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, and I'm your host and I'm joined with
the Mayor, Sam Macho, the professor Jeff Locke, and then the truth.
Zach Miller.
Um, you know, we were talking about some different things on the
podcast the last couple weeks, but I thought given the climate and where
we're at in terms of the market.
I thought we'd just take a little side just to like, discuss kind of
what's happening and maybe ask you some questions, um, to answer for our
listeners, for our clients about what the heck is going on in the market.
And so lemme start here.
One of the things that Bill Belichick did as a coach that was, I thought
was great, is really highlight the idea of situational football.
Now, that was going on before Bill Belichick, but he really
highlighted and situational football in short is the unique
challenges that come up in the game.
To particular situations and how do you prepare a team?
So down in distance, what time of the game is it?
Is it the end of the game?
It's at the end of the half.
And like the unique challenges you need to be prepared for.
And I, and I thought when it comes to the market, is it situational investment?
Or given that we're, you know, just finished March Madness, is it more like
basketball where every basketball coach knows there's gonna be runs and some
team's gonna have a run and you gotta withstand it and then you'll get yours?
Or which one is it?
And so I wanna be able to talk to you guys about the situation
that we find our ourselves in.
And so the professor, Jeff.
Just if we can staple, take a step back and I'll ask you just in general,
like what's happening in the market of recent, and I should say this because
we're recording this on April 8th, 2025, and things could change by the time
that this gets published, but yeah.
Jeff, what's going on?
Jeff Locke: Yeah, I appreciate the, uh, the date stamp there.
So I'm not called out later on this, but, uh, as of now, since the beginning
of the year, across the globe, stocks are down about 10%, a little bit more.
In the US it's even more, we're talking 13, 14% stocks being down.
So if you're reading the headlines, you're seeing stuff on social media, a lot of
people saying a lot of things about what is, what is going on in the stock market.
We'll talk about it a little bit later, but like what makes our clients unique
in this circumstance is that you might be fully insulated from this in a way, right?
You might be in a spot where like you have cash to deploy, you have cash
to invest, and it's actually a good time to be investing in stocks, right?
Really depending on what your plan says.
But we'll dig more into that.
But overall, markets are down.
People are, people are scared.
Riccardo Stewart: Yeah, I mean it's, it's in this particular day,
it's hard to look at your social media, the turn on the screen and so
forth, and not hear a lot of noise.
Um, mayor, the man of the people.
As you're interacting, you know, at ESPN, as you're talking to NFL players,
as you're talking to our clients, what are some of the questions,
concerns, or thoughts that you hear?
Sam Acho: The biggest thing I hear is that the little things still matter.
What do I mean by that?
I was talking to A-A-A-N-F-L player, multimillion dollar
guy, high draft pick, et cetera.
And I was just sharing with him how, uh, there was a client of ours who plays with,
uh, team in LA and based off some tax stuff that the team missed, we actually
ended up saving that client over $80,000.
And so I ran into this other guy who's a teammate of his, and I shared with him,
Hey man, like, mind you, this guy's like, like I said, high draft fit, whatever.
I was like, Hey man, you might wanna look into that because
that's a thing that would actually be a big time benefit to you.
You would think based off all the money he made, he'd be like, oh no, I'm good.
He was like, no, dude.
Let me know what the information, send me all the things you can send me
because I don't wanna miss out on that.
Whatever that amount might be for him.
Maybe it's less, maybe it's more.
And so for me, what stood out was that it doesn't matter how much people
are making right now, there's still a sensitivity to money that is leaking
outta their pockets, either intentionally, uh, that's or maybe unintentionally
that they don't know about.
Riccardo Stewart: Door open.
Yeah.
Well, we talk about this situation, Zach, and situational
football, situational investment.
I, I just wonder in terms of, I.
Today and now, and I know you're talking to a lot of our clients and
you're usually the person on the team that everybody calls is, is what do
I do if I'm a current NFL player, like my age, my income, so forth.
Zach Miller: So I can't emphasize this enough.
You gotta stick to your plan.
You don't get midway through the game, have some adversity, and just rip up
and just com Create a new game plan if you're well diversified, if you,
if your team you work with has planned for these events like we do here.
You're already set up to take advantage of this.
So one of my biggest pieces of advice is as an NFL player, you have the
opportunity to keep earning great income and put that money to work.
So down markets are an opportunity for you every, every transaction in the market,
every time you see those big down days,
there's
a buyer for every seller.
So if you are that buyer, you are coming in and scooping up deals at discounts on.
Great investments that have always in the past, recovered
markets have always recovered.
So yes, every crisis is gonna feel different.
You're gonna feel, um, you're gonna feel a new reason to want to sell
a new reason to panic, but when you have a strong hand, like every NFL
player does with that kind of income.
Um, you should be, you should feel good about buying.
You should feel good about putting money to work.
You shouldn't shy away from the markets.
Your advisor should educate you and keep you informed as much as possible.
And for a long-term investor, those short-term market moves, they just don't
matter In the grand scheme of things, You're not planning to sell for decades as
a long-term investor, which we recommend everyone be a long-term investor.
All you do as a short-term investor
or short-term trader.
Is
get eaten up by capital gains and misses, uh, missing out on market returns.
And so staying, staying a long-term investor during these times, and that's
with the caveat that you're diversified, that you own, um, thousands of companies
that all are gonna navigate tariffs.
They'll navigate the next crisis, they will navigate them.
It doesn't look good in the short term, but they, they will come out
ahead and they will provide, um.
Those returns as they have in the past.
Um, there's no guarantees, but that's, that's what markets have done in the past.
So you can bank on that.
You can bank on your
financial
plan, assuming your team has built out a protective reserve,
assuming they have built out, um, that strategy with cash flow so.
that you can smartly put money to work when markets do what they're doing now.
Riccardo Stewart: That's good.
Like, Sam, I'm gonna put you on the spot as you hear Zach talk and then, and you
hear him answer the question, what sort of things come to your mind a as as it
relates to the, the men and women who you've been talking to and listening from?
Sam Acho: The biggest thing that comes to my mind is to see this as an opportunity.
What do I mean by that?
I remember I got drafted in 2011, and that was right after the financial
crisis of 2008 2009 and I remember.
I didn't see that as an opportunity.
I instead was afraid, y'all heard the story about Giannis who said, okay,
I have all this money and there's FDI insurance at banks, so I'm gonna put
my money at all these different banks.
So it can kind of be, in short, it's like there's better ways to
actually think through crises.
And I think one of the ways is almost like Zach saying is thinking
not just for the next 5 years, but think for the next 50 years.
Not just the fi next five minutes, but the next, you know, like five, like.
5, 10, 15, 20 years thinking long term.
Uh, I think as I go back to it now, when I made the NFL and and walked
into a, a, a large sum of money, that would've been a great opportunity
after that crisis to invest.
But I didn't, I made a mistake.
I said, I took the yoss approach, like, okay, how do I keep my
money as safe as possible?
So if you have people who you trust, which is hard, I get it, but people
you trust who actually understand what, what the markets have done in the past.
At least can give you a, a basic understanding of, okay, what may happen.
No one knows the future, but what may happen or what has happened.
That'll give you a better understanding of the opportunity that's at
hand rather than walking in fear.
Riccardo Stewart: Professor, why don't you wrap it up for us.
Two things I'd like you to give our listeners, NFL players.
Two things to consider when we see markets do what they're doing right
now and maybe one thing not to do.
Jeff Locke: Love it.
I think first thing you consider is, how does this impact my plan?
Right?
Point blank.
Has my plan changed?
Have my priorities changed?
Has something changed with my family situation?
Do I wanna do something different with my money in the future?
None of that's changed if your plan is built right, this doesn't
impact you in the slightest, right?
Second, stock market corrections are a feature of the market, not a flaw.
The reason that you earn money in the stock market is because there is such a
potential to lose money if you don't hold it together when the markets are down.
That's why you earn is by having your behavior in check during
these times when others don't.
That's why you earn more than them, The thing not to do.
Piggybacking on that is to act rashly out of emotion.
When you see a headline, I.
Right.
Think about who those headlines are for, right?
And what those headlines are meant to do.
They're meant to drive clicks and earn, ad earn, ad revenue, right?
It's not actual specific advice for you and your situation.
So take a breath for what we all gotta do in these situations and stick to the plan.
Riccardo Stewart: I love it.
I love it.
I guess the, one of the ways to just wrap all that together is we started
off with situational football.
We know some of the best leaders, whether it be point guards, quarterbacks,
receivers, D ends in those situations where the game was on the line.
The people who you look forward to or you look to for leadership are
those with the non-anxious presence.
And so the one thing we would say to wrap it all up is have a non-anxious presence.
Trust in your plan, trust in the team that you've, that you've hired.
And, uh, continue to ask questions.
If there's anything we said today that you have questions on or you wanna
know, what does it mean to even have a plan, uh, please reach out to us.
You can, uh, text us at 6 0 2 9 8 9 5 0 2 2.