As the executive director at London and Capital, Jonathan Gold is in a unique position. He gets to work with numerous millionaires, helping athletes, musicians, and entertainers manage their money. It can be a challenging role; after all, you're advising someone on their future. Particularly with athletes, they won't get to play forever. After retirement, their income streams will slow down.
Gold's main areas of focus are retirement planning, asset allocation, cash flow analysis, and Environmental, Social, and Governance investment portfolios. And while he mainly works with high-profile clients, his advice for them is applicable to anyone.
Let's take a look at the three key takeaways Gold tells his clients.
Stick To A Straightforward Approach Of Stocks And Bonds
Except in rare cases, an athlete's career will max out around 10 or 15 years. Sometimes, it's even less than that. And the athlete may not be earning top dollar that entire time.
Gold recommends a low-risk portfolio so athletes don't whittle away their money. This strategy is particularly sound for sports where earnings aren't fixed, like golf or tennis.
"The equity should be the risk part of your portfolio and the bonds should be the balance of that, the bedrock of producing a readily-knowable income stream," Gold told Business Insider. Income not necessarily to spend straight away, maybe reinvested."
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Don't Get Caught Up In Flashy Companies
Gold emphasizes that his main goal is to keep his clients wealthy. Taking on risk could do just the opposite.
That's why Gold encourages athletes to look at companies that provide a level of familiarity. He says reading about the stock market is "just noise" and it's better for a client to look at companies with a solid track record. Knowing a company will be around for a long time is generally a good indicator of success.
Gold says athletes are drawn to companies like Coca-Cola and Disney. Not only do the companies provide a sense of security, they also offer high dividends – another bonus for athletes.
Have A Financial Plan In Place
You don't have to look far to see that athletes like showing off their wealth. Cristiano Ronaldo has about two dozen cars in his collection. Michael Jordan owns a private jet with elephant print on it. Floyd Mayweather's nickname is literally "Money."
Gold doesn't discourage these kinds of purchases, but he does work with clients to map out a plan. He uses cash flow and investment models to break down what an athlete is making in a given year, and what they'll need to set aside for their future.
"This is what we need the plan to do, to create an amount worth X in a given time," he tells athletes. "And that is a way of reversing out the amount this person wants to spend or live off in the future."
Gold is aware that plenty of athletes have succumbed to financial woes. His job? Making sure nobody he works with goes down that same path.
