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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: 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
my friends and my coworkers, Zach
Miller, Sam Acho, and Jeff Locke.
It is currently the day
before Thanksgiving.
And Thanksgiving, as we know
in our country, is a time where
everyone becomes thankful.
But not only are they thankful,
they become given, and from now on
to the end of the year, there are
people who are thinking about giving.
Um, some of you may know, I, for my old
career, I was a pastor and we would look
at our budget and we would get to this
point of the year and we're like, man,
we're so far away from hitting our budget.
And every single year we would exceed
the budget because people just became
more inclined to give during this time.
And so as it relates to NFL athletes,
there's charities that are gonna be
asking, there's churches that are
gonna be asking, there are family
members that are gonna be asking,
and I wanna be able today to talk
about what are the best ways to give.
And particularly, are there any strategies
that the ultra wealthy use when it comes
to giving that every NFL player or most
NFL players should be taking advantage of?
And I'm not just talking from a tax
standpoint, but in the standpoint of
saying, how do I give, and I'm gonna
start first whenever we talk about
giving, um, we got some generous people
here, but I'm gonna start first with Sam.
You're a cheerful giver.
Why is it important to you and why
is it important to NFL athletes?
I
Sam Acho: I think the, the reason
it's important is that we oftentimes
talk with people and we'll ask
the question of, man, what do you
want to do like with your money?
Or what do you wanna do just in general?
And you start boiling down and people
start to say, I wanna be happy and
not necessarily be happy, but you
start to boil down, okay man, you want
to have peace, I want to be happy.
And so you start thinking,
okay, what are the things to do?
Is it getting a bigger contract?
Is it buying a new house?
Is it buying a new car?
Well, studies show, actually, a
Harvard study shows that some of
the happiest people are givers.
Even more specifically, a recent Harvard
study show that you gain and you increase
in happiness immediately after you give.
And so to answer the question of,
man, I want to be happy, try giving.
I think that's one of
the benefits of giving.
You might think it's this, uh, it's
a, it's a blessing for other people,
but it's also a benefit for you to
help increase your joy and happiness.
Riccardo Stewart: yeah, it is.
And it's a privilege that when you
are able to live below your means.
And then you have this access to be
able to serve or to bless other people.
It's a privilege.
But oftentimes with that
privilege comes a pressure.
And what I mean by that is you guys have
all experienced it is people know as
NFL athletes, they know you have money.
Oftentimes they think you have more than
what you, you have, and they have no
idea what your plan is, and they have
no idea that, you know, you're trying to
invest towards your future and so forth.
They just go, yo, you got
money, help a brother out.
And so Zach.
What, what do you do personally
and what advice do you give to
your clients as it relates to the
privilege, as well as sometimes the
pressure that comes along with giving?
Zach Miller: Yeah, so personally
I think it's hugely important,
especially when you're lucky enough
to take care of the people that
helped you get where you are and, and
then there's a right amount there.
Like, it, it, it helps to
have a conversation with
someone that knows you well.
Knows your money well so that you
can kind of find the right amounts.
The ones that won't, the amount that
won't hurt you too much, but you can,
you're able to give and give freely and,
and not feel like it's an obligation.
And there, there's a lot of nuance in
that, but it is massively important
for NFL guys that are so generous that
they want to help people who helped 'em
get where they are, you know, in the
NFL to help that help their success.
You know, from a young player
all the way to A to A NFL player.
And what, you know, what I've
done recently is guys are like,
well, how much should I give?
Or how, you know, I
want to give to charity.
I don't know what yet.
I mean, I'm, I'm still a spreadsheet guy
and these players, like, I'm gonna pull,
even for myself, I'm gonna pull it up,
see that I have money that's gonna be
generationally transferred, it's gonna go
to grandkids, great-grandkids, hopefully.
And that money, I can say,
well, some of that actually,
you know, I want to benefit or.
donate to, to a cause I care
strongly about now because I care
enough that I know my capital,
my money will make a difference.
And so using literally, you know, the
right, you know, financial plan tells me
what that right amount is, how much I can
give and not feel, you know, bad about it.
That I didn't give too little
or didn't give too much.
And so there's, there's
a way to find that.
And then, you know.
This happens with our clients
just around this time of year.
Our athletes, they want to give before
the, you know, either Christmas time,
Thanksgiving, they're given time,
usually they want to give money.
And so finding the right way to do that,
um, you know, is in hugely important
because like myself, when I was younger,
like I didn't know I wanted to give, but
I didn't know what I wanted to give to.
So there's certain ways to do it,
um, where you can kind of give into
future years and it's just very
helpful to have that, uh, as a tool.
Riccardo Stewart: So let's get right
to it, Sam, what is the best way for
an ultra high net worth individual
NFL player to begin to give?
Like, what's the best way?
Sam Acho: yeah.
One of the best and most
efficient ways to give.
And as you're asking me, I'm lighting
up 'cause I didn't realize this myself.
Uh, but one of the best ways is
to start a donor advice fund.
And people say, okay, why?
And what are you talking about?
I just love to give, I was a
guy who was like, Hey man, like.
Whether it's like giving a charity
or giving my time or giving a church,
paying tithe, I would love to give
and not really let people know how
much I was giving or how I was giving.
And then I had a conversation
with some of the people on this
team, and they were like, Sam, we
know you want to make an impact.
We know you love to give.
If you want to make a bigger impact,
there are smarter ways to give.
I was like, no, I'm good.
I'm good.
I'm good.
It's like, no, just listen to me.
Right?
If you start a donor advised fund, or
even if you donate appreciated stock,
you can actually give more money.
I said, okay, well why?
What do you mean by that?
Well, because when you, you know,
look at capital gains tax, right?
It could be like 20 or so percent, and
all of a sudden if you donate money or
donate stock, start a donor revised fund.
There's two separate things,
but just specifically, let's
say start a donor advice fund.
You donate, you put that
money to a donor advice fund.
You're able to actually give more than
you would give if you just gave cash
alone or if you just wrote a check.
I was still trying to say,
guys, make it more clear.
Make it make sense.
But as I've started to give
more, I'm realizing, okay, so I
not pay that in taxes right now.
And instead that money that I'd
save in taxes I could give to a
different charity that I would select.
Riccardo Stewart: okay, Jeff,
make it make even more sense.
And so what exactly is a daf and
specifically why is it important
for NFL athletes to have one?
Jeff Locke: So a DAF is just a different
kind of investment account, but it's
got some pretty cool features to it.
Essentially what happened was back
in the day, private foundations,
which we've probably all heard about.
were hard to set up and they still are.
They're very expensive.
So the IRS allowed this loophole,
which is the donor-advised
fund to come into existence.
What the donor-advised fund does is
essentially in the eyes of the IRS.
When you put money or stock, like Sam
said, into your donor-advised fund,
it's literally like giving to a charity.
They treat it the exact same way,
which for you, the athlete means you
get the tax break in the year you put
money into the donor advised fund.
Rather than having to wait to get a
tax break when you give to the charity,
as Zach mentioned, that feature is
extremely important, especially for
our young athlete clients who are
currently in the highest tax bracket
they may ever be in in their life.
But I don't know where I want to give yet.
Right.
I haven't figured out the
charities I want to give to.
I haven't learned enough about
all the causes in my city or in my
country of where I want to give.
So you're essentially able to put money
or stock into the donor-advised fund.
Now get the big tax deduction you
really want when you're in the
highest tax bracket while waiting
to give to the actual charity later.
And all the time the money's
in that donor-advised fund.
You're able to invest it just
like you could have outside of it.
And there's no tax again on the money
invested in the donor rise fund.
So it's one of those like,
seems way too good to be true.
Kind of things, but it actually
is, there's not many of them,
but this is one of them.
Riccardo Stewart: That's good.
We'd like to say here, giving
unlocks the grip of greed and
our athletes are generous.
You're listening to
this as an NFL athlete.
You know, I've never even heard
of a donor-advised fund or a daf.
I wanna know more about that.
As you can, as you can hear from
Jeff, he's very, very, very, uh,
wise to this and he helps sets this,
sets these things up for our clients.
We would love to be able to connect
you with Jeff and get you the
resources you need, especially
during this time that you're giving
and continue to be a good giver.
And so please reach out to us.
Our number is 6 0 2 9 8 9 5 0 2 2.