June 20, 2022 • 23 mins
Walter Stith is a former football offensive tackle who played for Buffalo Bills' NFL team. Today, he is a financial planner at Morgan Stanley, helping spread his financial literacy knowledge.
Walter joins the podcast to discuss how he shifted from the NFL to becoming a financial planner.
Guest IG: @walterstith
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey money Movers, I'm
Tanya Sam and welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
(00:22):
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Today, our guest is
a former American football offensive tackle who played for the
Buffalo Bills in the NFL. He also did a stint
in the CFL. Today, he is a financial planner at
Morgan Stanley and helps spread the knowledge of financial literacy
(00:42):
to all. Walter, Welcome to the show, Hei Tanian, thank
you so much for having me. Glad to be here.
So Walter, I'm so excited to have you on the
show today. I'm really excited to share with our Money
Moves audience more about your journey from football to now
managing wealth, which I think is such an incredible transition
and one that we don't hear a lot of We
(01:03):
hear a lot of stories of professional athletes who have
lost tons of money, made tons of money, started into
different entrepreneurialship routes. But now you are managing the wealth
of many others. That's an incredible story. Yeah, um, it's uh,
it's been great. I enjoy it. Um. Managing wealth is
something that UM, I didn't think about doing growing up
(01:27):
because it was something that I wasn't exposed to. Um.
But you know, when I was in the NFL playing
for the Buffalo Bills, they have an internship program and
I major in finance in school at Western Michigan University,
or I got my degree and business administration and finance,
and so I warn't always had an interest in working
on Wall Street, but I didn't know in what capacity.
(01:49):
And so after my rookie season and with the Buffalo Bills,
I took an internship with City Group Smith Barney in
New York City, Wow, with two advisors there, one name
Carol Glazier and Rob Schmidt, And those are two of
the boxers that I worked under, and they taught me
to business of wealth management. And so that generated the
interest given you know, many of my teammates were really
(02:13):
high earners. Yeah, really young and high earners. Absolutely. You know,
in the NFL plays pretty well. I think today's salary
cap approached team is North the two millions. So that's
that's a lot of potential wealth in a rome for
a market of people that really need financial planning and
investment advice. So this just still it's a it's an
(02:35):
interesting trajectory and I love to talk a little bit
more about So you were played football growing up. I'm
sure you were very disciplined athletes as well. Do you
think the two sort of informed each other, you know,
being an athlete and then having this long term goal
of being like, I need to pay attention to how
I manage my money because it doesn't seem to tie
(02:55):
with what the narrative for athletes in um, the NFL is.
So I'm curious where this came from. Yeah, so, um, so,
I actually didn't grow up playing football. I grew up
playing basketball, and I didn't start playing football to my
senior year of high school. Late bloom as they say,
(03:15):
a late bloomer, a late bloomer. Yeah uh so, yeah,
it started my senior year. Um. But in terms of
wealth management, right, So, as a rookie in the NFL, um,
you know, one of my tasks as a rookie was
to go upstairs and get the vets checks right, the
veterans on the veteran offensive linemen to pick up the checks,
(03:37):
bring it downstairs and pass them out. Several other among
several other rookie jobs like you know, making sure that
we have uh muffins and donors for the meetings and
Fridays and just other meal tasks. But you know, one
of mine was going upstairs to get the checks for
the bet So I would come down and pass out
the checks to the vets. And one vet said, you know,
(04:00):
you want to take a look at my check. And
I was like, no, I don't want to look at
your check. That's you know, that's your business. And he
was like, no, I want to motivate you. Wow, this
because I want to motivate you. So I opened up
his check and it was like north of sixty five grand, right,
and we were getting this on a weekly basis. Well,
he was getting this on a weekly basis, right, He
was motivating me that that is what was to come.
(04:24):
And so he took a check and you know, put
it at the top of his locker, and um, I
guess he had been collecting checks like in his locker.
And you know, that really opened my eyes to see that,
you know that there's a little bit of financial irresponsibility
there right to just have your check sitting in your
locker as opposed to being deposited into your bank, so
(04:45):
you know you have an account for it. Um, you
know several or several issues. So that was that's one thing.
You know, thinking that if if there's one person on
my team and their thirty two teams, and then there's
also other sports as well, how many other guys could
be doing the same thing. Um, and you're growing up
from Atlanta. I grew up on the West side of
Atlanta when I was younger. Um, just talking about making money.
(05:08):
One of my first jobs was a paperboard and I
was paperboard for I had that job too. It was
like really yeah in Canada, it was like six cents
of it was like flyers of circulars. It was like
six cents of flyers. Wow, that's awesome. It's it's cooling
had that in common. So you had a paper route
and your neighborhood taught responsibility. Right, it's really good at
(05:30):
teaching responsibility. Uh. And one thing for me, it allowed
me to get some cash float and you know, my
dad took me UM two citizens Trust on Marl Luther
King on the West Side and opened up my bank
account and so every week after I got paid from
Mr Ivory, I would go to the bank and deposit
my cash. And so you know, I had a bank
(05:50):
account and started to learn about uh CDs and start
to learn about the money market, and started to learn
about interest. Wow, this is great. This is at a
young at a really young age. Yeah. So just you know,
having that exposure to the financial system through banking was
enlightening to me. Um. But not only did UM I
(06:11):
have a bank account as Citizens Trust. Like my elementary school,
UM had a bank for students that was started. I
want to I feel like Citizens Trust had a part
in that as well. UM, but we would you know,
we had an account there and my mom would you know,
give me my allowance and you could go to school
and you know, go to the bank. I think they
(06:32):
had a date that you could come in. So just
you know, being exposed to that, I was just really
intrigued by that and you know, wanting to make money.
Now on the flip side, you know, I didn't have
My parents weren't investors, so they weren't investing in the market.
My mom and dad they both worked. Um, you know,
there were six of us in my family, you know,
(06:54):
really small home, but humble means. But you know, I
didn't miss out on anything, right, So, and you know,
my parents not being investors, like I wasn't exposed to
the financial markets interesting also for your your growing up experiences.
And they were at least very cognizant of let's start
bank accounts from a young age, teaching about and you know,
(07:15):
um investing from what they could. You know, it might
not have been in the big money markets, etcetera, but
they were like, hey, we're going to teach you the
value of opening up a bank account and saving some
money and even getting a job. Yeah, it was really important.
And I was. I was a big kid, and so
I grew out of clothes very quickly. I grew out
(07:35):
of clothes and she was really quickly. And my dad
was just like, listen, I remember there was one time
when like specifically I was like nine or ten years
old because my foot sides grew with my age. Wow.
And you know, we went to the mall, got some
new shoes one day and like maybe a week later,
the shoes are too small. My dad was like, I'm
not buying your shoes every couple of weeks. So You're
gonna have to figure this out. I mean, this is
(07:56):
like such a thing for so many parents, Like they're like,
we have to handle clothes and food feeding like boys
that just you know, have ferocious appetites. So it's a lot.
It's certainly a lot. So now fast forward. I'm curious,
you're in the NFL. Um you have somewhat of a
school background in finance and business. Did you look at
(08:19):
this like you could manage your own money or did
you start seeking out financial planners to help you better
manage your money? Well, so when I came out and
when I say kind of came out of college going
into the NFL, I was like in the top twenty
five in my position. So I was considered, um a
late round guy free agent. Okay, so you know late
(08:40):
round free agent means like later rounds of the draft
or free agency. So the Cleveland Browns brought me in
as a priority free agent, meaning that I didn't have
to try out doing the rookommunicamp. I was signed to
a contract before getting there. Um, with that being said,
I didn't have financial advisors and financial planners calling, you know,
to work with me because of that, you know, being
(09:02):
in that later ranking that was it seems like there's
still a niche opportunity there for financial planners. If you
guys are listening, you know, it's not always the number
one draft pick. There's money to be managed all the
way down the ladder. There is. There is absolutely um
So for me, UM, I had a guy that I
was training with who actually was a financial advisor, so
(09:25):
he would give me tips here and there, but he
didn't I didn't hire him as my financial advisor. And
so you know, when I went into the league. UM,
you know, I signed a contract, but I ended up
not making the fifty three man roster, being on was
called the practice squad, So I did not make the
money that was that I signed a contract for. I
(09:47):
got a lesser salary, which was still really good at
the time for being you know, twenty two years already
fresh out of college. UM. I thinking today, I think
it's well above six figures for uh you know, one year.
That's a good entry level job, you know, being on
the practice roster. But through the average the minimum for
rookies is like seven hundred ten thousand dollars now and
(10:09):
then the guaranteed bonuses for uh NFL prospects that are
drafted range anywhere in the first round from twenty five
million dollars guaranteed all the way down to the last,
you know pick of the seventh round. I want to
say that's probably around a hundred thousand I was guaranteed.
So you get that no matter what if you're drafted,
(10:29):
and so you know, usually that's your first job, and
that's many times your first paycheck. There's a lot of
responsibility that comes, you know, attaining that type of what
I call affluence. Now some it ends up being wealth,
but for the majority, it's kind of an introduction into affluence. Right,
you have some money in the bank, you can pay
(10:49):
your bills on time, You've got money that you can
save and think about, you know, life beyond football. But
more importantly, I think um in terms of planning and
looking at your finances. This thing I'm not you know,
the average career is during the half years, so I'm
gonna half years is not that long. So you need
to be very careful and cautious about how you're going
(11:11):
to manage that nest egg. Yeah, you have to be
diligent and as you say, yeah, it's a nest egg.
So you gotta be diligent with your planning, making sure
that you live below your means, uh, and making sure
that you're thinking about the end at the beginning, especially
knowing that you know, your only guarantee if you get
drafted is that sign iponus and you know you can
(11:32):
get your UM, you can get your you know some
some contracts are guarantee, but you know you can at
any time, you can be released from your team for
a number of reasons. So so when you look back
on that, Walter, are there specific things that you would
have done differently in terms of managing your finances? Would
you have hired someone right out the gate to manage
(11:53):
your finances? Is there some you know, major pitfalls contractorally
that you stumbled across? Uh? Yeah, had I know, I
definitely would have hired a financial advisor prior to side
in my contract so that I had some you know,
I had an agent that explained stuff to me, but
just you know, having a financial advisor in terms of
making sure to set up a budget. Um, you know,
(12:16):
making sure that I understood that at the time pay
your players didn't get paid during the offseason, so you
would get paid one seventeenth of your contract from September
to December. They've since changed that within the past couple
of years. Now they pay over the course of either
thirty four or thirty six weeks. But when I was playing,
you only got paid during the season, and then in
(12:38):
the postseason there were bonuses that you know, guys would
get there on the team, and then some guys had
incentives in a contract whever we get bonuses, um or
some some players had bonuses that paid out and the
second part of this season or you know, after the season,
just depending upon like a team's cap space during that
year and how their structure in their flow on a
(13:01):
corporate side from the team level. What is also super
interesting to me is like people really sometimes I think
underestimate like sports is a business. It's a business. It generates,
you know, hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, and
so both sides are doing this business dance. And so
even some of the points that you mentioned here, how
would an early stage athlete know that is that something
(13:23):
that they trust their manager to get them the best
deal for Should it be someone that you know, it's
their coach or is it again their financial advisor? Yeah? So, um,
I think it's a collaborative effort, right that that comes
in one. The agent is responsible for contracts, right, getting
(13:45):
you know, players contracts and making sure that they understand
that and getting them the best deal UH for their clients.
UM financial advisors we help with planning investments long term,
making sure that you have the correct amount of insurance
coverage UM, making sure that you understand what your cash
(14:05):
flow is, and then helping them to understood helping them
to create a budget so that they can have a
savings goal for the end of the season, for the
end of their contract UH. And then also making sure
to have a really good CP a CP a certified
public accountant so that you understand your taxes UM. You
know there are many you know, I don't give tax
or legal advice, but that's it's really important that athletes
(14:29):
understand how much is being with help from their checks
during the season for federal, state, and local taxes, how
much has been held for UH medicare, how much money
is going into their retirement accounts. Having a financial advisor
that can explain to you what the retirement, what your
benefit package is with the NFL UM, and the decisions
(14:52):
that you can make within your four K, right, having
someone explain that to it, because many times it's got
it's their first job, right, it's growing up. Uh uh,
many of them their job was to be an athlete.
So you know they're in a position now, especially with
the new name, image and likeness laws, where players can
get compensated for their own brand going into college. Um,
(15:15):
now you're coming out of high school and your first
job is not in um an employee, you're an employer.
And that was such a game changer. I think, you
know a lot of people rallied um and we're talking
the name like listen, image, Um, you know a lot
of people rallied for that. Because college athletes there's big superstars.
They're being approached and they're being tempted into these deals
(15:37):
and so to legalize that and actually allow them to
make money off of it no matter what the age,
I think is a real game changer for a lot
of these athletes. But how do they manage it? Yeah? Yeah,
it is a game changer, and they're pros and cons
to name, image and likeness, But you know, I I
will focus on the pros of it being one of
(15:57):
the things that is the great equalize are in sports,
and I'm saying equalizer in terms of UM in terms
of male females being compensated. Right, there are tons of
female athletes that are you know, making money on their name,
image and likeness, and they're being highlighted for their accolades
as student athletes, and I just I think that's wonderful. Um.
(16:19):
You know. In fact, you know, as they started n
I L and UM and I would do some podcasts
talking about n I L and you know, some financial
planning things and being that the majority of the clients
that I work with are in football and basketball. You know,
my first n I l UH client is actually track
and field athletes, so that was female track and field
(16:41):
athletes at that so um, you know, and they're being
really diligent about making sure that they understand, you know,
what the implications are for the money that they're making, right,
and understanding that their tax implications as well. So you know,
getting an advisor can help answer a lot of questions
so that you don't have any penalties or anything for
(17:03):
not paying your tax absolutely knowing that you have to
pay taxes on it, because you know, indorsement incomes is
you know, their their own entity, so they're creating businesses,
whether it be a so proprietorship or a partnership or uh,
they're creating escorts for Sea Corps. And you know, there's
a lot that goes into that, and it your first
time managing something of that magnitude, especially coming out of
(17:26):
high school. Especially coming out of high school. I mean
coming out of high school, the most biggest things we
were trying to figure out how to just get into college.
And now they're like almost you know, self made entrepreneurs
on top of being disciplined, disciplined athletes. It's a lot.
It is a lot. Yeah, you know, one thing you
and I think you asked this question at the beginning.
There's so many ancillary traits and attributes that come with
(17:49):
being an athlete that are transferable into business. Having the
ability to highly focus on something right and being determined,
that's helpful. Having a competitive spirit and nature is really
helpful as an athlete. That translates well into business. Uh.
And then also the ability to sacrifice right as an athlete,
especially an elite athlete, you have to sacrifice being up
(18:12):
at night, absolutely get up in the morning and make
those five am runs um and it's your own self
determination and discipline that I think that really makes the
best athletes, you know, successful, and the way that transfers
to entrepreneurship, I think is so phenomenal, and we've seen
so much more of that now that I think we've
empowered our athletes to really realize they are a business. Um, Walter,
(18:37):
I am so excited for you to have been here today,
and I want to close out by asking you, because
we're gonna have you come back for another deep dive.
We want to go deeper into you know, what it
means to be a financial planner, how you build your
business as well. But I want to know what's coming
up for the future of you, any big career changes,
any big things that we need to know as we
end this episode and move into our deep dive. So no,
(19:00):
I don't have any big career changes, um, but I
will say that I feel I have a book in me,
so I'm working I'm gonna work on writing the book
and kind of telling my story just being m a
two sport professional athlete because I played pro football, but
I also played professional basketball as well. After that. Uh,
(19:23):
in the in the in the what was the A
B A? And I went over to China and played
in the tournament. I have a book in me some
of my passions. I really, you know, love spending time
with my family who are young. I have a three
year old as of two days ago, eight year old
and a thirteen year old. So yeah, there's there's a
(19:43):
lot going on. So who knows where They're all amazing kids.
I love them very much, so who knows what they have?
This story that you know will until involved me as
their their dad. My wife is is lovely. She has
a lot of ventures that she works on and is
very involved and you know, making sure our kids are
good and make sure our family streets. So, uh, you know,
(20:04):
having that support is in We would love to hear
about a book from you. But Walter, before we leave,
I know you're coming back for a deep dive segment.
I have one last question. Which league is better? The
Canadian Football League, Go Canada or the NFL better in
terms of what in terms of pay? I would say
the NFL. Yeah, I guess we can't argue on that one.
(20:27):
Which one did you have a better experience and where
did you play? Uh? So I actually had a better
playing experience in Canada because I was I was on
the practice squad. So on the practice squad you're kind
of like helping the team get ready for their opponents. Right,
You're still on the roster. You're on the team, but
(20:47):
you're not playing in the games. And so when I
was in Canada, I actually started uh for the British
Columbia Lions. Lions you see Lions and uh man. That
was a real great experience and able to live in
Canada and play football up there and experience the culture
in Canada. Um. And my wife was with me and
(21:08):
my daughter at the time, she was just a baby,
so she doesn't remember, but it was really cool. I
enjoyed Canada. Um. It's a beautiful country. Is gorgeous, amazing.
Um you know, did the ability to go up to
snow Cap Mountains and Whistler and then come down to
the city in downtown of Vatcouverer and have an urban experience,
(21:30):
but then also to be able to go to the
beach and then you know, you can take the trolley out. Yeah,
it's a really really unique province. So I'm glad. I'm
born and raised in Toronto, so I'm a diehard Argonauts fan,
but I love the CFL loved having you on the
podcast today. Walter, thank you so much for coming on
the Money Moves Podcast. Can you let our audience know
(21:50):
where they can reach you on social media? Yes, Tony,
thanks so much for having me. I am Walter Stith
on all platforms, so you can find on social media,
Google Search, We'll get you to my website. It's Walter
Stiff st th Alright, Money Movers. That's all the time
we have for today, but make sure to follow Walter
(22:12):
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(22:35):
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(22:56):
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Hey Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey money Movers, I'm
Tanya Sam and welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
(00:22):
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Today, our guest is
a former American football offensive tackle who played for the
Buffalo Bills in the NFL. He also did a stint
in the CFL. Today, he is a financial planner at
Morgan Stanley and helps spread the knowledge of financial literacy
(00:42):
to all. Walter, Welcome to the show, Hei Tanian, thank
you so much for having me. Glad to be here.
So Walter, I'm so excited to have you on the
show today. I'm really excited to share with our Money
Moves audience more about your journey from football to now
managing wealth, which I think is such an incredible transition
and one that we don't hear a lot of We
(01:03):
hear a lot of stories of professional athletes who have
lost tons of money, made tons of money, started into
different entrepreneurialship routes. But now you are managing the wealth
of many others. That's an incredible story. Yeah, um, it's uh,
it's been great. I enjoy it. Um. Managing wealth is
something that UM, I didn't think about doing growing up
(01:27):
because it was something that I wasn't exposed to. Um.
But you know, when I was in the NFL playing
for the Buffalo Bills, they have an internship program and
I major in finance in school at Western Michigan University,
or I got my degree and business administration and finance,
and so I warn't always had an interest in working
on Wall Street, but I didn't know in what capacity.
(01:49):
And so after my rookie season and with the Buffalo Bills,
I took an internship with City Group Smith Barney in
New York City, Wow, with two advisors there, one name
Carol Glazier and Rob Schmidt, And those are two of
the boxers that I worked under, and they taught me
to business of wealth management. And so that generated the
interest given you know, many of my teammates were really
(02:13):
high earners. Yeah, really young and high earners. Absolutely. You know,
in the NFL plays pretty well. I think today's salary
cap approached team is North the two millions. So that's
that's a lot of potential wealth in a rome for
a market of people that really need financial planning and
investment advice. So this just still it's a it's an
(02:35):
interesting trajectory and I love to talk a little bit
more about So you were played football growing up. I'm
sure you were very disciplined athletes as well. Do you
think the two sort of informed each other, you know,
being an athlete and then having this long term goal
of being like, I need to pay attention to how
I manage my money because it doesn't seem to tie
(02:55):
with what the narrative for athletes in um, the NFL is.
So I'm curious where this came from. Yeah, so, um, so,
I actually didn't grow up playing football. I grew up
playing basketball, and I didn't start playing football to my
senior year of high school. Late bloom as they say,
(03:15):
a late bloomer, a late bloomer. Yeah uh so, yeah,
it started my senior year. Um. But in terms of
wealth management, right, So, as a rookie in the NFL, um,
you know, one of my tasks as a rookie was
to go upstairs and get the vets checks right, the
veterans on the veteran offensive linemen to pick up the checks,
(03:37):
bring it downstairs and pass them out. Several other among
several other rookie jobs like you know, making sure that
we have uh muffins and donors for the meetings and
Fridays and just other meal tasks. But you know, one
of mine was going upstairs to get the checks for
the bet So I would come down and pass out
the checks to the vets. And one vet said, you know,
(04:00):
you want to take a look at my check. And
I was like, no, I don't want to look at
your check. That's you know, that's your business. And he
was like, no, I want to motivate you. Wow, this
because I want to motivate you. So I opened up
his check and it was like north of sixty five grand, right,
and we were getting this on a weekly basis. Well,
he was getting this on a weekly basis, right, He
was motivating me that that is what was to come.
(04:24):
And so he took a check and you know, put
it at the top of his locker, and um, I
guess he had been collecting checks like in his locker.
And you know, that really opened my eyes to see that,
you know that there's a little bit of financial irresponsibility
there right to just have your check sitting in your
locker as opposed to being deposited into your bank, so
(04:45):
you know you have an account for it. Um, you
know several or several issues. So that was that's one thing.
You know, thinking that if if there's one person on
my team and their thirty two teams, and then there's
also other sports as well, how many other guys could
be doing the same thing. Um, and you're growing up
from Atlanta. I grew up on the West side of
Atlanta when I was younger. Um, just talking about making money.
(05:08):
One of my first jobs was a paperboard and I
was paperboard for I had that job too. It was
like really yeah in Canada, it was like six cents
of it was like flyers of circulars. It was like
six cents of flyers. Wow, that's awesome. It's it's cooling
had that in common. So you had a paper route
and your neighborhood taught responsibility. Right, it's really good at
(05:30):
teaching responsibility. Uh. And one thing for me, it allowed
me to get some cash float and you know, my
dad took me UM two citizens Trust on Marl Luther
King on the West Side and opened up my bank
account and so every week after I got paid from
Mr Ivory, I would go to the bank and deposit
my cash. And so you know, I had a bank
(05:50):
account and started to learn about uh CDs and start
to learn about the money market, and started to learn
about interest. Wow, this is great. This is at a
young at a really young age. Yeah. So just you know,
having that exposure to the financial system through banking was
enlightening to me. Um. But not only did UM I
(06:11):
have a bank account as Citizens Trust. Like my elementary school,
UM had a bank for students that was started. I
want to I feel like Citizens Trust had a part
in that as well. UM, but we would you know,
we had an account there and my mom would you know,
give me my allowance and you could go to school
and you know, go to the bank. I think they
(06:32):
had a date that you could come in. So just
you know, being exposed to that, I was just really
intrigued by that and you know, wanting to make money.
Now on the flip side, you know, I didn't have
My parents weren't investors, so they weren't investing in the market.
My mom and dad they both worked. Um, you know,
there were six of us in my family, you know,
(06:54):
really small home, but humble means. But you know, I
didn't miss out on anything, right, So, and you know,
my parents not being investors, like I wasn't exposed to
the financial markets interesting also for your your growing up experiences.
And they were at least very cognizant of let's start
bank accounts from a young age, teaching about and you know,
(07:15):
um investing from what they could. You know, it might
not have been in the big money markets, etcetera, but
they were like, hey, we're going to teach you the
value of opening up a bank account and saving some
money and even getting a job. Yeah, it was really important.
And I was. I was a big kid, and so
I grew out of clothes very quickly. I grew out
(07:35):
of clothes and she was really quickly. And my dad
was just like, listen, I remember there was one time
when like specifically I was like nine or ten years
old because my foot sides grew with my age. Wow.
And you know, we went to the mall, got some
new shoes one day and like maybe a week later,
the shoes are too small. My dad was like, I'm
not buying your shoes every couple of weeks. So You're
gonna have to figure this out. I mean, this is
(07:56):
like such a thing for so many parents, Like they're like,
we have to handle clothes and food feeding like boys
that just you know, have ferocious appetites. So it's a lot.
It's certainly a lot. So now fast forward. I'm curious,
you're in the NFL. Um you have somewhat of a
school background in finance and business. Did you look at
(08:19):
this like you could manage your own money or did
you start seeking out financial planners to help you better
manage your money? Well, so when I came out and
when I say kind of came out of college going
into the NFL, I was like in the top twenty
five in my position. So I was considered, um a
late round guy free agent. Okay, so you know late
(08:40):
round free agent means like later rounds of the draft
or free agency. So the Cleveland Browns brought me in
as a priority free agent, meaning that I didn't have
to try out doing the rookommunicamp. I was signed to
a contract before getting there. Um, with that being said,
I didn't have financial advisors and financial planners calling, you know,
to work with me because of that, you know, being
(09:02):
in that later ranking that was it seems like there's
still a niche opportunity there for financial planners. If you
guys are listening, you know, it's not always the number
one draft pick. There's money to be managed all the
way down the ladder. There is. There is absolutely um
So for me, UM, I had a guy that I
was training with who actually was a financial advisor, so
(09:25):
he would give me tips here and there, but he
didn't I didn't hire him as my financial advisor. And
so you know, when I went into the league. UM,
you know, I signed a contract, but I ended up
not making the fifty three man roster, being on was
called the practice squad, So I did not make the
money that was that I signed a contract for. I
(09:47):
got a lesser salary, which was still really good at
the time for being you know, twenty two years already
fresh out of college. UM. I thinking today, I think
it's well above six figures for uh you know, one year.
That's a good entry level job, you know, being on
the practice roster. But through the average the minimum for
rookies is like seven hundred ten thousand dollars now and
(10:09):
then the guaranteed bonuses for uh NFL prospects that are
drafted range anywhere in the first round from twenty five
million dollars guaranteed all the way down to the last,
you know pick of the seventh round. I want to
say that's probably around a hundred thousand I was guaranteed.
So you get that no matter what if you're drafted,
(10:29):
and so you know, usually that's your first job, and
that's many times your first paycheck. There's a lot of
responsibility that comes, you know, attaining that type of what
I call affluence. Now some it ends up being wealth,
but for the majority, it's kind of an introduction into affluence. Right,
you have some money in the bank, you can pay
(10:49):
your bills on time, You've got money that you can
save and think about, you know, life beyond football. But
more importantly, I think um in terms of planning and
looking at your finances. This thing I'm not you know,
the average career is during the half years, so I'm
gonna half years is not that long. So you need
to be very careful and cautious about how you're going
(11:11):
to manage that nest egg. Yeah, you have to be
diligent and as you say, yeah, it's a nest egg.
So you gotta be diligent with your planning, making sure
that you live below your means, uh, and making sure
that you're thinking about the end at the beginning, especially
knowing that you know, your only guarantee if you get
drafted is that sign iponus and you know you can
(11:32):
get your UM, you can get your you know some
some contracts are guarantee, but you know you can at
any time, you can be released from your team for
a number of reasons. So so when you look back
on that, Walter, are there specific things that you would
have done differently in terms of managing your finances? Would
you have hired someone right out the gate to manage
(11:53):
your finances? Is there some you know, major pitfalls contractorally
that you stumbled across? Uh? Yeah, had I know, I
definitely would have hired a financial advisor prior to side
in my contract so that I had some you know,
I had an agent that explained stuff to me, but
just you know, having a financial advisor in terms of
making sure to set up a budget. Um, you know,
(12:16):
making sure that I understood that at the time pay
your players didn't get paid during the offseason, so you
would get paid one seventeenth of your contract from September
to December. They've since changed that within the past couple
of years. Now they pay over the course of either
thirty four or thirty six weeks. But when I was playing,
you only got paid during the season, and then in
(12:38):
the postseason there were bonuses that you know, guys would
get there on the team, and then some guys had
incentives in a contract whever we get bonuses, um or
some some players had bonuses that paid out and the
second part of this season or you know, after the season,
just depending upon like a team's cap space during that
year and how their structure in their flow on a
(13:01):
corporate side from the team level. What is also super
interesting to me is like people really sometimes I think
underestimate like sports is a business. It's a business. It generates,
you know, hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, and
so both sides are doing this business dance. And so
even some of the points that you mentioned here, how
would an early stage athlete know that is that something
(13:23):
that they trust their manager to get them the best
deal for Should it be someone that you know, it's
their coach or is it again their financial advisor? Yeah? So, um,
I think it's a collaborative effort, right that that comes
in one. The agent is responsible for contracts, right, getting
(13:45):
you know, players contracts and making sure that they understand
that and getting them the best deal UH for their clients.
UM financial advisors we help with planning investments long term,
making sure that you have the correct amount of insurance
coverage UM, making sure that you understand what your cash
(14:05):
flow is, and then helping them to understood helping them
to create a budget so that they can have a
savings goal for the end of the season, for the
end of their contract UH. And then also making sure
to have a really good CP a CP a certified
public accountant so that you understand your taxes UM. You
know there are many you know, I don't give tax
or legal advice, but that's it's really important that athletes
(14:29):
understand how much is being with help from their checks
during the season for federal, state, and local taxes, how
much has been held for UH medicare, how much money
is going into their retirement accounts. Having a financial advisor
that can explain to you what the retirement, what your
benefit package is with the NFL UM, and the decisions
(14:52):
that you can make within your four K, right, having
someone explain that to it, because many times it's got
it's their first job, right, it's growing up. Uh uh,
many of them their job was to be an athlete.
So you know they're in a position now, especially with
the new name, image and likeness laws, where players can
get compensated for their own brand going into college. Um,
(15:15):
now you're coming out of high school and your first
job is not in um an employee, you're an employer.
And that was such a game changer. I think, you
know a lot of people rallied um and we're talking
the name like listen, image, Um, you know a lot
of people rallied for that. Because college athletes there's big superstars.
They're being approached and they're being tempted into these deals
(15:37):
and so to legalize that and actually allow them to
make money off of it no matter what the age,
I think is a real game changer for a lot
of these athletes. But how do they manage it? Yeah? Yeah,
it is a game changer, and they're pros and cons
to name, image and likeness, But you know, I I
will focus on the pros of it being one of
(15:57):
the things that is the great equalize are in sports,
and I'm saying equalizer in terms of UM in terms
of male females being compensated. Right, there are tons of
female athletes that are you know, making money on their name,
image and likeness, and they're being highlighted for their accolades
as student athletes, and I just I think that's wonderful. Um.
(16:19):
You know. In fact, you know, as they started n
I L and UM and I would do some podcasts
talking about n I L and you know, some financial
planning things and being that the majority of the clients
that I work with are in football and basketball. You know,
my first n I l UH client is actually track
and field athletes, so that was female track and field
(16:41):
athletes at that so um, you know, and they're being
really diligent about making sure that they understand, you know,
what the implications are for the money that they're making, right,
and understanding that their tax implications as well. So you know,
getting an advisor can help answer a lot of questions
so that you don't have any penalties or anything for
(17:03):
not paying your tax absolutely knowing that you have to
pay taxes on it, because you know, indorsement incomes is
you know, their their own entity, so they're creating businesses,
whether it be a so proprietorship or a partnership or uh,
they're creating escorts for Sea Corps. And you know, there's
a lot that goes into that, and it your first
time managing something of that magnitude, especially coming out of
(17:26):
high school. Especially coming out of high school. I mean
coming out of high school, the most biggest things we
were trying to figure out how to just get into college.
And now they're like almost you know, self made entrepreneurs
on top of being disciplined, disciplined athletes. It's a lot.
It is a lot. Yeah, you know, one thing you
and I think you asked this question at the beginning.
There's so many ancillary traits and attributes that come with
(17:49):
being an athlete that are transferable into business. Having the
ability to highly focus on something right and being determined,
that's helpful. Having a competitive spirit and nature is really
helpful as an athlete. That translates well into business. Uh.
And then also the ability to sacrifice right as an athlete,
especially an elite athlete, you have to sacrifice being up
(18:12):
at night, absolutely get up in the morning and make
those five am runs um and it's your own self
determination and discipline that I think that really makes the
best athletes, you know, successful, and the way that transfers
to entrepreneurship, I think is so phenomenal, and we've seen
so much more of that now that I think we've
empowered our athletes to really realize they are a business. Um, Walter,
(18:37):
I am so excited for you to have been here today,
and I want to close out by asking you, because
we're gonna have you come back for another deep dive.
We want to go deeper into you know, what it
means to be a financial planner, how you build your
business as well. But I want to know what's coming
up for the future of you, any big career changes,
any big things that we need to know as we
end this episode and move into our deep dive. So no,
(19:00):
I don't have any big career changes, um, but I
will say that I feel I have a book in me,
so I'm working I'm gonna work on writing the book
and kind of telling my story just being m a
two sport professional athlete because I played pro football, but
I also played professional basketball as well. After that. Uh,
(19:23):
in the in the in the what was the A
B A? And I went over to China and played
in the tournament. I have a book in me some
of my passions. I really, you know, love spending time
with my family who are young. I have a three
year old as of two days ago, eight year old
and a thirteen year old. So yeah, there's there's a
(19:43):
lot going on. So who knows where They're all amazing kids.
I love them very much, so who knows what they have?
This story that you know will until involved me as
their their dad. My wife is is lovely. She has
a lot of ventures that she works on and is
very involved and you know, making sure our kids are
good and make sure our family streets. So, uh, you know,
(20:04):
having that support is in We would love to hear
about a book from you. But Walter, before we leave,
I know you're coming back for a deep dive segment.
I have one last question. Which league is better? The
Canadian Football League, Go Canada or the NFL better in
terms of what in terms of pay? I would say
the NFL. Yeah, I guess we can't argue on that one.
(20:27):
Which one did you have a better experience and where
did you play? Uh? So I actually had a better
playing experience in Canada because I was I was on
the practice squad. So on the practice squad you're kind
of like helping the team get ready for their opponents. Right,
You're still on the roster. You're on the team, but
(20:47):
you're not playing in the games. And so when I
was in Canada, I actually started uh for the British
Columbia Lions. Lions you see Lions and uh man. That
was a real great experience and able to live in
Canada and play football up there and experience the culture
in Canada. Um. And my wife was with me and
(21:08):
my daughter at the time, she was just a baby,
so she doesn't remember, but it was really cool. I
enjoyed Canada. Um. It's a beautiful country. Is gorgeous, amazing.
Um you know, did the ability to go up to
snow Cap Mountains and Whistler and then come down to
the city in downtown of Vatcouverer and have an urban experience,
(21:30):
but then also to be able to go to the
beach and then you know, you can take the trolley out. Yeah,
it's a really really unique province. So I'm glad. I'm
born and raised in Toronto, so I'm a diehard Argonauts fan,
but I love the CFL loved having you on the
podcast today. Walter, thank you so much for coming on
the Money Moves Podcast. Can you let our audience know
(21:50):
where they can reach you on social media? Yes, Tony,
thanks so much for having me. I am Walter Stith
on all platforms, so you can find on social media,
Google Search, We'll get you to my website. It's Walter
Stiff st th Alright, Money Movers. That's all the time
we have for today, but make sure to follow Walter
(22:12):
on all his social media handles and if we helped
you make your money move, please make sure to let
us know by sending us a like, sharing the knowledge
on your social media, and or leave us a review
on Apple podcast. Make sure to tune in Monday through
Friday and subscribe to the Money Moves Podcast powered by Greenwood,
so that you two can have the keys to financial
freedom you so rightly deserve. Thank you so much for
(22:35):
tuning in Money Moves audience. If you want more or
a recap of this episode, please go to the bank
Greenwood dot com and check out the Money Moves Podcast blog.
Money Moves is an i heeart radio podcast powered by
Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media Inc. For more podcast
(22:56):
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