Unless you've just returned from a 20-year trip to Pluto, you no doubt realize that professional athletes today are getting unconscionable paychecks with a penchant for buying, buying, and buying. There is one basketball player who has a dozen vintage automobiles sitting in his oversize garage and there is a teenager who just signed a $94 million deal with a sneaker company and who tools around in a Hummer. Just wait until he gets that $94 mil.
And then there's Will Greenwood.
You never heard of Will Greenwood? He's a star…a rugby star, playing out of England. Recently, he was talking to the columnist Natalie Graham of the London Times regarding the fact that he has never had a credit card and doesn't intend to get one. He says that he only has a debit card connected to his bank. "If I don't have the money to pay for something, I don’t want to borrow it."
So then, how much money does he carry around at any one time? Try $45. What for? "Newspapers, milk, breakfast after training, and change for parking meters."
Now, wait a minute. He's making some good bucks. He doesn't spend? Nope. "I have always been a saver and the only thing I have ever borrowed money for is a mortgage."
What's Greenwood doing with his money? It's certainly not buying Mercedes, Jaguars, and the like? He owns a house and he admits that he has had windfall shares from building societies. "I don't buy shares in individual companies. I prefer my stake in the stock market to be under the umbrella of a larger plan."
Greenwood is only 30 years old but he has already set up pension and retirement plans, and he likes to keep close tabs on the real estate market. He does have a financial advisor who finds him opportunities for his money, including commercial-property investment schemes. His worst investment, he admits, had been buying shares in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors based upon tips from teammates. He took a bath on those stocks and made up his mind that he wouldn't be burned again. What he learned from that was "never to listen to your friends' sharing tips."
Basically, he resists any other ventures like that and keeps his money close to his vest. If he has any money weakness, he says, it is that he likes going out on Saturday nights with his fiancée, which means dinner, pub, and a London club. How much does he have in his pocket for such lavishness? $300.
But Greenwood does have one extravagance. It was a diamond engagement ring he bought his fiancée. "It is the best money I have ever spent, though it is rather annoying that I never get to wear it."
