WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:13.883 --> 00:00:15.623 Riccardo Stewart: Hey, I wanna welcome you guys back to another 00:00:15.623 --> 00:00:18.563 episode of the A-W-M-N-F-L Podcast. 00:00:18.563 --> 00:00:20.723 My name is Ricardo Stewart, and I'm your host. 00:00:20.723 --> 00:00:24.413 And I'm joined with my friends and my coworkers, Jeff Locke, 00:00:24.413 --> 00:00:26.393 Sam Acho, and Zach Miller. 00:00:26.723 --> 00:00:28.013 Fellas today. 00:00:28.898 --> 00:00:33.818 The topic I wanna talk about is I want to fly at a, at a ceiling or 00:00:33.878 --> 00:00:36.788 a floor at 10,000 feet in the air. 00:00:36.848 --> 00:00:40.958 But as Zach Miller let me know that, uh, cruising altitude is actually 00:00:40.958 --> 00:00:47.168 35,000 feet and primarily looking at the idea of building multi-generational 00:00:47.168 --> 00:00:48.728 wealth through investing. 00:00:48.878 --> 00:00:50.693 And, and I wanna make sure we're talking about investing because. 00:00:51.353 --> 00:00:55.793 There's investing is not the only way you build multi-generational wealth. 00:00:55.793 --> 00:00:58.793 There's so many other things that we've talked about, but today I wanna go what 00:00:58.793 --> 00:01:01.763 is a general understanding of investing? 00:01:02.303 --> 00:01:04.793 And particularly I want to use this picture of the three 00:01:04.793 --> 00:01:06.803 different buckets of investing. 00:01:06.803 --> 00:01:07.763 And so lemme start with this. 00:01:07.763 --> 00:01:09.173 I, I'll start with an illustration and it's. 00:01:09.443 --> 00:01:14.003 I have a son, my oldest son's a quarterback, and I watch film with him. 00:01:14.003 --> 00:01:15.593 We go over everything and so forth. 00:01:15.593 --> 00:01:19.553 And, and what I always ask him is, what's your progression when you drop back in 00:01:19.553 --> 00:01:20.873 this particular, what is your projection? 00:01:20.873 --> 00:01:22.463 What your, your, your progression? 00:01:22.463 --> 00:01:22.583 Like? 00:01:22.583 --> 00:01:23.363 What are you looking at? 00:01:23.753 --> 00:01:24.743 And there's a reason for that. 00:01:24.743 --> 00:01:27.443 'cause most quarterbacks don't just drop back and just throw it 00:01:27.443 --> 00:01:28.643 to whoever they think is open. 00:01:28.763 --> 00:01:31.313 Usually a coordinator says, okay, I want you to start here, 00:01:31.523 --> 00:01:33.383 and then here, and then here. 00:01:33.803 --> 00:01:35.963 I think similar when it comes to investing. 00:01:35.963 --> 00:01:40.613 When you have a plan, there's all sorts of receivers running routes, but what's, 00:01:40.763 --> 00:01:41.873 you know, what's your progression? 00:01:42.083 --> 00:01:45.833 There's all sorts of investments, but what are actually the progression? 00:01:45.833 --> 00:01:48.353 And so I wanna talk about those three different buckets. 00:01:48.353 --> 00:01:50.393 And, and first I'm gonna start with you, Jeff. 00:01:50.843 --> 00:01:54.983 Um, there is this first bucket, and I like to call this the 00:01:55.013 --> 00:01:56.903 quick out or the check down. 00:01:57.263 --> 00:02:00.653 This is getting that first and 10 and I want to get five to 00:02:00.653 --> 00:02:02.753 six yards to stay on schedule. 00:02:02.903 --> 00:02:05.483 What does that look like for NFL players? 00:02:06.283 --> 00:02:08.383 Jeff Locke: Yeah, so like the check down. 00:02:08.383 --> 00:02:10.033 Not a lot of people wanna do it, right. 00:02:10.033 --> 00:02:11.443 They wanna go downfield first. 00:02:11.443 --> 00:02:15.823 They wanna do other more exciting things, but I know that nose ball 00:02:15.823 --> 00:02:17.533 knows it's a very important play. 00:02:17.533 --> 00:02:18.973 It's the thing you gotta do first. 00:02:19.483 --> 00:02:23.653 Another analogy I like to use is like it's, it's like trying to throw down field 00:02:23.653 --> 00:02:25.453 with only four offensive linemen, right? 00:02:25.453 --> 00:02:27.823 You kind of need that fifth offensive lineman to. 00:02:28.303 --> 00:02:31.453 Kind of have a chance of doing anything else on offense. 00:02:31.513 --> 00:02:34.093 So bucket one is two things. 00:02:34.243 --> 00:02:37.843 First thing is protection emergency funds. 00:02:37.873 --> 00:02:44.143 You know, my break in case of emergency money, I gotta get to right. 00:02:44.143 --> 00:02:48.583 Second thing in bucket one is stuff that's coming up in the near future. 00:02:48.583 --> 00:02:50.263 Stuff I gotta pay for, right? 00:02:50.293 --> 00:02:54.673 Tax payments, I got kids' school, I want to buy a house next year. 00:02:54.673 --> 00:02:56.533 So I got the down payment money set aside. 00:02:57.133 --> 00:02:57.643 So. 00:02:58.153 --> 00:02:59.983 Ricardo actually uses this all the time, right? 00:02:59.983 --> 00:03:04.483 It's like when you're on a plane, since Zach loves the plane analogy, we, we know 00:03:04.483 --> 00:03:10.513 that now you have to put your own mask on first before you help others, right? 00:03:10.603 --> 00:03:11.983 Or you're useless, right? 00:03:11.983 --> 00:03:14.323 You're both, you're both gonna pass out if you don't put your own mask 00:03:14.323 --> 00:03:16.693 on first, that's bucket one, right? 00:03:16.693 --> 00:03:19.423 And you gotta do the fundamentals. 00:03:19.543 --> 00:03:23.683 Get bucket one filled up before moving on to the other exciting 00:03:23.683 --> 00:03:25.303 buckets we're gonna talk about next. 00:03:25.841 --> 00:03:28.091 Riccardo Stewart: So I get bucket one, and those are probably 00:03:28.121 --> 00:03:30.641 more safe investments, Sam. 00:03:31.196 --> 00:03:34.106 I love the perspective you have and all of you guys as former 00:03:34.106 --> 00:03:37.166 NFL athletes and it's easy for us now because we're in this world. 00:03:37.166 --> 00:03:38.996 We're, we're all a part of a family office. 00:03:39.176 --> 00:03:43.586 But if you can go back and go, when you were beginning to invest, when you were 00:03:43.586 --> 00:03:47.306 being a part of this process as an NFL player, a current and active NFL player, 00:03:47.636 --> 00:03:51.056 were these things communicated to you, and if so, how were they communicated to you? 00:03:51.911 --> 00:03:53.561 Sam Acho: So yes and no. 00:03:53.711 --> 00:03:56.861 So initially when I first signed with an advisor, let's just start about 00:03:56.861 --> 00:03:57.851 when I really started investing. 00:03:57.851 --> 00:03:58.451 Put it that way. 00:03:58.781 --> 00:04:02.801 I signed with the firm and, and the person who was helping run that firm 00:04:02.801 --> 00:04:04.391 was a very trusted person, was awesome. 00:04:04.391 --> 00:04:07.751 So I've great relationship with this person, but some of these things, 00:04:08.111 --> 00:04:11.081 maybe they were communicated, but I just wasn't paying attention. 00:04:11.711 --> 00:04:15.371 And so I think that's the biggest lesson I would tell guys is just to pay attention. 00:04:15.761 --> 00:04:17.801 Jeff, you talked about the emergency fund. 00:04:17.801 --> 00:04:19.601 As an athlete, you're thinking, I don't need an emergency fund. 00:04:19.601 --> 00:04:20.111 Like, I'm good. 00:04:20.111 --> 00:04:22.511 I'm, I'm getting paid, I'm getting my checks, all these things. 00:04:22.871 --> 00:04:25.691 But the fact of the matter is, it's more than just a budget. 00:04:25.961 --> 00:04:27.911 Everyone tells you, oh yeah, budget, budget, budget. 00:04:27.911 --> 00:04:28.181 But no. 00:04:28.181 --> 00:04:32.051 Think about the needs that you have maybe for the next six to 12 months. 00:04:32.051 --> 00:04:33.461 Maybe you're married, maybe you're not. 00:04:33.461 --> 00:04:38.111 But having that emergency fund builds a great reservoir for you. 00:04:38.651 --> 00:04:41.771 Not only now when you're playing, but also when you're done playing to say, 00:04:41.771 --> 00:04:43.361 okay, I have this much set aside. 00:04:43.481 --> 00:04:44.666 So if something were to happen. 00:04:45.971 --> 00:04:47.531 God forbid something were to happen. 00:04:47.711 --> 00:04:50.981 I know that I have this set aside, so it wasn't communicated in these 00:04:50.981 --> 00:04:54.581 terms, but some of those, some of that conversation was being had. 00:04:55.721 --> 00:04:57.431 Riccardo Stewart: Perfect first bucket. 00:04:57.491 --> 00:05:00.281 Now we're progressing towards that second bucket. 00:05:00.401 --> 00:05:00.941 Okay. 00:05:01.451 --> 00:05:02.471 It's second in three. 00:05:03.041 --> 00:05:04.121 We only need three yards. 00:05:04.211 --> 00:05:05.351 We got a little extra. 00:05:05.411 --> 00:05:07.181 We could take a little bit more risk. 00:05:07.301 --> 00:05:10.781 And so getting into that second bucket, Zach, what does that look 00:05:10.781 --> 00:05:13.931 like and what are maybe some options when it gets to the second bucket? 00:05:13.931 --> 00:05:15.221 Once the first bucket is filled? 00:05:16.137 --> 00:05:18.777 Zach Miller: Yeah, that second bucket is the public markets. 00:05:18.777 --> 00:05:21.147 And so what are the public markets? 00:05:21.927 --> 00:05:25.077 It's sim simply just ownership in great companies. 00:05:25.257 --> 00:05:27.657 Um, you need that first bucket full. 00:05:28.722 --> 00:05:32.622 But now you can actually take some shots down the field and your money can grow. 00:05:32.712 --> 00:05:35.172 So that's like, it's a little more aggressive. 00:05:35.532 --> 00:05:36.252 It's a little more risky. 00:05:37.272 --> 00:05:39.942 Remember, risk and return, they're always related. 00:05:39.942 --> 00:05:44.892 So you can't have your money grow fast without taking a little bit more risk. 00:05:44.952 --> 00:05:47.862 And that's, that's why you have that first bucket. 00:05:47.862 --> 00:05:49.452 The first bucket is protecting you. 00:05:49.722 --> 00:05:53.682 That second bucket is to go out there and have your money grow even faster. 00:05:54.342 --> 00:06:00.642 And so ownership in good companies has always done well, not, you 00:06:00.642 --> 00:06:02.142 know, not just the last 20 years. 00:06:02.142 --> 00:06:03.432 The last hundred years. 00:06:03.702 --> 00:06:05.652 And so for your money to be able to grow. 00:06:06.057 --> 00:06:10.197 Faster than, than just having all that money in, in the protective reserve. 00:06:10.407 --> 00:06:12.897 I mean, it just makes sense, especially, you know, that's 00:06:12.897 --> 00:06:14.397 where the bulk of my money is. 00:06:14.397 --> 00:06:16.647 And so those returns have been really, really good. 00:06:16.647 --> 00:06:21.807 Especially, um, you know, last 10, 20, 30 years returns have been really good 00:06:22.017 --> 00:06:25.107 and that's what helps support, you know, the rest of your financial plan. 00:06:26.237 --> 00:06:26.967 Riccardo Stewart: That's good. 00:06:27.207 --> 00:06:32.427 If we got ourselves in the position were it's second in one and now 00:06:32.547 --> 00:06:36.357 we can really take some shots and we're gonna talk about the private 00:06:36.357 --> 00:06:37.647 markets, a little foreshadowing. 00:06:37.947 --> 00:06:39.192 But Jeff, before we do. 00:06:39.942 --> 00:06:44.412 If you can explain for us in, in a general very, very, I don't know, understandable 00:06:44.412 --> 00:06:47.772 way, what's the difference between the public and the private markets? 00:06:48.106 --> 00:06:51.016 Jeff Locke: I'm gonna use a kind of funny analogy, but it's like, 00:06:52.186 --> 00:06:53.986 it's like going to a club, right? 00:06:54.016 --> 00:06:55.006 Which you can all laugh at that. 00:06:55.006 --> 00:06:55.366 I'm, I'm 00:06:55.396 --> 00:06:55.606 Riccardo Stewart: Okay. 00:06:55.606 --> 00:06:56.146 Yeah. 00:06:56.386 --> 00:06:58.066 Jeff Locke: but I'm, but I'm gonna use it, right? 00:06:58.066 --> 00:07:02.146 So public markets, anyone can stand in line outside of the club. 00:07:02.236 --> 00:07:04.786 As long as you're like dressed decent, they're not gonna 00:07:04.786 --> 00:07:06.106 boot you before you get in. 00:07:06.226 --> 00:07:08.716 You can wait as long as you want to get in, right? 00:07:08.716 --> 00:07:10.756 You can go into the public market, right? 00:07:10.846 --> 00:07:12.016 Private market is. 00:07:13.276 --> 00:07:16.546 The VIP section, you gotta go through somebody to get into, right? 00:07:16.546 --> 00:07:17.566 That's the private markets. 00:07:17.566 --> 00:07:20.776 You gotta know somebody and they gotta know who you are 00:07:21.106 --> 00:07:22.336 and want you in that section. 00:07:22.336 --> 00:07:24.796 They want their section to look good, right? 00:07:25.096 --> 00:07:27.646 So the biggest difference is access. 00:07:27.736 --> 00:07:29.326 Anyone can invest in the public market. 00:07:29.356 --> 00:07:33.256 I can go log on to an account on, make an account in 20 minutes online, 00:07:33.616 --> 00:07:38.416 and I can buy Apple Stock or Tesla or Amazon and put in my account. 00:07:38.926 --> 00:07:40.576 That's public or protective reserve. 00:07:40.576 --> 00:07:44.236 I can go and buy a loan from the government and have it in my account 00:07:44.326 --> 00:07:46.366 and fill up bucket one, right? 00:07:46.936 --> 00:07:49.966 Bucket three that we're getting to the private markets. 00:07:50.476 --> 00:07:54.676 You gotta know somebody, and even if you know somebody, you can get 00:07:54.676 --> 00:07:57.286 into the kind of cool VIP lounges, but you're not getting into the 00:07:57.286 --> 00:07:59.896 VIP of the VIP lounges, right? 00:08:00.106 --> 00:08:04.516 Even if you know somebody and private markets, that's where you want to be. 00:08:04.516 --> 00:08:05.746 Those are the companies that you. 00:08:06.241 --> 00:08:07.651 Gotta know one, someone to get into. 00:08:07.681 --> 00:08:09.571 Think of like chat, GPT. 00:08:09.601 --> 00:08:11.161 Everyone's who's in it right now, right? 00:08:11.191 --> 00:08:13.021 Open AI is their company. 00:08:13.261 --> 00:08:16.261 That's one of the biggest private companies in the world right now. 00:08:16.651 --> 00:08:16.861 Right? 00:08:16.861 --> 00:08:20.761 Or on their way to being one of the biggest, that's the VIP lounge you 00:08:20.761 --> 00:08:23.911 wanna get into, but you gotta know the right people to get into that lounge. 00:08:25.298 --> 00:08:28.743 Riccardo Stewart: Honestly, guys, I, I can't overstate this enough. 00:08:29.288 --> 00:08:34.148 The thought of Jeff being in the club actually just made my day right. 00:08:34.628 --> 00:08:36.158 And that was a great analogy. 00:08:36.248 --> 00:08:37.178 That was a great analogy. 00:08:37.178 --> 00:08:41.168 Speaking of being in the club, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna land the plane 00:08:41.168 --> 00:08:42.758 with you, Zach, so we already set you up. 00:08:42.758 --> 00:08:43.478 It's second in one. 00:08:43.478 --> 00:08:44.738 You get a chance to take a shot now. 00:08:45.143 --> 00:08:47.513 We've talked a little bit about the private markets, but I want you to 00:08:47.513 --> 00:08:51.413 specifically nerd out because I know not only do you sit as a certified financial 00:08:51.413 --> 00:08:55.643 planner, but in our firm you also sit on the investment team, and I know you 00:08:55.643 --> 00:08:57.323 love talking about the private markets. 00:08:57.323 --> 00:09:01.553 So explain that third bucket being the private markets, and why is it 00:09:01.553 --> 00:09:06.203 important for NFL players when they reach that level of income to be 00:09:06.203 --> 00:09:07.643 able to invest in the private market? 00:09:08.813 --> 00:09:11.183 Zach Miller: Yeah, so once you've established that protective reserve, 00:09:11.453 --> 00:09:15.893 you've got a good chunk of, you know, millions in public investments. 00:09:16.448 --> 00:09:21.668 Now you become qualified for those private investments and the SEC 00:09:21.668 --> 00:09:23.498 Securities and Exchange Commission. 00:09:24.068 --> 00:09:26.348 Not, not that, not that football conference. 00:09:26.348 --> 00:09:32.348 It actually doesn't let you invest in private investments until you have 00:09:32.348 --> 00:09:35.978 a certain net worth or even another, uh, I mean, another advanced one is 00:09:35.978 --> 00:09:39.818 qualified purchaser, so there's certain investments you can't even invest in. 00:09:40.223 --> 00:09:42.803 Unless you have enough money in your investment account. 00:09:43.223 --> 00:09:47.243 And so once you do qualify for those, I mean, when I signed my second deal, 00:09:47.303 --> 00:09:51.083 my, my second contract in Seattle, I wish I would've put a bunch of 00:09:51.083 --> 00:09:55.133 money to work in private investments, specifically venture capital. 00:09:55.583 --> 00:09:58.553 'cause it has statistically, if you just look at the data, you 00:09:58.553 --> 00:10:02.363 look at the past, you know who has been the best players on the field 00:10:02.603 --> 00:10:06.023 when it comes to private investment venture capital, it's it's average. 00:10:06.023 --> 00:10:09.113 Especially if you can get access and as an NFL player. 00:10:09.833 --> 00:10:14.453 You should be getting access to the best investments in private markets. 00:10:14.753 --> 00:10:19.703 Those returns have been over 20% annualized, so your money's doubling 00:10:19.703 --> 00:10:23.273 about every four years When you have access to those kind of managers and 00:10:23.273 --> 00:10:27.773 those kind of investments, just like Jeff mentioned with open ai, those are the type 00:10:27.773 --> 00:10:31.223 of investments you want to get in when they're, when they're called seed stage. 00:10:32.423 --> 00:10:34.283 Seeds, they're just about to start growing. 00:10:34.703 --> 00:10:38.063 That's when you want to start just really putting, you wanna be able to put 00:10:38.063 --> 00:10:42.563 money into those when you're so young, the trade off being that you will lock 00:10:42.563 --> 00:10:47.423 your money up for 10 to 12 years, and so that's why those other two buckets 00:10:47.423 --> 00:10:51.983 have to be right before you can actually even put money into privates because 00:10:51.983 --> 00:10:54.563 that 10 to 12 year lockup of your money. 00:10:55.103 --> 00:10:58.913 That means you don't get, you can't get access to it and so you have to 00:10:58.913 --> 00:11:02.843 have the right plan and then all of a sudden, not just venture capital but 00:11:03.023 --> 00:11:07.313 private real estate, you know, there's other private investments leveraged, 00:11:07.313 --> 00:11:12.173 buyout those other good funds out there and good ways to get that access 00:11:12.563 --> 00:11:14.363 to those things that return even. 00:11:14.453 --> 00:11:17.093 You know, even better have your money grow even faster than 00:11:17.093 --> 00:11:18.773 those, those other two buckets. 00:11:19.293 --> 00:11:20.433 Riccardo Stewart: So lemme wrap this all together. 00:11:21.023 --> 00:11:24.323 Start off with saying, I start by watching film with my son who's a 00:11:24.323 --> 00:11:28.253 quarterback, and we go, as we look at the route combination, we go, what is your 00:11:28.433 --> 00:11:31.523 progression when it comes to NFL players? 00:11:31.523 --> 00:11:34.043 And you're thinking about building multi-generational wealth and 00:11:34.043 --> 00:11:35.633 primarily through investments. 00:11:35.903 --> 00:11:37.133 We gotta go, what's the what's? 00:11:37.163 --> 00:11:37.973 What's the progression? 00:11:38.243 --> 00:11:41.843 Number one is that first bucket, first in 10. 00:11:42.023 --> 00:11:45.533 You want to be in things that are safe to protect you in case of an emergency. 00:11:45.893 --> 00:11:49.103 Once that bucket's filled up, now you can get into the public market. 00:11:50.003 --> 00:11:51.083 It's second and four. 00:11:51.113 --> 00:11:54.113 You can do some things and take a little bit more risk if you find 00:11:54.113 --> 00:11:57.713 yourself in the position financially where it's second and one and now you 00:11:57.713 --> 00:11:59.303 can take some shots down the field. 00:11:59.513 --> 00:12:00.983 Now you can get into the private market. 00:12:01.403 --> 00:12:04.673 If we've talked about something you're going, I'm interested in understanding 00:12:04.673 --> 00:12:06.773 that plan in depth and in more detail. 00:12:06.863 --> 00:12:09.023 'cause it has to be more complex than that. 00:12:09.113 --> 00:12:09.683 It is. 00:12:09.893 --> 00:12:13.553 We would love to be able to answer your questions or provide more resources 00:12:13.553 --> 00:12:15.203 for you, so please reach out to us. 00:12:15.203 --> 00:12:16.463 Our number is 6 0 2. 00:12:16.793 --> 00:12:19.073 9 8 9 5 0 2 2.