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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
Jeff Locke, Zach Miller and Sam Acho.
Um, I wanna start First Fellows
with giving a disclaimer.
I got a word puzzle behind me because
I'm saying at the beautiful Moxie
Hotel and Louis Louisville, Kentucky.
Uh, so don't let that distract you.
But I wanna pick up where we left
off on the last episode because one.
Sam, Zack, Jeff.
You guys were bringing some knowledge
and understanding how athletes, elite
athletes begin to create, sustain
and secure multi-generational wealth.
And we started with talking about create,
and that is how an athlete, particularly
NFL player, begins to create value.
And that is using their physical, their
social, and their intellectual capital,
which makes up their human capital.
And then we talked about, okay, once
you create value, what happens is
teams, companies, brands, they begin
to compensate you for that value.
And we used one particular player,
Sam, your friend, Brock Purdy, and
looking at his contract and going, he
was able to capture now that value and
now he is got this amazing contract.
And there's something that happens
when you get to that second contract.
Third contract in the NFL.
You.
You go from being rich to what Chris
Rock says is there's a difference between
being rich and then being wealthy.
Meaning now you have life-changing
money where you need to understand
how do I hire a team that begins
to not just have money managers
or the phrase a financial advisor.
What's beyond that?
And that's something called a
family office, something that is.
Far more comprehensive than what a
broker or a financial advisor can do.
It's got way more depth than you
can understanding by just how
hiring an accountant, but it's
everything you need to be fully
successful in every area of life.
And we'll talk more about that.
But today I wanna just draw on your
guys' expertise financially, your 20
plus years of NFL experience and really
talking about how do we move from create.
To capture, to convert, meaning what
matters most is after tax dollars.
And that's the money in my pocket.
And so I'm gonna start first
with you, Jeff, and let's stay
on the Purdy, the Purdy contract,
'cause that's pretty relevant.
We usually say in order to have this
multi-generational wealth, that's
a formula we use 40, 40, 20, 40% of
your money, um, taxes are, are gonna
be gone away to taxes, give or take,
depending on what state you're in.
40% you should have saved slash invest.
Thinking about giving every dollar
you have a job and paying your
future self and then living off 20%.
Okay.
In Purdy's case, that might be a little
different considering he's in California.
So how does that breakdown for him?
How does he convert Jeff?
Jeff Locke: Yeah, so for Mr.
Purdy, it's gonna be more like a 50.
40 10, right?
Unfortunately, California comes after a
lot more your wages than other states.
So we're talking 50%.
If he realizes this whole two
$65 million contract, 50%,
half of that gone taxes, right?
For him, probably spend about 10%, right?
Still a lot of money.
10% at 2 65 you can spend 26 million.
Over the life of this contract.
Think of some pretty cool
things with 26, right?
And then 40% save.
This is the important part.
This is the part that sets you
up right after tax dollars.
Go into the priorities you care about.
So we're talking 110 ish million.
If he plays his whole contract out,
ready to be used for what he cares
about and for his family, their family.
Going on generations
pretty, pretty good amount.
Riccardo Stewart: I mean,
it's a legit amount.
Zach, we hammer you on this because
you've been through it, because you
didn't as a player, move beyond an fa.
Having a tax team and there's no
integration, and so it's well documented
on this podcast that you've, you've
missed out on tax opportunities
upwards to about $2 million.
Okay?
Now that you're wise and you've
got your CFP, you're super smart.
You're sitting in your office
with your helmets behind you.
I love it.
Can you speak and give us the
wisdom of the truth in terms of.
What does that mean from a
tax implication for Purdy?
And what possible tax strategies might
he take advantage of given his situation?
I.
Zach Miller: Big contract numbers.
Big tax numbers.
So if you, if you just go to that 50%
number, that means Brock's gonna pay
about $130 million in income taxes.
I was there on my second contract
too, had to pay a massive amount of
money in taxes, so it makes sense.
To spend a lot of time paying
as little as possible on taxes.
And there are strategies that do that.
There's a lot of strategies
that you just won't get.
If like I, in my case, you have an,
I had an fa, but you're not gonna
get the advanced strategies that all
the wealthy do, all the single family
office that work with the billionaires.
You can get those strategies and
you should get those strategies
as an elite NFL player.
And it's, I mean, it.
It's a multi-year thing.
It's not just a one and done.
You have to do it your, the
whole rest of your life.
Brock will have to do tax planning
the whole rest of his life if he
wants to save money on those taxes.
And it's not just the income tax.
Now we're talking about estate taxes.
Now we're talking about
managing property taxes.
There's a lot of other taxes
he's gonna have to manage.
And then NFL teams don't always do
it, right, like they, the way they
calculate where you play and allot the
income to those states, that actually
starts to matter significantly.
It's not just a few hundred
dollars, a few thousand dollars.
It could be millions of dollars that
you should save by having your tax team.
Check those things.
Same thing now, residency where
you become a resident of that
actually matters massively.
All a lot of income you can
actually, um, keep in your pocket.
You know, it always matters how much
money ends up in your pocket if you
manage your residency property properly.
California is always gonna want to
get as much as they possibly can.
So does Brock, is he an Arizona?
Should he be an Arizona resident?
Should he go to a state income tax
free state and be a resident there?
That's another thing.
And then.
Just assume when you make that
kind of money, you're gonna be,
Brock's gonna be in the top tax
bracket the rest of his life.
So all tax planning should be centered
around how much money can you take right
now and push it out into the future
where you can manage that tax bracket
even better, manage the income from it.
Things like capital gains
now matter more than ever.
All that.
Those investment decisions all have
a tax bill, so it has to be proactive
and it has to be done right now.
It can't wait.
Riccardo Stewart: I've heard you say
this before, Zach too, is the tax game
is not just, just do it this year.
It's how do you save the most
amount of taxes throughout your,
your actual career and your life.
And then I also heard you say
this before too, Zach, which I
think is helpful, is it's not just
the tax when it comes to taxes.
It's not necessarily a problem to be
solved, but it's a tension to be managed
and how do you take advantage of that?
So I'm gonna just stay with you real
quick, Zach, because this is your area.
We talked about taxes.
What about, given the contract that he
was able to capture and now convert, what
kinda lifestyle in terms of the way in
which he lives, can he have potentially
given the money that he's made?
Zach Miller: Yeah, with that kind
of contract, I mean sustainably
spending three to 4 million a year.
I mean that, that works.
If you have the right financial
structure, if you have the right setup,
you're hitting your savings targets,
that money's invested in things that
now becomes that future passive income.
You've won the game.
I mean, at that point you can
do ex extremely cool pro uh, uh,
charitable strategies that benefit,
you know, generations down the line.
You can do very cool things
with your money, get tax
benefits from it, do it smartly.
And then also set up, whether that's
some sort of, some sort of foundation,
but then also you're, I mean, you're
spending three to 5 million a year
depending on how many houses it, but
I mean, you still can run outta money.
There is still the possibility there.
We've seen it where guys have
earned 80 million, a hundred million
dollars and they file for bankruptcy.
That's hit the news.
I've played with a few guys that have
actually done that, and so it's not.
It's not like it's a guaranteed win
if as long as you manage the money and
manage the cash the right way, you have
to win the cash flow game and understand
like there is too much to spend.
But for the most part, you
get set up the right way.
You manage the tax bill, you
have the right investments.
You can actually spend way more property,
can spend way more in his lifetime.
Um, than, than just what his contract
earned, because that money will grow
and there's no reason if he's not
a billionaire, his team failed him.
Riccardo Stewart: Ooh, man, I like that.
I mean, I don't like that his team
would fail him, but I like the fact
that he could be a billionaire.
Alright, Sam, you know him personally,
and we, we, we hear about him, we
hear stories about him since Zach
and I, because we're in Arizona where
he is from, and you hear just some
beautiful, amazing things about him.
One of the things that you hear about
him is that he would be like the
person who would be a giver and so,
and someone who would share his money.
So what could that look like for someone
in his situation to be able to give, I.
Sam Acho: The biggest lesson I
learned, Ricardo, even going through
this process is this, this statement
I heard from a teammate of mine or a
guy who I was kind of ahead of me, he
said that money is just a magnifier.
That's all that it is.
And so oftentimes people
get these big contracts.
It's like, well, what do I do?
And what's gonna happen?
All that's gonna happen is
gonna expand and magnify what.
you were doing before A giver.
And so if you're someone who's
a giver, he's strategic as well.
So now him and his wife get a
chance to be even more strategic
when they wanna make an impact.
So maybe it's a, a, a, an international
foundation, a or a nonprofit, a place
like International Justice Mission
that's fighting human trafficking.
Maybe that's a place they can donate.
Right?
Maybe it's a place, uh, more local.
When I lived in Chicago, there were
some local things we did with me
and my teammates in Chicago, but
he gets a chance to make an impact.
There's also the conversation
maybe starts a private foundation.
Which is a little bit more stringent
when it comes to some tax laws, but
it gives you more freedom as, as
far as who you may want to give to.
You talked earlier, Zach, about some
of the costs that come with that
foundation, and so I think yes, the,
the number one thing is that money's
a magnifier, but the number two is,
yes, there's an excitement, man.
I get a chance.
Let's say you want to give 10% of, of what
you've been able to, to, to earn, right?
Let's say you maxed out
the whole contract, right?
26 million, or let's say
it's after taxes, right?
12 or so million.
That's a huge way to make an impact.
So there's an excitement there, but
also there's an idea of, okay, I wanna
make sure I'm stewarding this well.
And so that's when it comes to this idea
of, okay, how do I make sure I'm giving
to the right people and giving in the
right way and in the right structure.
There's also a whole nother
conversation about family, which
we can have down the line, but the
biggest lesson that I learned is the
fact that money is just a magnifier.
And so with this larger contract,
it's a bigger opportunity
to make a larger impact.
Riccardo Stewart: So stepping back,
elite athletes one, you are able to
create value capture with the contract.
Now we're talking particularly convert.
And we like to say there's
four uses of money.
One is taxes.
Biggest story of your wealth.
Zach talked about that.
The other one is you can spend your money.
In this case, Brock Purdy may have
the opportunity to spend three to
$4 million for the rest of his life.
Then you can share your
money or give it with Sam.
You just talked about that.
And then there's this other one,
save slash invest Professor,
I saved you for the last, but
you're definitely not the least.
Speak to of what that could look
like for not only Brock Purdy,
but someone in his, in his shoes.
Jeff Locke: Yeah, you can't just put
$110 million under the mattress and hope
it's gonna last, you know, three to four.
I don't even know what
kind of mattress you buy.
It'd be a really big mattress,
but, um, it's not gonna last.
That's not how it works.
You have to invest the money.
Zach mentioned $3-4M a year.
That's based on Zach knowing his stuff of
investing that money a certain way for the
rest of your life to be able to generate
that $3-4M a year and sustain it, right?
We're talking possibly 70 plus years just
for Brock and his core family, right?
Having to make that money less last.
So in our industry, one of
the hidden secrets is most
financial advisors do it wrong.
Right.
They go and invest in what they believe
is the best investments, and then they
tell you the client what you can spend.
That is not the experience
of a family office.
Family office.
You work with the client, they tell
you what they want to do with their
money, with their lives, what they
envision for their family, and then
we go and find the best in class
investments that fit your plan.
Right?
That's save and invest,
not the other way around.
And a lot of people get it wrong,
but when you're at a family
office, you deserve the best.
And family offices have access
to the best investments, which
most advisory firms do not have.
Riccardo Stewart: When, when you
create as an athlete, if you, when
you create the value that you've
created as an elite athlete and you
are able to capture it with an amazing
contract, it's on you to now convert it.
And when you convert it and now you
have after tax dollars, it's on you to
be able to find the appropriate team.
No one person can set you up
for the success financially.
You need a team and uniquely you
need a family office that can do
all of the things that these men
have been talking about here.
And so what is a family office?
What does that look like?
And what does a family office help you do?
And not only living the life
that you want to live here.
But the life that your kids and your kids'
kids wanna wanna live, and we're gonna
pick up on that in talking about how do
you continue what you've created, what
you've captured, and what you converted.
If you have any questions
on what we've been talking
about, please reach out to us.
You can give us a call or
you can shoot us a text.
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