NFL Players' Podcast

Step inside this episode of the AWM NFL Podcast as Riccardo Stewart sits down with former NFL players Sam Acho, Jeff Locke, and Zach Miller for an unfiltered conversation about the realities behind wealth management for athletes. The team shares eye-opening stories from inside the league, reveals the surprising pitfalls most players face with advisors, and explains what it really takes to create lasting generational wealth. Drawing from personal experience and frank opinions, they unpack what makes a true family office and the essential steps athletes must take to protect their futures. If you want to hear the truth about money in the NFL from those who have lived it, this episode brings the playbook you need.

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Chapter Outline
(00:01) Why We Serve NFL Athletes
(01:06) Personal Motivation for Becoming Advisors
(03:04) Early Experiences of Player Advocacy
(06:04) The Value of Lived Experience
(09:13) Challenges and Industry Pitfalls for NFL Athletes
(12:46) Understanding True Family Office Value
(15:01) What to Expect Working with Us

Creators and Guests

Host
Jeff Locke
Wealth Strategist and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) at AWM Capital
Host
Riccardo Stewart
Former college character coach and Director of Human Capital & Family Leadership
Host
Sam Acho
Director of Human Capital and Impact and an in-studio and game analyst for ESPN.
Host
Zach Miller
Former NFL player and current CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®)

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 guys back to another

episode of the A-W-M-N-F-L podcast.

My name is Ricardo Stewart.

They call me the coach, and I'm
joined with my friend Sam Acho, the

mayor, the professor Jeff Locke.

And lastly, my man, Zach Miller.

The truth.

Guys, want to, we, we talk about the
NFL athlete because we're all passionate

about serving him and and his family.

But you know what I get?

I, I, I'm talking to people
around like, listen, I'm

working with some amazing guys.

We got over 20 years of NFL experience,
and we don't really get a chance

to hear from you guys in particular
of not only just your careers,

but why you do what you do now.

And so, all I wanna do now is just be
able to ask you guys some questions.

I obviously, you're my friends and say
you wanna say about essentially why you

guys got into the profession that you're
in and, and what does it mean to you.

To be able to be a part of a family
office that serves the NFL athlete.

And so let me start first with you, Zach.

I mean, one, just tell us a little
bit about your, your background and

essentially your why, and I'm gonna
ask you some questions off of that.

Zach Miller: Yeah,

Jeff Locke: Yeah.

My biggest why is

Zach Miller: wanted to
be the change, that I

Jeff Locke: that I think is

Zach Miller: possible, like
going back, getting my finance

Jeff Locke: finance.

Zach Miller: seeing how.

Good financial

Jeff Locke: Financial,

Zach Miller: be and seeing
what, you know, what I got

Jeff Locke: I got everything

Zach Miller: PA is like, Hey, get an

Jeff Locke: advisor,

Zach Miller: one of the Big Wall Street
firms, a separate CPA, and so you know

how much more I paid in taxes than I
should have, how much opportunity costs

by being too conservative and by owning
too many bonds, like we're talking

Jeff Locke: millions of.

Zach Miller: that I wanted that to change.

And so the only way I

Jeff Locke: Only way I can
think of doing that was actually

be an advisor and directly with the guys,

Zach Miller: that, that
was me, you know, at the

Jeff Locke: you know,

the highest paying

Zach Miller: made a bunch of money

Jeff Locke: money

and that

opportunity so short, you have

Zach Miller: that little
bit of time to maximize it.

So

Jeff Locke: it.

So

that's the biggest reason I that change.

because

Zach Miller: because looking

Jeff Locke: looking around
even now, advisor, how

bad.

Zach Miller: Advisors are that work

Jeff Locke: are that guys?

Zach Miller: guys,
they're just straight up.

They're not good, they're

Jeff Locke: They're

Zach Miller: elite.

And you and NFL players should

Jeff Locke: deserve the best deserve.

Zach Miller: that actually want
to make a huge impact in, it's

not easy, but there is a ton of
opportunity out there for NFL players

and there's just such weak advisors
that are working in the NFL world.

Riccardo Stewart: Listen, Zach is
not like holding anything back.

I mean, weak.

Sorry, bad.

So there as former as athletes
wanna stay around the game.

What I've seen is either you try
to become a coach, maybe you go

become an agent, very few, but you,
you're seeing it more and more.

They become an advisor.

Jeff, I know you a little bit to go,
like there was a point in your career

or at least your education where maybe
engineering, I know your dad's a pilot.

Like how did you, and why
do you do what you do now?

Jeff Locke: Yeah, it was kind
of a, it wasn't a straight

line, like you said, right?

I wanted to be an
engineer in college first.

Um, slowly realized, uh, you can't
do engineering labs when you have

football practice in the afternoons.

So next best thing was economics.

Just fell in love with that.

And some of you guys might not
even know this, but I was part

of the National College Players
Association back in college.

I was one of a few guys around the
country that were like an intern for

the NCPA for three years in college.

So my first taste of helping players
was actually trying to get bills

pushed through, um, California
state legislature to try and get

guys more protections in college.

So we tried to get back Then you didn't
have full scholarship checks, right?

So like.

Helping guys try to get more for
their meal money, helping guys get

bigger medical protections right
from the schools, stuff like that.

So that was the first taste.

And then I was helping guys
budget their scholarship checks.

So they were asking their families
for less money in addition to their

checks, just to get by in college.

So that really kicked it all off for
me, was just helping my teammates.

'cause I knew they were
struggling back in college.

Right then I had the crazy
fortunate experience.

After my second year in the NFL I
interned at an investment company

and my project there was to
figure out why NFL guys go broke.

This was literally after the
broke documentary came out.

All this, all these headlines,
everyone just crapping on guys for

thinking every NFL guy goes broke.

'cause that was the headline
and that pissed me off.

I was like, no, I know NFL
guys don't all go broke.

And I wanted to figure out the
reasons why guys actually went broke.

So.

After all that experience, I also
learned what real advisors do by

working at that investment company,
and I literally fired my advisor within

like a couple months of working there.

Because they weren't like one
of the real ones delivering real

advice on that side of the business.

So really just like

Zach came at it from one angle, my
angle is like, I'm sick of dudes

getting scammed, getting ripped
off, and getting terrible advice.

It's very similar to Zach's
angle, but um, I'm like, you

gotta just, you gotta go do it.

You gotta go deliver the advice,
you know, the guy should get, um,

and change it from the inside.

Riccardo Stewart: Man, I didn't
know that about you, Jeff.

This is, you know, we gotta do more
podcasts that I can ask you more

questions so that I can find out
more things about your personal life.

I mean, forget working together.

There's, I'm, I'm like in this
fortunate POS like position for me.

One, what I do as a hobby is I coach
high school football and I'm literally

coaching with like four former NFL guys.

I mean, Larry Fitzgerald's
around, Donna McNabb's around.

It's like, man, there's NFL guys here.

And then what I do for work
is I'm around you guys and I'm

around guys who've been in it.

And not just like taste it a
little bit, five years, nine

years, eight years career.

Sam, why does it matter that
you are a former player when

it comes to what you do now?

Sam Acho: Yeah.

The reason why it matters that
I'm a former player when it comes

to what I do now is that as a
former player, I've lived it.

So Jeff talked about that.

Broke documentary about how
all these athletes go broke.

Well, not only was I a former player in my
second year in the NFLI got elected by my

teammates of the Arizona Cardinals to be
the player representative of the NFL pa.

So when it came to any voting decisions
for our Cardinals team, I was the

one voting, but also showed up to the
Board of Representatives meetings when

they're sharing all this information
about athletes and athletes going broke

and being depressed and divorced and
bankrupt within a few years after playing.

And I remember being a rookie
second year player thinking.

It was my dream at a time to
make it to the NFL, though I've

accomplished that dream, it looks
like failure's coming down the line.

It just became very clear.

And so the reason why it matters,
the reason that it matters that I'm a

former player, is that not only have
I seen the inside, whether it's from

the NFL PA perspective, from playing
for nine years on different teams and

experienced it, but I've also seen
what happens to other guys, former

teammates who have made a ton of money.

and they thought they were
going to achieve generational

wealth and generational success
and they actually don't.

so for me, it's this mission of
saying, okay, how do I help empower

players to realize that, hey,
just 'cause you signed that big

contract doesn't guarantee success.

In fact, most times you
won't get that success.

I think it's 1 out of 10.

will pass down that wealth
to the third generation.

So if we got to here,
that's not actually success.

I, I, and as a former player, not only
have I lived it, but I've seen it and

so I'm trying to help guys bridge the
gap to, okay, this is what you did.

You say you wanna get here the
last 15, 20 years with the kind

of advice we've been getting.

It's not gonna get you there.

It point blank period.

There has to be a different way.

so I have a different
perspective on how to get there.

Riccardo Stewart: Yeah.

know, there, my sophomore year in
college, I had probably one of my

best years at Arizona Estate, and I
tell people like, man, what happened?

Were you just, did you train differently?

And I said, no, no, no.

There was a guy that played in front
of me by the name of Terrell Suggs.

Okay.

And this dude was amazing.

So when you're a safety paying, playing
behind a defensive end like that,

you're gonna have more interceptions,
you're gonna have more opportunities.

'cause guess what?

Nobody's thinking about you.

You know what I mean?

And there is about, what
you do is who you're around.

And so when I came to do this
job, it was like, okay, you're

gonna work with Zach Miller.

You're gonna work with Sam Acho.

And then Jeff came along.

Now it's a lot easier for me as a
safety back there, making sure when

things are in the air, I can just
pick them off because I already know

what's happening in front of me.

I mean, it really does.

It matters.

Now I wanna ask you three, what are
the hurdles and not necessarily, what's

the difficulties of being a part of
a family office serving NFL athletes?

What are the hurdles for the athlete
to see exactly what they need?

How does that make you feel
and what are the challenges?

You get what I'm saying?

Like what are the things that you
go, man, I wish they only knew.

Fill in the blank.

Jeff, I'm gonna start with you.

Jeff Locke: I wish they only knew
how the sausage is made behind

the scenes at most advisory firms.

Right.

It's not pretty.

Right.

It's, uh, it's unfortunately
all about just.

Who's my next client gonna be and how do
I get as much money from them as possible

into the accounts that I manage, so
that I can make as much money as I can?

That's point blank how most
of our industry operates.

Um, when I was interviewing other
firms, that was some of the stuff

I was hearing in the interviews was
essentially, Hey, how much can you

bring in from guys you know, in the
NFL and how fast can you bring it in?

That's all they cared about.

Some of the other firms that I.

Thought I might go to before I knew
what I knew about the industry.

So there are some people out there that
care, some advisors that care, other,

other companies kind of built like
we're built, built by former athletes.

But it's hard to find them, right?

Most are just part of this
bigger machine, right?

Serving mom and pop and then they think
it's the coolest thing in the world

when they get an athlete client, they
can brag about to all their friends.

But they're not actually giving
you the service that you deserve.

They don't have the experience
and the expertise to do it.

something I wish I knew, I
didn't find out till too late.

Again, I fired one advisor and then
another advisor took me a while.

Um, I hate to say it, but you're kind of a
trophy to be honest, at most firms, right?

You're the, you're the cool get
that the advisor gets to tell

all his other buddies about.

Versus like actually being built
to serve a client like you.

Riccardo Stewart: I like that.

I like that.

Sam, what would you add to
that from your perspective?

Sam Acho: Yeah, I would say
that I, I wish I knew, I wish

I knew how the system worked.

what I mean by that is, you may have
an advisor and you think, man, this

advisor has my best interest in mind
without realizing that some of the

things that you're being, um, offered,
I'll use the word, uh, offered.

Aren't necessarily in your
best interest, but they're in

your advisor's best interest.

Let's say something like, oh,
I think I, uh, life insurance.

Oh yeah, I'm gonna get life insurance.

But the same guy who's managing
my money is also going to

sell me this life insurance.

And he is not telling me how much
he's making from the life insurance.

Oh.

When it comes to different,
uh, investment opportunities.

Oh, telling me that.

Well, the investments that they're
offering are, are, are only a part of

their company per se, and there's better
investments out there, but they're

not gonna make money off of those.

They won't tell me about though,
like I had no idea about any of that.

Even when it comes to different
types of retirement accounts.

Like I, I'm, I'm trying to, I'm kind of
getting in the weeds a little bit, but

some of this is like, it's just so you
talk about the passion or excitement or

whatever, it's like, I didn't know any
of this and I played nine years in the

NFL and I was one of the, I was voted as
the top 20 smartest athletes in sports.

I was a player representative.

I, I was in the N-F-L-P-A and
none of this was talked about.

so I just wish that players really knew.

I wish players really knew how the
system worked when it came to their

money, their wealth, and how people
around them are actually not only getting

paid, but also incentivized to get paid.

Riccardo Stewart: Yeah.

Yeah.

And Zach, I'd love to hear from you.

Zach Miller: Yeah, the, I mean,
I think it, it comes down to I

wish guys understood what a real
family office is, and not all the

pretenders that are out there.

There's just a lot.

And whether they're life insurance
salesmen, selling whole life, not good

for players, point blank, shouldn't be.

No one should be buying whole
life policies when you're

21, 20 2-year-old in the NFL.

Like there's a million
better investments in that.

no, I mean, people just don't
know what a family office is.

I didn't know what one was.

These companies, now these Wall Street
firms are, are claiming to offer wall or

they're offering family office services
and you, there's no, there's nothing.

There's no family office services.

You're either a family
office or you're not.

You either are doing what's
best for your players or you're

doing what's best for yourself.

You can't have it both ways.

And so to understand like
how much taxes matter.

I mean, we've personally experienced,
I've personally experienced it, how

much taxes matter, how much things
like venture capital, private equity,

the right way, because most of private
equity, those kind of fun or cool or

you know, private investment world,
if you pick the wrong ones, you just

get very boring market like returns.

And so things

Jeff Locke: Things like that

matters.

Generational actually

Zach Miller: once you
start splitting money.

You know, two ways, four
ways, eight ways, 16 ways.

All that

Jeff Locke: that.

Zach Miller: matter.

And so it actually, people say
they want generational wealth, then

they don't pick a family office.

Like there's just a lot of things
that players need to know, and it's

so hard to know when you're 20.

It's so hard to know when you're so young.

But if you do want those
things, you gotta learn quick.

Riccardo Stewart: Love it.

I love it.

Wanna put you guys on the spot?

If I were talking to somebody and
an athlete and saying, Hey, you're

gonna choose to work with a WM, you
get a chance to work with Sam Macho.

You get a chance to work with Jeff Locke.

Zach Miller.

If I had to give him one sentence,
you had to say, Hey, working with

me, you will experience this.

guys get one sentence working
with me, you will experience this.

I'm gonna start first with
you, Sam, with Sam Macho.

You will get or experience.

Sam Acho: Working with Sam Macho,
you'll get an experience, someone

who not just cares about you,
like to the day that you die.

'cause it's more than just about that.

Not just who has your best interest in
mind, but who has actually lived it, who

has made the mistakes that you probably
have made or maybe that you may be going

to make, and who's gonna do his best to
help empower you not to make those same

mistakes, that not only he made, but
also a bunch of guys who he's been around

who's made a lot of money, and they've
lost a lot of money they've made as well.

Riccardo Stewart: Working with Jeff
Locke, you will experience this.

Jeff Locke: You will experience
an actual expert trying to level

up his game in his next career.

That's gonna give you the real
talk, not the BS that you want to

hear, but what you need to hear to
achieve what you want to achieve.

Riccardo Stewart: Working with Zach
Miller, the Truth, will experience this.

Zach Miller: Yeah, working
with Zach Miller, you're as

hard as you work on the field.

I will work off the field to make sure
your money investments, financial planning

is the best you could possibly get.

That's just the, the way I am.

I'm built like that.

Riccardo Stewart: Love it.

I love it.

I'm gonna end with this one.

You know, I had an older sister and I was
a loud mouth, always getting in trouble.

Guys would wanna fight me and as soon as
my sister would show up with all of her

friends, they kind of just faded away.

That's how I feel working here.

There's a lot of people out there.

There's a lot of imposters.

A lot of phonies.

I really do think that a WM is the
best when my crew, Sam, Jeff, and

Zach show up when it comes to serving
you, the imposters, fade, the black.

Listen, if you have any questions
about any of these guys, anything

we do here at a WM, if you want some
resources, we'd love to get that in

your hand, so please give us a call.

Our cell is 6 0 2 9 8 9 5 0 2 2.