What can you learn from an NFL player's salary? Despite the huge numbers, a lot actually! Logan Ryan earned over $80 million during his 11 seasons in the NFL, and by his own account barely spent a dime of it. Matt shares Ryan's unusual financial story from a league where short-lived careers often end up with short-lived financial prosperity. Matt points out that, once you get past the large numbers that Ryan made from his playing salary, there are a number of lessons you can learn from him about understanding the nature of retirement and what we are all trying to do with our money during our working lives. Ryan spent very little of his earnings during his career, but that doesn't mean he lived on nothing. What he understood early on is that while his paycheck was very high, his career would be very short (11 years is not a long career, and even then it's 3 times longer than the average NFL career!). Therefore, he needed to invest his earnings in a portfolio that would provide him with income when he was no longer working. And that's exactly what he did, working with a financial advisor and asking lots of questions throughout the investment process. With his high earnings, he had the flexibilty to invest in a wide variety of assets beyond stocks and bonds, such as private credit and technology startups like OpenAI. While these may not be prudent investment choices for regular working folks, it shows that he understood the game -- he needed a mix of investments to provide income now and income later in life, while also providing the opportunity for long-term growth since he would retire from football while still a young man. Logan Ryan is an unusual story, but we can learn a lot of lessons from him. While most of us will have much longer working careers -- 30 or more years, perhaps -- we are still operating under the same circumstances. Someday the paychecks will stop, and we must accumulate enough capital during our working years to live on in retirement. This means we need to invest our money, but also we need to understand our expenses and our lifestyle. Ryan wasn't interested in expensive jewelry or ostentatious clothing, and he lived on a budget during his career. He honed in on what he wanted out of life, and spent his money on that. In doing so, he prepared himself to understand what he would need in retirement. Matt often gives the example of two people with the same portfolio value of $5 million, same age and circumstances, yet one person needs $120,000 a year to live on and the other $300,000. Though they have the same amount of money, their financial positions in retirement are drastically different. Follow Matt Murphy Web: https://www.benetaswealth.com Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/jb7SNc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattmurphycfp Advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network®, a Registered Investment Adviser. This material is intended for informational/educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Investments are subject to risk, including the loss of principal. Some investments are not suitable for all investors, and there is no guarantee that any investing goal will be met. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and investors cannot invest directly into an index. Investments in target-date funds are subject to the risks of their underlying holdings. The year in the fund name refers to the approximate year (the target date) when an investor in the fund would retire and leave the workforce. The fund will gradually shift its emphasis from more aggressive investments to more conservative investments based on its respective target date. The performance of an investment in a target-date fund is not guaranteed at any time, including on or after the target date. Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets, and diversification cannot guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are subject to market volatility, including the risks of their underlying investments. They are not individually redeemable from the fund and are bought and sold at the current market price, which may be above or below their net asset value.
