NFL Players' Podcast

Rich Paul told his own clients that $200 million isn't enough money. On this episode, Sam Acho, Zach Miller, Jeff Locke, and Riccardo Stewart kick off a new series, The 1Hundred Year Family, to find out why he's right. They break down exactly where a $200 million contract actually goes: the taxes nobody explains at the rookie symposium, the 40% estate tax waiting on the back end, and the lifestyle creep that quietly sinks more careers than any bad investment. This is part one of a series on what it really takes to build wealth that outlasts your own career — and your kids', and theirs.

Chapters
[00:00] Introduction: Riccardo opens the new "1Hundred Year Family" series and the Pac-Man story that sparked it.
[00:01] Why some things are built to last and most things aren't.
[00:02] Third-generation wealth loss the real reasons families lose it all.
[00:03] Rich Paul's "$200 million isn't enough" comment
[00:03] Sam Acho — "True wealth is what you don't see."
[00:05] Zach Miller: the income tax and 40% estate tax math on a $200M contract.
[00:07] Riccardo presses on double taxation between income and estate tax.
[00:08] Jeff Locke: the 4-5% retirement rule and why it doesn't work for athletes.
[00:10] Lifestyle creep" why it's one of the hardest habits to reverse.
[00:12] Consumerism named as the real enemy of the 1Hundred Year Family

Connect with us
• Call or text: 602-989-5022
• Website: https://www.athletefamilyoffice.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/awmcapital/
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• X: https://twitter.com/awmcapital

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 "The Coach": Rich Paul,
who is the founder and he leads Klutch,

he talked about in this interview, how he
tells his young athletes that two hundred

million dollars is not a lot of money.

Sam Acho "The Mayor": I would say
in a lot of ways Rich Paul is right.

I've heard it said that true
wealth is what you don't see.

It's not what you do see,
it's what you don't see.

Riccardo Stewart "The Coach": Hey,
I want to welcome you guys back to

another episode of the AWM NFL Podcast.

My name is Ricardo Stewart.

I have the privilege of being
your host, and I'm joined with

my friends and my coworkers, Sam
Acho, Jeff Locke, and Zach Miller.

Fellas, we are gonna start a series,
and, and what I want to talk about

is, big picture-wise, is what does
it mean to be a hundred-year family?

I'm thinking beyond contracts,
thinking beyond careers, and how

do we create things that last.

So last week I was with some family,
and we were staying at an Airbnb.

And in the Air- Airbnb
was an old school Pac-Man.

And it was funny watching my 17-year-old
and my 15-year-old and even younger kids

that were with us play Pac-Man for hours.

And it was, even as
adults, we were jumping in.

And it got me thinking, many games can
multiple generations actually get in on?

Not a lot.

Your boy's not playing Fortnite.

Your…

I mean, I know Zach's probably doing
Call of Duty, but I'm not doing Call

of Duty, and part of it is, let's
just be honest, there's certain things

that were created not to last, right?

I think they call this pl- planned
obsolescence, and that is things that

were created so that you can use it for
a little bit, and it would be done, and

you have to go buy it again, you have to
go buy it again, which is problematic.

And when you think about things,
you're going, look at things in this

world, whether it's the things we
wear or the, like, the furniture

we have, the homes that are built.

Are they built to last?

And it got me to start
thinking about athlete fames.

And uniquely, ultra high net worth.

And what I mean by that, anybody
who's made 30 to 100 million,

you're kind of in that…

no, you're not kind of.

You're in that ultra
high net worth category.

Is we see all of these things of
people saying, "Well, athletes,

this is not enough money to
live off of," and so forth.

But going, is there a way that
these athletes' families can,

can actually be built to last?

And we, we know this, not just athletes,
but even wealthy people, like when

it comes to the third generation,
majority of that wealth is gone.

And when, when you look at the reasons
why, I wrote a few down that when

you look up and you see, you have
there's no shared vision, there's a

breakdown of communication, there's
a lack of financial understanding or

literacy, there's lifestyle creep,
um, poor estate or tax planning,

and you'll see divorce on this list.

You'll see all of these things.

But my question is, is it possible
to change the landscape and

the culture of how ultra high
net worth steward their wealth?

So in essence, the question is, is there
a way that they could be built to last?

But I want to start with
this just for thought.

You guys have probably seen it.

There's been a lot of different clips on
social media over the past several months.

Primarily, you saw Odell Beckham say
some things, but Rich Paul, who is the

founder and he leads Klutch, he talked
about in this interview how he tells

his young athletes that two hundred
million dollars is not a lot of money.

The purpose of this podcast is not
to say we agree or disagree, I do

wanna have the discussion on why is
it a not enough money, and then the

follow-up next episode, okay, why not?

But today is like, why is two hundred
or how could two hundred not be enough?

And so I wanna be able to go through
there and, hear your thoughts.

Let's start with you, Sam.

When you hear Rich Paul make
this statement, in your mind,

why or how would you answer why?

Sam Acho "The Mayor": Well, first I would
say in a lot of ways Rich Paul is right,

and the reason why is, is manyfold, but
one of the reasons is I've heard it said

that true wealth is what you don't see.

It's not what you do see,
it's what you don't see.

So oftentimes when you see that two
hundred million dollar contract,

people don't under- understand that
about half of that, depending on

what state you live in, maybe a
little bit less, is gonna be taxed.

So it's not really two hundred million.

You might say, "Okay, well,
still a hundred million.

How do you, how do you waste that?"

Well, all of a sudden it's not
just maybe you buying home or

car or investments, maybe bad
investments, but it's also family.

Their expectations may be spoken or
unspoken with family that you will

be the one to carry the family, and
not just for this time while you're

currently playing, but even when
you're finished playing as well.

And I think that's when the differences
happen with, with athletes is they are

making a certain level for years, maybe
one, maybe ten, maybe fifteen, but they're

living at a certain level, and then all
of a sudden that income isn't coming in

anymore, yet they are expected, whether
it's on their own expectations or through

family members, to still carry that load.

And all of a sudden, maybe it's not at
year one, maybe it's year ten or year

twenty, that lifestyle that you've
been living and those expectations that

are unspoken, whether through family
members, through yourself, you start to

realize that this money that everyone
thinks was enough is not sustainable

Riccardo Stewart "The Coach":
And everybody doesn't see

what they think they see.

People sit on the couch and they see
the $200 million contract signed.

They don't know how much of that
is guaranteed or not guaranteed.

There's just so many
things that they don't see.

Zach, from your own experience, from being
able to see it as well as, as I said, to

experience it, like, what don't we see
about taxes when we see $200 million?

Zach Miller "The Truth": So what Sam just
said, uh, just take half that number.

how much income tax athlete
is gonna have taken out.

Take that gross number, that
big 200 million, and about 100

million of that is gonna go to
taxes, and that's just income tax.

When we start talking about
100-year families, not only is

that the number one destroyer of
wealth, there's also an estate tax.

So when you go on to do planning for
your kids and your kids' kids, you

have to think about a 40% estate tax.

So that's another level of taxation
that if you're not doing the planning,

if you're not making sure that there's
no leaks in your boat, boat will sink,

and you will not have 100-year family.

All of those things, I mean, so many
tax strategies that whether it's a

CEO or a business owner, they get more
tax shelters than a W2 athlete, and

that's one thing athletes don't get.

They think they can take advantage of
a lot of these Instagram strategies

that are for business owners or,
uh, CEOs or way-- people that are

compensated in equity, things like
that, that you don't get as an athlete.

That's why that tax number is
so high, and you think about,

you know, I have four kids.

can expect probably to
have, like, 12 grandkids.

When you start paying, you know, your
parents, brothers, sisters, now you're

taking away from the kids coming after
you, the generation, going down the line.

So you have to address not just the
tax, but the how much money those things

cost if you truly want 100-year family

Riccardo Stewart "The Coach":
Zach, I'm gonna just gonna

just wanna clarify something.

That was, that was, that was helpful.

Are you saying I get two hundred million,
a hundred million is gone to taxes?

just say I sp-- I had fifty million,
but I have fifty million that I'm

gonna, I'm gonna pass on when I'm gone.

That fifty million, which by the way,
had already been taxed, could get taxed

again in terms of estate planning?

Zach Miller "The Truth": So whether
you try to give it away before you die

or you end up dying with it, it's the
gift and estate tax, and that's 40%

everything over an exemption amount.

So it is something that we plan for.

We put things into place for our guys
so that they're protected against that.

It is something that is part of, should
be part of every hundred-year family

plan, and it's just, it's doing the
disciplined small little things in

life so that you can set s- set your
kids up, set your grandkids up to

have that truly generational wealth.

Everyone likes to talk
about generational wealth.

Few people actually know what
that looks like to put into place

Riccardo Stewart "The Coach": So Jeff,

$200 million is not a lot.

Can you step back from a 30,000 feet
like perspective, can you begin to

just walk us through essentially cash
flow, lifestyle creep, some of the

things I mentioned of why it's not
enough and just kind of give a…

or give our audience just a perspective

Jeff Locke "The Professor": They call
me the professor for a reason, and I'm

gonna start with where the studies are.

So athletes aren't the first
people to retire, right?

People retire all the time.

Most people retire at sixty,
sixty-five from their job, and they

gotta live ninety-five, a hundred.

Thousands of studies have happened
that essentially show if you only

spend about 4 to 5% of your money every
year starting your retirement, you can

make your money last until you retire.

So let's use Zach's example.

Let's use his example.

A hundred million dollars retirement.

could spend $4 to $5 million
a year, maybe pretty set.

it up, mark it down, ride the
rollercoaster and be good through

your little 30-year retirement.

When do athletes retire?

Thirty, thirty-five, forty, We're
planning for 60 to 70 years of

your own life, wanting to pass it
on to the next generation, right?

That $4 to $5 million that the regular
person could spend, you can't spend that

much starting out in your retirement, or
that money is not gonna last 100 years.

So all of this to say lifestyle creep
early on in your career is what makes most

people fail this 100-year plan, right?

You start creeping up, 2 to 3 million
might be okay, right, when you're done

playing, but you start creeping up three
and a half, four, 6 million a year,

and it's crazy numbers to think you
could spend five to six million a year.

But, like, if you get used to
it while you're playing, it's

extremely hard to back the lifestyle
down when you're done playing.

It's one of the hardest things
in all of what we do is trying to

actually reduce lifestyle spend.

That's why they call it lifestyle creep.

Just keeps creeping up and up and up.

So, uh, again, these numbers
are crazy to most people, right?

Like five to six mil a year,
I would never spend that much.

it happens, and that's how $100 million
does not last is when that happens,

especially early on in retirement

Riccardo Stewart "The Coach": My
mom always said, "You're only as

good as the company you keep."

And that is the people you're
around, you begin to act like,

talk like, move like those people.

And I remember getting to college
and telling her, "No, I'm not

gonna use that sort of language.

I'm not gonna do those sort of things."

It was no more than three weeks,
three months into it, the same

language that I said would never
exit my mouth was exiting my mouth.

The same behavior that I said that
I would never do, I was doing.

And everybody can look from afar
and say, "Give me 200 million.

It's not gonna happen to me."

And yet, statistically,
it shows it kinda will.

I wanna l- end with this thought and
concept up on the next podcast episode

when we talk about, okay, why not?

What are ways to actually
have $200 million last?

That is, when you look at the list of
why the 200 million doesn't last, all

of the things we mentioned, lifestyle
creep, uh, divorce, you know, lack of

communication, education, the one thing
that doesn't come up may be the biggest

enemy of everyone, and it attacks and
has the same message for both the rich

and the poor, and that is consumerism.

Consumerism begins to, through media,
television, et cetera, it creeps into

us, and it shapes us, and it tells
us the same truth, and that you are

not enough until you have enough, you
buy enough, and you consume enough.

But then what it'll also let you know is
there's no such thing as a consume enough.

And so how is that an
enemy of 100 Year Family?

We're gonna get a chance to look
at that at the next episode.

Listen, if there's something we've said
today that has piqued your interest or

you wanna learn more about, we would love
to be able to provide resources for you.

Please shoot us a text or reach out to us.

The number is 602-989-5022