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In Episode 44 of the AWM NFL Podcast, Riccardo "Coach" Stewart is joined by Zack "The Truth" Miller, Sam "The Mayor" Acho, and Jeff "The Professor" Locke, to discuss effective financial strategies for NFL players during the offseason. The hosts delve into topics such as offseason training plans, maintaining physical fitness, understanding NFL pay structures, and the importance of postseason financial meetings to ensure long-term financial success. This episode provides essential insights for players and their families navigating the unique financial landscape of professional sports.
Key Highlights:
- Players should focus on decompressing and addressing physical health, including any required offseason surgeries.
- Importance of planning offseason training and nutrition to maintain peak physical condition.
- Explanation of postseason financial meetings and their role in assessing past spending and structuring future financial goals.
- Understanding the NFL pay structure is crucial for effective cash flow management and avoiding financial stress.
- Strategies for players anticipating big contracts and those considering retirement, focusing on residency planning and post-career benefits.
Quotes:
- "Winning the cashflow game is one of the five skill sets of building multi-generational wealth." – Sam Acho
- "These are really some of the biggest meetings of the year that we have with our clients." – Jeff Locke
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 want to
welcome you guys back to another
episode of the AWM NFL podcast.
My name is Ricardo Stewart.
I'm your host, and I'm joined
with my friends, Zach Miller.
We call him the truth.
Sam, we call them the mayor.
And lastly, Jeff Locke, who
we call the professor, because
he's always dropping knowledge.
And so we get to this point of the
year where it's the end of the season.
All right.
A couple of guys are still playing
maybe for the Superbowl, but
for the most, most people are
they're done and players are done.
It's been a long year and they
got all sorts of things on
their mind and the off season.
Am I, where am I going to train?
Where am I going to go to vacation?
Am I getting married?
Did we have a kid?
There's Ton of things that are
happening with NFL players.
Am I going to play for a different team?
And with it, you always have to have the
appropriate team behind you, guiding you
in the areas in which you want to go, just
kind of navigating you on these things.
And so we have experienced financial,
uh, advisors here that work for a family
office, as well as experience in the NFL.
And so I want to lean on you guys as
always to get some of your, your insight.
So for you, Sam, when you were getting
done with the season as a player, What
were some of the things that you were
looking forward to in the offseason?
I
Sam Acho: there were two phases.
I think the first phase was when I
was a rookie, I was looking forward
just to having some time to breathe.
And what do I mean by that?
For all the rookies who are in
this situation, you understand
that you've been grinding for
essentially the last 18 months.
So going into your senior year before your
junior year, or maybe you came out as a
junior, you were grinding that off season
and you've gotten to your last year in
college, whatever year that was, retired,
sophomore, junior, whatever it is.
Right.
Six year, you were grinding and then all
of a sudden you were training for the
NFL combine and training for the senior
bowl, or maybe the East West ride game
and training for the draft, then you
get there early as a rookie to training
camp and OTAs and a rookie mini camp.
And then you get to the preseason and
the regular season, and maybe even the
play, you've been, it's a lot, it's a lot.
And so for me, it was just an ability to,
to breathe as a rookie, maybe
first, second year player.
And then when I got married and
started having kids, It was an ability.
I was looking forward to the
opportunity to reconnect with my family.
And what do I mean by that?
No, it wasn't like I was
just completely disconnected.
But as we all know, when you're going
through regular season, you have your
routines and you have your rhythms.
We go through a lot of tradeoffs.
Thursday nights oftentimes were
spent with the teams, with the
fellas at a defensive dinner, at a
restaurant or at someone's house.
Fridays were oftentimes traveling or maybe
Saturdays, depending on where the game is.
Game on Sunday, back on Monday,
during your rehab, you're in the
facility, maybe off on Tuesday, you're
there on Wednesday, all the way to
maybe six or five 30, depending.
So just a chance to reconnect.
And so for me, what I look forward
to the most as a younger player,
and even as a veteran player
was a chance for reprieve, like
to rest, but also to reconnect.
Jeff Locke: Heh heh.
Riccardo Stewart: just kind of
feel like, you know what, let's
just shut this down and just rest.
I like that, Sam.
So, transitioning to a less
zen version of Sam, Zach.
are some of the things that, I mean,
I know what you were thinking about
the younger version of Zach, and I can
only imagine the married version of
Zach, you know, going on vacations,
but what were some of the things
that players aren't thinking about
in the offseason, but they should be?
Zach Miller: I think, I think what
Sam said and decompressing, you
have to do that as a player and
you have to take care of your body.
Like, there's going to be
injuries that are nagging.
And if you don't take care of them
in the offseason, they will keep
showing up throughout your career.
And so, you If it, if that means an off
season surgery, get it taken care of
before you get closer to the regular
season, before you report to camp,
those types of things, handle that
stuff early, get second opinions, um,
really understand like the mental part
of it is where you got to like put that
season to bed, but take something away
from it, whatever you learn from it,
whatever didn't work for you, whatever
you think, like start, it's early.
And you, you don't have
to do it right away.
You can take, take a month, take a couple
of months to yourself, but start having
a strategy, a plan for where you're going
to work out before you go back to the
team stuff, where you're going to work
out before you go to in between OTAs and
training camp, what you're going to be
doing there and start to plan that out.
Start to book if you're going
to be in a different city.
Go into a facility, book those places out,
um, get the plan set in place to where
you're like, this is what I'm going to do
so that I can achieve this next season.
If you want to be a pro bowler,
that actually starts now.
And as much as you can, like
nutrition, diet, all those things.
When I got in my best football shape,
I did it during the off season.
Cause during the season, it's a struggle
just to get your body right week to week.
You don't, you can't
always set those things up.
So having that plan when it comes to.
nutrition, uh, you know, your,
your physical shape, getting that
in place as soon as possible.
Once you've kind of decompressed a
little bit, because it's easier to stay
in shape than get out of shape and then
have to get back into football shape.
So yeah, take some time, rehab
those injuries, but stay in
that kind of football shape so
that you're ready to go in OTAs.
You're ready to go for training camp
because the off season goes by so fast.
I mean, you could go on those trips,
but before you know it, you're
already back reporting to your team,
doing your beginning physicals.
And it happens so quick.
You don't have that plan.
You're kind of gone.
You're going to be behind everyone else.
Everyone else is starting to do that
more and more and, and take care of
their bodies even that much better.
Riccardo Stewart: So it's important for
us as family office advisors to make
sure that we tap in with all of our, our
NFL players in a post season meeting.
And most people have no idea
what a post season meeting is.
They'd never done one before.
So Jeff, would you explain like what
that meeting is, the purpose of it
and exactly what are we trying to
do and accomplish in those meetings?
Jeff Locke: Yeah, so these are really
some of the biggest meetings of the year
that we have with our clients, and it's
really part look back at the prior year
and part look forward at this year and
future years of what we want to get done.
So on the look back side.
We're looking back at spend.
How much did I spend
and what did I spend on?
Okay, we're looking back at income
and we're looking back at taxes.
How much did I pay in taxes?
And those data points give us,
hey, what does 2025 look like?
What am I going to owe in taxes in April?
And how has that changed?
What investments are I in and
what investments am I in and why?
Um, and you guys all kind of
hit on it in different ways.
But like what priorities and goals
do I have and have they changed?
Cause your priorities and
goals are going to lead exactly
how you should be invested.
So we got to know.
What are the plans for the off season?
Where you gonna be?
What trip do you got planned?
How have things changed?
You getting married soon?
We doing the engagement
ring sooner than we thought?
All those little things
we gotta know about.
And then there's just a bunch
of logistics and clean up.
Making sure everything is protected.
We're talking insurance, we're
talking trust, we're talking LLCs.
Making sure all those things
are getting taken care of.
And one of the coolest things we do that
we think our clients really love is we can
actually look at all this data and then
say, Hey, if you keep spending this way.
Here's how long your money can last,
or here's how much you need to earn
going forward to really sustain the
lifestyle you've already started or
what adjustments you need to make.
Cause we'll never, ever
be the spending police.
You don't ever want your team being those
people, but we're going to tell you the
trade offs that come with spending or
changing your lifestyle in certain ways.
Riccardo Stewart: Sam, what was something
you wish your advisor would have talked to
you about post season, but maybe didn't?
Sam Acho: They have a day in that kind of
football shape so that you're ready to go.
So if you're already back, it's
really important that they know
that they have the ball to beat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I wish they would have known how
the pay structure in the NFL worked
because it would have saved me
from a whole bunch of headaches.
What do I mean by that?
So back when I was playing.
We would get paid every
week during the season.
So it was a 16 game
season, a 17 week season.
And so I would get cheques every week
and there were big cheques right?
Because it was only for 17 weeks.
And I would live as if those cheques
were going to come for 52 weeks as in
the rest of the year, but they weren't.
And mind you, I wasn't ever a big
spender or I never kind of, I don't
think I was really wasteful with my
money, but I was one of these guys
like Jeff was talking about where.
I was planning a wedding and you know,
I was excited about the wedding and
the honeymoon and all these things.
All of a sudden get married, do
all in the off season, right?
Do all that stuff and we'll
take our honeymoon, whatever.
And I'm looking back at my account.
I'm like, hold on, where
why is the money going out?
No more money's coming in.
And yes, I thought I was a good
planner, but it was just different.
They didn't understand that at
that time the NFL pay schedule
was a 17 week pay schedule.
Well now, and that wasn't for every team.
That was just for probably
90 percent of the teams.
Well, as Zach and I, we were
both part of the NFL PA.
There were some conversations with NFL
PA that said, Hey, what if we change
that to instead of a 17 week, maybe
a 30, uh, 34 week, or now there's an
18 game schedule, 36 week schedule.
And so there are certain changes
that are happening when it comes
to how those checks are received.
And when I'm getting paid, we talk
about the five skill sets of being a
pro building, multi generational wealth.
One of them is winning the cashflow game.
And so I wish my advisor would have known
how that cashflow game works, specific.
Specifically to the NFL, NFL players,
so that I would have, I would have
at least had the information to
make a more informed decision.
Mind you, I was young, I thought I
was good, I was doing my own thing
and, and I ended up being okay.
But it was just some extra pressure that I
wasn't expecting because they didn't have
the knowledge to be able to implement the
goals that I had for me and my family.
Riccardo Stewart: Jeff, I'm thinking
of, well, I want to hear your planning
process for a player who may be
about to enter a big contract, right?
This offseason, um, as opposed to
a player that may be contemplating
retirement or maybe possibly finding
another team for one more year.
Is there a different process?
And if so, what is that?
Jeff Locke: Yeah, the
processes are very different.
So when you're coming up on a big
contract, that life changing money, second
or third deal, you got to get stuff ready.
So right when you put your name on
the dotted line, things are already
moving or you're too late, right?
We're talking residency planning.
Where am I going to live so I can pay
the least in taxes on some of my income?
We're talking about privacy protection.
You're about to be an even
bigger name than you already are.
We got to make sure all
your stuff is buttoned up.
So those fans can't come
find you in the future.
Um, tax wise and then insurance wise,
a lot of people don't know this, but
you're going to have an insurance
situation where you've got to go and
get a bunch of life insurance to help
cover for a tax bill in the future and
your new team is going to be competing
for the same life insurance policies.
So you got to go and actually make
moves before the team does that
signs you, or you're going to have
to pay double or triple for the
insurance that you actually need.
So these are all little things
you've got to be thinking about now.
Before that ink gets dry and then
for guys transitioning out, it's
one of the, I mean, Zach, Sam, you
can agree with me here or disagree.
Like it's one of the weirdest moments in
your life of like when you're changing
from being a pro athlete to not.
And the one thing that you got to
know is like, Hey, do I have the money
set aside I need to transition out?
Like when is my severance coming in?
That's going to help me.
What NFL benefits do I have
access to that are going to help
me the next three to five years.
As I move on to my next career,
because the one consistent thing is
it always takes longer to transition
into your next career than you actually
think it's going to, going to take,
and it's going to take more money to
transition than you ever thought it
would for you to support your family.
Riccardo Stewart: This is really
helpful because when I think about the
offseason, we don't naturally think
about the things that you guys mentioned
as an NFL player, to be thinking about
Zach, where are you going to train?
Where are you going to train
in between your training?
What are you going to eat?
Sam, making sure your advisor is talking
about cash flow and in the pay structure.
How are things actually structured?
Am I coming across life, not just
enhancing money, that was you getting
in the draft, but life truly changing
money, second and third contract.
And how do I plan for that?
As to how do I plan for retirement?
So yeah, there's going
to be the boat trips.
Yeah.
There's going to be the vacation.
Yeah.
There's going to be a lot, but
there's so many other things that are
massively important for your life.
And so if you have any questions to the
things that were mentioned today and
today's podcast, you got, um, uh, maybe
you want some more resources on that.
Please reach out to us.
Our number is 602 989 5022.
I don't know why I'm doing this.