and Sam “The Mayor” Acho as they break down what it really means to take a human-centered approach to wealth management for NFL athletes. This episode explores how identifying your unique needs, wants, and wishes lays the foundation for a financial strategy built around your life, not just your investments. You’ll hear candid stories from the locker room and real-world examples that go beyond the numbers—revealing how personal values and big dreams shape generational wealth. If you're ready for advice crafted for athletes by pros who’ve lived it, this conversation brings a whole new playbook to the table.
(01:04) Moving away from one-size-fits-all advice
(03:27) Needs as foundational priorities
(05:16) Wants for lifestyle and fulfillment
(08:24) Wishes for legacy and giving back
Creators and Guests
Host
What is NFL Players' Podcast?
The podcast by NFL players for NFL players. Each week, we break down the biggest events in football and how they directly impact a player's career and money.
Join Former NFL Veterans Sam Acho (Bills, Bucs, Bears & Cardinals), Zach Miller (Seahawks & Raiders), Jeff Locke (Vikings, Colts, Lions, 49ers), and college coach, Riccardo Stewart, for a raw and unfiltered conversation about the game, the business, and how players can achieve generational wealth.
Riccardo Stewart: Hey, I wanna
welcome you back to another
episode of the A-W-M-N-F-L podcast.
My name is Ricardo Stewart.
I have the pleasure of being your host and
I'm joined with my friends and coworkers.
Um, on this, on this podcast, we
have over 20 years of NFL experience
as well as financial expertise.
We got Jeff Locke, who we call
the professor Zach Miller, who
we called the Truth, and then Sam
Acho, who we call the mayor Fellas.
Today, I wanna start maybe a
three-part episode and we'll just
do part one today and and talking
about what it is that we do with our
Clients
And we'd like to say, and we don't hear
anybody else saying this, especially as
the only family office that's working
with athletes, is that we take a
human-centered approach and, and when
it comes to investing, when it comes
to serving.
our clients.
And I wanna wanna break down
what does that mean and how do
you begin to even have a plan?
To have a human-centered approach.
And so I'm gonna start first with
you, Sam, put you on the spot.
Just real quick, when you hear the
phrase a human-centered approach, what?
What do you hear?
Sam Acho: I hear
a
group of people that
takes out the robotics
from
relationships.
Oftentimes, whether
you're a football player
collegiately professionally.
You
see people
who, they say they care about
you, but they don't actually care
about
you.
So when I hear
someone leading with
human centered,
it means they're gonna
care about me on the field.
They're gonna care about me as a
Husband
as a father, as a leader in
the community,
And they're not just gonna try
and segment me into one piece.
or Parcel
Riccardo Stewart: that's good.
I, I think about, I think about
some of the athletes we've talked
to and some of the, some of the men
we work with and their families.
It's that many of them, they,
they've been a part of some
other organization and they were
given.
here's what you should Invest
in.
Um, here's where your money
should go.
And, and they find that themselves.
They get to a point where now they
got 40, 50, 70, 80 million guaranteed
contracts, and they're going, those same
People are
saying, here's what you should do
with your money, but never asking them
about the life that they wanna live.
And when we begin to
talk about
a human-centered approach,
it's really saying, let's put
the human, let's start first
with going, who's the human?
Who is the athlete?
Um, does he have a family?
What does he want?
What does he wish to have one day?
What does he need?
What life does he have envision And once
you're able to really, really find those
things out, now you can, you can take
his wealth and align it to his priorities
and keeping the human at the center.
And so as we step back and talk
more about what that looks like,
let's, let's boil it down and go on.
Before you can even
talking about investing.
You have to get to know the human and
what we call this priorities is that
we sit down with, with someone who's
made a hundred million dollars and
going, let's first start first and let's
look at your priorities and break it
down into easy language, right Needs.
Wants and wishes.
And so I'm gonna kick it to you guys
to talk more about what does that look
like and have in mind thinking about
somebody, um, that has already had
an advisor, has already made money,
has already been in the NFL, we're
talking a five year plus vet, made over
50, 60, 80 million in their career.
And they're sitting down and they're
going, okay, this human centered
approach, these needs, wants, wishes.
What does that even mean?
And so, Jeff, I'm gonna
start with you first.
What are needs and, and why are
they important to the athlete
Jeff Locke: Yeah, needs are
probably what you think they are.
They're the things that have to
happen no matter what happens with
your preferences or your values.
Over time, your life is gonna change,
evolve as you get older, right?
Certain things are gonna change, but the
needs are the things that gotta happen.
The first one I always think
about is, unfortunately we
gotta pay the tax man, right?
So your strategy is gonna call for having
some taxes withheld from your paychecks,
but you might be making huge payments
if you're set up correctly every April.
So you got that.
Then I think roof over my head, right?
I gotta have a place to live,
the costs to support me and my
immediate family where we live.
And then just the costs
of the basics, right?
The fixed costs, the
things that you gotta have.
Gotta have the food, you know,
you gotta pay for the kids'
education, the things you actually
need to happen no matter what.
And it's extremely important to get
those set first, because then that
tells your team and tells your plan,
now I got all this extra money,
all these extra resources to put
towards the other two categories,
which these guys will talk about.
Riccardo Stewart: I like that.
I like that.
Uh, maybe trying to throw a
little curve ball at you, Jeff.
Where does.
Emergency fund or where does my
protective reserve, where does that fit
in terms of the needs, wants or wishes?
Jeff Locke: Yeah, it's
definitely a need, right?
One of our, we say this a lot to
our clients, like one of our jobs is
to think about worst case scenario.
So you don't have to, you can go focus
on being the best player you can be,
being the best father you can be.
Um, so we plan for worst case, right?
Your contract ends.
You only get the guaranteed money
left that's fully guaranteed, right?
Here's the protection we set in place
to make sure you got what you need.
Riccardo Stewart: Now that I got my
needs, that bucket, they're all filled up.
Now I get to the wants.
These are some of the things that like,
yeah, I'd be kind of upset if I didn't
get this, and I wanna make sure I have it.
So Zach, I mean, you're a guy who, I
don't wanna say you have many wants, but I
feel like you, you've got a lot of wants.
So let, I feel like I'm in some like
cheesy Drake video or something like
wants and needs or something like that.
But what, what would be a want, Zach?
Zach Miller: Well, now that I'm older,
um, the wants definitely changed.
So like paying for college for all four
of my kids, like that's now a want for me.
It's something I, it's important
that I want to have happen.
It's not a need because
technically my kids could still.
Get a loan, all those things.
But it definitely falls into that bucket.
And so, and I made this mistake
as an NFL player is everyone
worries about what to invest in
instead of what am I investing for?
Like what do I want that money to do?
Like what are my goals?
And you will, I mean, as
an NFL player, you will get
Enough money to.
get out of that, just satisfying
those needs and that, that kind
of essential things in life.
And you get to the wants, the fun things,
the things that if I don't accomplish them
for, for me as a player that, that big
body Mercedes, like I always wanted that
I didn't get it during my first contract.
It was important to me.
I waited till I actually won a Super
Bowl, used my Super Bowl money,
and that was my reward for that.
And that's like the
perfect example of a want.
It's something you want to have.
You know it's gonna happen, you just
don't know when, and if it didn't
happen, you'd be disappointed.
Um, so those things change over time.
Now it's things like private school
and, and another, like, another good
example is like buying your first house.
Like that's definitely something
that, that's pretty much, I think on
universally everyone's want list is, it
doesn't have to happen, but I mean, it's,
It's important.
to everybody to buy, buy a house,
have a house, and, and then,
you know, you play long enough.
Sometimes you get that, you know,
what Sam was gonna talk about is
the more fun things that second
house or third house or cool house.
So, um, I mean there's, there's
a lot in that wants category.
I mean, it can be all the way from,
you know, you getting a boat, which
eventually became a wand and then I
got one so that they just keep going.
There's more wants the,
the longer you live.
And the, the other important thing
is just to run your own race and in
a, in, in the locker room, especially
in different position groups.
Don't let someone else's
wants be your wants.
Like make sure that you're doing it
not just to keep up with that locker
room, keep up with the status quo
of like, oh, I got this so you know,
or this other guy in the room got
this, so now I need to one up him.
It gets like that.
So, uh, make sure you're
running your own race.
Riccardo Stewart: Love it.
I love it.
Okay.
Last but definitely not
least, look at dapper first.
You have to tell me what that a is on
your, on your, your suit there, man.
Before we talk about wishes, I
need to know what that A is for.
Sam Acho: A lot of people see it.
They think it's Alabama.
I did not go to Alabama.
I went to Texas.
Uh, the A is for Acho.
My wife picked it out.
I'm trying to up my game a
little bit, get some lapels.
The A is not for Vama.
No, it's for Acho.
My last name.
Riccardo Stewart: I should
have known that, bro.
I'm tripping here.
I was.
I thought it was for Arizona State.
So when, when it comes to wishes.
Sam, what are some ideas or some examples
for, um, um, ultra wealthy NFL player
of some wishes, and why does it matter?
Why is it important?
Sam Acho: Well, there are
three examples that I've heard.
These are players who I've talked to.
One of 'em, one Wish is this
idea of
man, I want to go back
home where I grew up.
And build a
state.
of an art state-of-the-art facility
for young kids who never got a chance
to go and work out and go and train.
I want them to have that opportunity that
I wasn't afforded when I was younger.
So that's more of a
philanthropic type of wish.
Another type of wish that's in that
philanthropic vein is, is someone
who's from the Texas area and said,
man, I wanna do more for the Boys
and Girls Club in my neighborhood.
I grew up going to Boys and Girls Club, so
I'd actually figure out if I could maybe
start a nonprofit or a foundation or, or
maybe donate more money for those kids in
my neighborhood where I grew up even more,
uh, nationally to help and serve them.
And then there are more
of the personal wishes.
Zach touched on it earlier.
Maybe it's not just the first home.
Maybe it's building a custom home.
I've got friends and colleagues here
in Texas who have built custom homes
on huge lots and lots and lots of land.
And that's a, that's a wish.
It may not be a need
'cause you have a home.
It may not be a, a want, but
it's a wish, man, I wish I could
have this custom home, right?
You go to this guy's home, you see
custom cars in that custom home.
It could even be that second home
or third home, that vacation home.
I know me personally, right?
I, my family, we go to
Nigeria all the time.
There's some wishes that I have of doing
work overseas in Nigeria, building homes,
building, uh, doing business over there.
So when I think about
wants, needs and wishes.
Wishes is that piece that goes
beyond just what you need.
Jeff talked about the clothes or the
food or ta paying the tax man or more
than what you, more than what Zach
talked about is, oh man, I got my home.
Maybe that car.
It's ideating and dreaming beyond.
The reason why it's important
just to answer that question is.
You've worked your whole
career to get to this point.
You've sacrificed so much to be able to
be the best in the world of what you do.
And you deserve people on your team
in your corner who can help give
you the blueprint of how to be the
best in the world on things outside
of what you do on the field, and
to be able to get what you deserve.
So that's why wishes are so important.
Riccardo Stewart: I love it.
I love it.
But you've heard us say it before
and you're gonna say it all the time.
Money is just a tool and it's to pay
for the things that are important
to you and bless the people and the
community and the places that you love.
In order
for you to be able to make
this money.
and as an NFL athlete, you've
already understood how to make it.
It's now going, looking and going,
okay, if I'm the human at the
center, what are my priorities?
You have to think about what
are the needs that you have?
What are the wants that you have?
What are the witches that you have?
And then you take
Those priorities.
You have your financial team begin
to invest accordingly to that.
Okay, this next episode that you're
gonna hear from us is, what does
investing look like when it's according
to someone's priority, as opposed just
investing just for investing's sake.
Um, if there any questions you
have or any thoughts you have for
us, we'd love to hear from you.
Please reach out to us.
Our number is 6 0 2 9 8 9 5 0 2 2.