Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for
Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here is your host, four
Speaker 1: teen year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Enius Williams. Hello,
Speaker 1: and welcome to NFL Legends Podcast. I am a Nius Williams.
Speaker 1: Today we're joined by legend Jedediah Collins, also known as
Speaker 1: Just Jed, an undrafted free agent fullback can't wait to
Speaker 1: talk about that prehistoric position, who was once cut seven
Speaker 1: times before he ever took his first NFL snap. He
Speaker 1: is now a certified financial planner and author of the
Speaker 1: book Your Money Vehicle, How to Begin Driving to Finance
Speaker 1: Your Freedom. Welcome Jet, And it is an honor and
Speaker 1: a privilege to be on and truly humble to be
Speaker 1: in the consideration of legend and very excited to share
Speaker 1: kind of the message that I am out promoting and
Speaker 1: delivering um to not only our brothers, but to just
Speaker 1: the masses around financial empowerment. Thank you, Jed. I'm so
Speaker 1: excited for the work that you're doing and it's obviously needed,
Speaker 1: not just in the athletic room, but just in society
Speaker 1: in general. And I know you have a great financial
Speaker 1: advice for players and legends, and even people who want
Speaker 1: players and legends. But I want to talk to you
Speaker 1: for a minute about your playing career. Jet take us
Speaker 1: through the number of teams and the number of times
Speaker 1: you got cut when you finally took your first NFL snap. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I h I have been called a master of
Speaker 1: being cut um, and it is something that truly I'm
Speaker 1: fortunate because I'm I'm unique in that I loved the right.
Speaker 1: So I'm a journal er and so each time I
Speaker 1: had that conversation, I have it written down on pen
Speaker 1: and paper, just pouring out my emotions. And some people say,
Speaker 1: you know, this is the first time her worse or
Speaker 1: more than the last time. They all hurt the same,
Speaker 1: they're shots of the heart. But I went undrafted, which
Speaker 1: was kind of the first humbling point because I definitely
Speaker 1: expected to to get a phone call that day. But
Speaker 1: I went undrafted to the Philadelphia Eagles. UM, didn't make
Speaker 1: the team, got cut by them, got picked up on
Speaker 1: their practice squad a couple of weeks later, got cut
Speaker 1: by them again. Uh. They went over to Chicago, got
Speaker 1: caught by Chicago, went over to Cleveland, got on the
Speaker 1: active roster very briefly, got cut on the active roster,
Speaker 1: moved down to the practice squad. Then I chose to
Speaker 1: go to Kansas City that second year off season wasn't
Speaker 1: a wise decision. They told me to lose thirty pounds
Speaker 1: and and try to be a fullback. I wasn't. Obviously,
Speaker 1: did not make that roster, was on the streets for
Speaker 1: a little while, got picked up in an opportunity to
Speaker 1: go to Arizona's practice squad, got cut by them, went
Speaker 1: back to Cleveland under a second regime. First was Romeo Cornell,
Speaker 1: then Mangini didn't go any better. I got cut by them. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then I got my third training camp down in Tennessee,
Speaker 1: and that's really where everything started to change for me mentally,
Speaker 1: which as a as a fullback is is the primary
Speaker 1: aspect of that position is having your mindset right. Um.
Speaker 1: And our fourth preseason game was against the New Orleans Saints,
Speaker 1: and I went out and said, this is a make
Speaker 1: it or break it kind of game for me. I'm
Speaker 1: either gonna get on I R or I'm never gonna
Speaker 1: get an opportunity again. Um. And so I played my
Speaker 1: heart out and the Saints called put me on their
Speaker 1: practice squad, and that's where I ultimately broke in and
Speaker 1: got into becoming an active member of the team. Very
Speaker 1: proud to say I climbed the ranks. I ended one year.
Speaker 1: It's the number one ranked player at the fullback position. UM.
Speaker 1: And I was in New Orleans for four seasons and
Speaker 1: finished uh in and they didn't sign me back. So
Speaker 1: I went up to Detroit they had I was there
Speaker 1: for a year, got cut by them, and then had
Speaker 1: the most interesting moment of my probably my journey. After
Speaker 1: all that said and done, I went to Dallas. They
Speaker 1: gave me a signing bonus. I was there for about
Speaker 1: three weeks, barely put on a helmet, and then they
Speaker 1: unexpectedly cut me. And that was That was about the
Speaker 1: time when I called my agent. I said, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: I've been doing this finance stuff. I you know, I
Speaker 1: had my first daughter. I think I gotta go start
Speaker 1: my life beyond UM but truly New Orleans. You know,
Speaker 1: I named my my daughter's middle names Nola. Changed my
Speaker 1: life and forever grateful for the opportunity that the game
Speaker 1: of football has given me and my family. You know,
Speaker 1: one of things you said, Jed, and a lot of
Speaker 1: times when players get released, we here here cut and
Speaker 1: you end up on the street, but you just shared
Speaker 1: you were doing something. It sounds like we're doing finances
Speaker 1: doing that time. Would you why don't you speak to
Speaker 1: some legends and some current players who maybe still are
Speaker 1: not on the team what you did when you did
Speaker 1: get released. Literally you were not on the streets, so
Speaker 1: kind to share that with us. Absolutely, And so that's,
Speaker 1: you know something I challenged myself again, going back to
Speaker 1: that kind of journaling mindset every time I got cut.
Speaker 1: It is that pain, it is that anger. But then
Speaker 1: I started asking myself, well, what could I have done?
Speaker 1: How are those guys making it? Why wasn't it me?
Speaker 1: And that was a list I started to create. Actually
Speaker 1: call it rookie to veteran, but it was behaviors and principles.
Speaker 1: I watched great players perform that I simply just took.
Speaker 1: And that was part of what I was doing each
Speaker 1: time I got cut and go, you know, in transit,
Speaker 1: shon or on the streets, was finding what that next
Speaker 1: behavior I was going to put into my regiment and
Speaker 1: add to my tool belt. Um and then beyond the
Speaker 1: game off the field, the reality was I was financially illiterate.
Speaker 1: My rookie year, I got some good paychecks, some active checks,
Speaker 1: and they came and went the day that you know,
Speaker 1: I cash them. And you know, I will say my
Speaker 1: first big purchase was an engagement ring. And my wife
Speaker 1: and I are still happily married, but I will tell
Speaker 1: her to this day that was a very poor financial decision.
Speaker 1: And it woke me up to the reality that even
Speaker 1: though you know, I come from an academic family, I
Speaker 1: had very little understanding around the concept of money. And
Speaker 1: I dove in. I went to a bookstore and started
Speaker 1: just buying, you know, the financial gurus. And finally I
Speaker 1: had a former NFL veteran, a brother, challenged me and say, hey, man,
Speaker 1: I've been giving you fish and feeding you fish, but
Speaker 1: if you really want to know, you gotta learn to
Speaker 1: fish yourself. And he challenge me and said, start studying
Speaker 1: for your certification and financial planning. And that is a
Speaker 1: a long process. You know, it took me two or
Speaker 1: three years to to complete, but it gives you a
Speaker 1: fundamental understanding in a holistic view of money, not just investing,
Speaker 1: but how insurance and taxes and estate planning and cash management,
Speaker 1: all those things tied into it. And so it was
Speaker 1: truly building this kind of off the field knowledge and
Speaker 1: having guys in the locker room asked me questions about
Speaker 1: not just the NFL benefits, but about how money and
Speaker 1: the game and the world works. That really led me
Speaker 1: down the road I was on. But I couldn't be
Speaker 1: more proud to say I was earning that CFP through
Speaker 1: getting cut, through being on the streets, and even once
Speaker 1: I was starting to make it in New Orleans, it
Speaker 1: was like, Hey, I gets sneak in a book or
Speaker 1: something on our flight or on our bus and and
Speaker 1: get a little bit of time invested there. Now, let's
Speaker 1: go back to the plane career. What was it like
Speaker 1: when you finally had an opportunity to play in in
Speaker 1: a game with the Saints? What was so? It was? So?
Speaker 1: I'll give you two plays, um. The first one was
Speaker 1: my first first play with the first team my rookie
Speaker 1: year in Philadelphia, and you will know this, man. I
Speaker 1: I got to go line up at fullback against the
Speaker 1: first team Eagles defense and saw Brian Dawkins coming through
Speaker 1: the hole. And he was one of those guys I
Speaker 1: grew up, I grew up watching I knew I know
Speaker 1: who weapon X is and I remember him coming through
Speaker 1: the hole, and I didn't see Dawkins. I saw Weapon X,
Speaker 1: and I was intimidated. I was humbled, and he knocked
Speaker 1: me in the next Tuesday and I got up off
Speaker 1: the ground, and in that time, you realize confidence is
Speaker 1: king man. I had to believe I was going to
Speaker 1: be out there. And so why I said my third
Speaker 1: year was such a pivotal year for me was it
Speaker 1: was the first training camp, it was the first office
Speaker 1: season that I walked out onto the field, and I
Speaker 1: believed I was the baddest dude on that field. I
Speaker 1: hadn't really really embodied that yet, and as a fullback,
Speaker 1: I had to have that mindset um. And so really
Speaker 1: my my journey in New Orleans was even unique because
Speaker 1: the only reason I got reps with the starters was
Speaker 1: because we were going through the lockout and the collective
Speaker 1: bargaining dream and said any free agents had to wait
Speaker 1: a couple more days, and they had just you know,
Speaker 1: bought or traded for a free agent fullback who was
Speaker 1: supposed to be the starter. Um. And so in those
Speaker 1: two or three days kind of transition period, that's when
Speaker 1: I got the opportunity to be amongst the best and
Speaker 1: be amongst the starting circle and I I felt that
Speaker 1: taste and I got that feeling, that confidence was there,
Speaker 1: and I said, I never want to let this go.
Speaker 1: And truly that player never really even took my reps
Speaker 1: or took my position away from me. So from that
Speaker 1: first hit with Dotkins to the hits in the training
Speaker 1: camp when I would go in and guys would flip
Speaker 1: the script and start to fear me, that was that
Speaker 1: was really the change in mindset of me becoming a
Speaker 1: lead block and fullback. And Jed, I'm looking at you.
Speaker 1: May you have this nice looking hair in this name.
Speaker 1: How did you decide what made you want to be
Speaker 1: a fullback? Oh? The line is not long for fullback.
Speaker 1: So I was a linebacker in high school. I was
Speaker 1: a tight end, kind of a receiving tight end in college.
Speaker 1: But once you you transition from college to the NFL.
Speaker 1: I stood next to some of the tight ends up
Speaker 1: there at six six six five, I'm about six one.
Speaker 1: They run four fives. I run a five flat. So
Speaker 1: it wasn't so much a choice position change. It was
Speaker 1: more if you want to keep going, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to learn a new skill set. And really what the
Speaker 1: transition for me into the NFL, was was realizing fullback
Speaker 1: is a selfless position. No longer was I going to
Speaker 1: be the guy with my name in the paper. I
Speaker 1: was going to be setting up the guy to get
Speaker 1: his name in the paper. And I really had to
Speaker 1: embody the idea that the position is much more one
Speaker 1: of will than of skill. Are you willing to go
Speaker 1: into the whole and do the work that very few
Speaker 1: want to? Um So it wasn't It wasn't my first choice.
Speaker 1: But that's selfless, that that mindset and really the discipline
Speaker 1: to go play that part. It's it's transcended into kind
Speaker 1: of what I do now in helping people lead their
Speaker 1: way financially, but also just the the ability to uh
Speaker 1: to control my mind, to control control my message to
Speaker 1: myself to wake up and manifest my future, because that's
Speaker 1: what I would have to do on the field. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't believe I was the baddest dude on there.
Speaker 1: I repeatedly looked in a mirror and told myself I was.
Speaker 1: And that's when things started to change. You Know, you
Speaker 1: mentioned someone he came down to the full back position.
Speaker 1: You said it was the will many times over the skill.
Speaker 1: Now as we transition into finance man. One of the
Speaker 1: things in these questions I'll ask you, I'm thinking about,
Speaker 1: how do you get guys It's one thing to have
Speaker 1: the skill that they need, but how in finances? And
Speaker 1: I'll ask you this a little later on in this
Speaker 1: and maybe you'll talk about it in the questions, how
Speaker 1: do you get legends and players to have the will
Speaker 1: to want to manage their finances? So let me take
Speaker 1: you here. Among of the players, one of the biggest
Speaker 1: misconceptions about an NFL career and their own financial well being.
Speaker 1: That's a one you know coming in. I think one
Speaker 1: of the biggest misconceptions is we get paid all all
Speaker 1: year and not just during the season, and so the
Speaker 1: mismanagement begins with that first paycheck. Um. But I think
Speaker 1: guys have a have a tough time at twenty to
Speaker 1: imagining themselves at sixty two, let alone even just thirty two,
Speaker 1: and to truly see this this financial dream and this
Speaker 1: opportunity is to not be rich. And one of the
Speaker 1: things I really love to share with legends and guys
Speaker 1: playing is there is a big difference between rich and wealth.
Speaker 1: Rich means I have money today, and being rich is
Speaker 1: not a bad thing. Being rich is a great thing
Speaker 1: as long as it transitions to wealth, and wealth means
Speaker 1: it's not that I have money today, it's I have
Speaker 1: many tomorrows that I don't have to worry about money.
Speaker 1: And I didn't know the difference between the two, and
Speaker 1: it's it's really kind of a foreign language for for
Speaker 1: many of us to think, what is wealth? What does
Speaker 1: it mean? How do you build it, how do you
Speaker 1: manage it? And then how do you transfer it to
Speaker 1: your family? So one of the biggest misconceptions is I
Speaker 1: made it, I'm a rich rookie, or I made it
Speaker 1: I just got my second contract. And the reality is
Speaker 1: you are not wealthy yet until that money is going
Speaker 1: to work for you. And you have made this this game.
Speaker 1: You've taken the dream and the opportunity and made it
Speaker 1: your your employee. Once your legends and players begin to
Speaker 1: assess in effects the facts of where they really are.
Speaker 1: So that's a great question. And you know how precious
Speaker 1: the time in the game is. Uh. You know, most
Speaker 1: guys are fortunate to make it to that three. Get
Speaker 1: the investing into the pension. I would begin with, you know,
Speaker 1: your your second year, rookie year is just save as
Speaker 1: much as you can just just get survived, focus on
Speaker 1: the game, be get job number one. That's the other
Speaker 1: piece of this is is so many guys wonder well
Speaker 1: off the field, how can I go get investments or
Speaker 1: how can I go start this or start that. The
Speaker 1: greatest influencer and impact or on your wealth is going
Speaker 1: to be your career. Making it one more season, focusing
Speaker 1: on job number one there, that's always a priority. But
Speaker 1: as we look at it, we gotta begin, you know,
Speaker 1: with our cash management. I think that happens year one,
Speaker 1: year two, and then as you get into three and four,
Speaker 1: you start to look at the amount of benefits the
Speaker 1: game can deliver to you. Why our union is so
Speaker 1: vital and strong is because it does provide for us
Speaker 1: a financial you know, jump start to our lives um
Speaker 1: and so starting to understand how those programs work and
Speaker 1: how to maximize them and then come five years and
Speaker 1: beyond is when you can really start to look at
Speaker 1: and say, okay, I have my foundation. I not only
Speaker 1: have that, but I have a transition account that I
Speaker 1: always try to tell players protect two years of cash
Speaker 1: because that those transition years are going to be extremely challenging.
Speaker 1: But over that five years and once you're starting to
Speaker 1: look at it and see how the game can impact you.
Speaker 1: Beyond that is when you can start to look down
Speaker 1: and say, what am I passionate about? What do I
Speaker 1: want to continue to learn about, and how do I
Speaker 1: then transition that into something as an income stream off
Speaker 1: the field? So jed, most careers are like yours, not
Speaker 1: like Drew Drew brees right now. So with that in mind,
Speaker 1: what what does that mean for the financial help the
Speaker 1: players and legends? In other words, what do they need
Speaker 1: to understand? Uh? And what are the oldest unique peculiaritives
Speaker 1: when you don't have a loan sustained career. Yes, And
Speaker 1: for the vast minority who get to have a career
Speaker 1: and say, hey, I don't have to work again, um,
Speaker 1: this is the game has given me enough more and
Speaker 1: more power to you. For the other ninety nine nine
Speaker 1: percent of us, UM, I would look at my time
Speaker 1: in the game and my time playing and in the
Speaker 1: off seasons, I would begin to develop interests, skills that
Speaker 1: are going to translate. I would begin to build my network.
Speaker 1: I think that is one of the biggest failures of
Speaker 1: guys in the league is we want to remain exclusive,
Speaker 1: we want to remain private when at that time every
Speaker 1: door in America would open to you. Everybody opens the
Speaker 1: door for a current NFL player, not everyone is open
Speaker 1: for a former NFL player. And so I would challenge
Speaker 1: guys to continually get out and network um and then
Speaker 1: really just looking at how can I leverage what I
Speaker 1: am and what I have been around. I I am
Speaker 1: not Drew Brees, but I've been six ft from greatness.
Speaker 1: I've seen the best in the world operate on a
Speaker 1: daily basis, the skills and the disciplines in me translating
Speaker 1: to anything and everything that I'm going to do. And
Speaker 1: I really want more players to to stand on that
Speaker 1: fact that I got to go to work, but I
Speaker 1: am miles ahead of everyone that I'm going to compete
Speaker 1: with because they don't understand the level of intensity or
Speaker 1: the level of uh of discipline that I've had to
Speaker 1: develop to become who I am UH. And so I
Speaker 1: would look at it as most guys are like me.
Speaker 1: Most guys are going to need a second career. What
Speaker 1: in your your journey can you take away? What in
Speaker 1: your game of football can you transition into life after?
Speaker 1: And that doesn't have to be coaching and broadcasting. Those
Speaker 1: are great careers, but just your time management, your team playing,
Speaker 1: your your functionality will be desired by so many different
Speaker 1: corporations and leaders. Hey Jed, now, what you've been cut
Speaker 1: as often as you were? Was that? Was that the
Speaker 1: thing that triggered you to want to learn about finances
Speaker 1: and become a financial partner? It definitely played into it,
Speaker 1: you know. And I get to say I was fortunate
Speaker 1: to be cut so many times because my career was
Speaker 1: over before it even began, multiple times, and so it
Speaker 1: did show me the longevity of the game is going
Speaker 1: to pass me by very quickly. Um. And so from
Speaker 1: a financial perspective, it showed me, well, I have to
Speaker 1: be preparing today for ten thirty years into the future.
Speaker 1: But what what else it also did was it gave
Speaker 1: me the blessing of failure. And people have a very
Speaker 1: interesting reaction to that. But I think in business, in life,
Speaker 1: as an athlete, one of the best things you can
Speaker 1: hear is no, because it closes the door and it
Speaker 1: challenges you to find a better way. Again, when I
Speaker 1: would get cut, I would go and look at what
Speaker 1: was Dawkins doing, What was the twenty year kicker doing?
Speaker 1: What was it fifteen year offensive alignment doing what were
Speaker 1: all these guys doing that I didn't do? And so
Speaker 1: being told no forced me into that realization that I
Speaker 1: needed get better. And I don't know if I would
Speaker 1: have achieved what I did had I not been told
Speaker 1: no and cut so many times. So the reality that,
Speaker 1: you know, having having your contract be taken away and
Speaker 1: no more income wakes you up to the financial lessons
Speaker 1: and then it's you know, challenges you to say, all right,
Speaker 1: this isn't good enough. What are you gonna do? And
Speaker 1: and that's when I wouldn't started getting educated. I love
Speaker 1: how you share with us your definition of rich and wealth,
Speaker 1: because I'm quite sure being in the league, players were
Speaker 1: more cars and all the houses and all those things
Speaker 1: that kind of in your conversations in the locker room,
Speaker 1: did you see Are I think that players thought they
Speaker 1: had wealth when they had cars and things like that
Speaker 1: versus no, no Jit, the school of jit. Uh, you
Speaker 1: guys are just rich? Tell me about that. And you
Speaker 1: know one question I would always ask guys whether it
Speaker 1: was a first rounder, uh, fifty million dollar guy? Was man,
Speaker 1: you think you have so much? Imagine the guy writing
Speaker 1: your paycheck? You know that is a different and when
Speaker 1: you start to look at it through a different lens,
Speaker 1: you start to see the change and you start to
Speaker 1: look at well, how long will this last? How long
Speaker 1: is this lifestyle going to be afforded by what I have?
Speaker 1: And I don't care if you do have the million
Speaker 1: dollar contract. If you're spending spending a half a million
Speaker 1: dollars a quarter a million dollars a year, you're running
Speaker 1: out of money in your forties. And that's a great,
Speaker 1: you know, twenty year time life, but that's not the dream.
Speaker 1: The dream is to have football set you up for life.
Speaker 1: And so yes, one of the realizations for me, with
Speaker 1: with young guys and even myself was that differentiator between
Speaker 1: an asset and a liability. And it sounds so simple,
Speaker 1: but the reality is we need to understand what an
Speaker 1: asset is. None of us have ever bought an asset
Speaker 1: before our days. We've never been introduced to what they
Speaker 1: are or how to buy them. But looking at things
Speaker 1: to purchase that are going to put money back into
Speaker 1: my pocket as opposed to cost me more, that was
Speaker 1: a real awakening moment for me, and I started to
Speaker 1: challenge everything I was buying. You know, I still buy
Speaker 1: and I still spend and you know, I got a wife,
Speaker 1: so we definitely spend money. But I started to look
Speaker 1: at it like, hey this, you know, sure, I could
Speaker 1: go and have a pretty good, you know night or
Speaker 1: two in Vegas, or we can go throw it in
Speaker 1: this thing. Or I could go and you know, get
Speaker 1: my CFP with that, or I can go and do
Speaker 1: other things. What over the long term is going to
Speaker 1: bring money back to me? And I think if young
Speaker 1: players can look at that and say, I can still
Speaker 1: go buy my wants, but I also got to go
Speaker 1: buy some assets, that is one of the most powerful
Speaker 1: tools they can have is saying I know this thing
Speaker 1: is going to return me more down the road. That's
Speaker 1: my priority. Did you take advantage of any of the
Speaker 1: programs available to players and legends? Absolutely not. Not just
Speaker 1: to mention the transition ones around my my body and
Speaker 1: my mind, which were excellent, But while I was playing,
Speaker 1: I got to go to Wharton and Harvard the business
Speaker 1: management entrepreneurial programs, and again a word I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: is those were unbelievable experiences being on those institutions in
Speaker 1: front of those professors. But what was even more important
Speaker 1: was the network. Looking around a fifty other guys in
Speaker 1: our shoes, in our position. Some of them were ten
Speaker 1: fifteen years out of the league, some of them were rookies.
Speaker 1: But looking around and saying, these guys all know, they
Speaker 1: get it, and they're here because they're gonna truly capture
Speaker 1: every opportunity possible. Um. And so I looked at those
Speaker 1: types of things even now. Oddly enough, when I took,
Speaker 1: you know, file for my CFP, it was not a
Speaker 1: reimbursable expense. Now they are now looking at these skills
Speaker 1: that you can develop off the field, and I think
Speaker 1: organizations I hid my CFP, which in today you look
Speaker 1: at a Brandon Copeland. I should have been very vocal
Speaker 1: about what I was doing. I was a bubble guy,
Speaker 1: and I was always afraid that people would think that,
Speaker 1: you know, oh well, just just not focused and he's not,
Speaker 1: you know, doing the job. I think enough people understand
Speaker 1: the modern day athlete has a voice and has a mind.
Speaker 1: And we look at both the social movements as well
Speaker 1: as the business movements of where we are in this world. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, de hopping in Arizona is the latest example
Speaker 1: of man, this cat has his mind straight, and it
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with his performance on the field,
Speaker 1: he's just a businessman off the field. And my my
Speaker 1: favorite quote to a lot of guys in the locker room,
Speaker 1: whether it was Calvin Johnson down to you know, practice
Speaker 1: squad players, Dasies. You know, I'm not a businessman. I'm
Speaker 1: a business comma man. And we got to see ourselves
Speaker 1: that way. We got to be the CEO of our
Speaker 1: own business. And this branding, this n I l s
Speaker 1: in the college world and as well as just the
Speaker 1: NFL opportunity of every day is an interview. Every day
Speaker 1: somebody is looking at a NAST and saying, Hey, who
Speaker 1: is this guy, what is he offer? What is he about?
Speaker 1: And we have to be able to sell ourselves accordingly
Speaker 1: and shout out to the hop man. He actually yeah,
Speaker 1: it did his own contract to in Arizona. He did,
Speaker 1: and did a heck of a job. One of the
Speaker 1: things every NFL player and legend should do to day
Speaker 1: jit to ensure the long term financial success. That's a great,
Speaker 1: great question. Um, this is not gonna be reinventing the wheel.
Speaker 1: I would say the first one, the biggest one is
Speaker 1: writing down your goals, having that conversation with whoever you trust,
Speaker 1: whether that's your house. Whether that's your brother, your parents,
Speaker 1: your advisor, your uncle, I don't care who it is.
Speaker 1: Have that open conversation of what you want to take
Speaker 1: from the game, because we all know the game is
Speaker 1: going to take from us, and we really want to
Speaker 1: be able to see football as something that is given
Speaker 1: and not taken. So what do you want out of
Speaker 1: the game? Write down those goals, and then you begin
Speaker 1: to develop a strategy and a system. What is your
Speaker 1: cash management when you get paychecks, whether the big ones
Speaker 1: while planned, the transition ones, or in your second career,
Speaker 1: where is your purpose behind every dollar you make? Money
Speaker 1: without a purpose is a problem, and so we need
Speaker 1: to employ our dollars and make sure we have before
Speaker 1: the check even arrives, a percentage of where we want
Speaker 1: those dollars to go. And then we can get into efficiencies.
Speaker 1: And as we look at number one of what are
Speaker 1: our goals, we look at vehicles that can be opened.
Speaker 1: I have kids, I want them to have higher education,
Speaker 1: so I opened a five to nine account. I have
Speaker 1: philanthropic or charitable inclinations, so I opened a donor advised fund,
Speaker 1: or I just see the tax system and I say,
Speaker 1: this is something that as a current player, I have
Speaker 1: a lot of after tax money. As a transitioning athlete,
Speaker 1: I have a low income. Can I open a wrath
Speaker 1: account and can I push as much money into this
Speaker 1: wrath account as possible? Because then I have tax free
Speaker 1: growth for life. And so I would look again, what
Speaker 1: are your goals and then finding the vehicle that is
Speaker 1: going to efficiently take you to those goals as good
Speaker 1: as possible. So if we building a financial tool kit JIT,
Speaker 1: we'll call it the JIT kit. How about that for
Speaker 1: players alleges to use? What would be in the two kigit?
Speaker 1: I'll start out my name with a few would it?
Speaker 1: Would Number one be finding a financial planner. I would
Speaker 1: say for a current player, even more than a financial
Speaker 1: planner is going to be a good c p A.
Speaker 1: UM taxes is such a challenge for professional athletes. The
Speaker 1: latest tax code laws have taken away a lot of
Speaker 1: our deductions. Finding a good c p A is the
Speaker 1: first member of your team after your agent. Then definitely
Speaker 1: finding an advisor. And I love to point out this
Speaker 1: word of fiduciary. Fiduciary standard means I have a legal
Speaker 1: liability to put your interest first, and if you would,
Speaker 1: I'll give you a sixty second example of what that
Speaker 1: word fiduciary means. Imagine going into a restaurant and in
Speaker 1: this restaurant, you sit down on the waiter or waitress
Speaker 1: brings you a menu, and on this menu is salad, fish,
Speaker 1: and steak. And they handy the menu and you say, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's good here. You're the expert in
Speaker 1: this what what's good? And the server looks at you
Speaker 1: and says, the fish. I think you should go with
Speaker 1: the fish. What they don't have to tell you because
Speaker 1: the fish is on the menu, is that the fish
Speaker 1: is starting to go sour. And the chef said, we
Speaker 1: got to push the fish. And I'll actually give you
Speaker 1: another dollar for every piece of plate of fish that
Speaker 1: you sell. That is not a fiduciary. A fiduciary looks
Speaker 1: at the menu and says, well, the fish is going sour.
Speaker 1: Don't get the fish. I heard you talking about lunch.
Speaker 1: You already had a burger, following that up with a steak,
Speaker 1: red meat probably not the best for you. What the
Speaker 1: best for you in this situation is to order a salad.
Speaker 1: That is a fiduciary somebody who says I cannot and
Speaker 1: will not accept that extra dollar. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: sell you something that's going sour. I want you to
Speaker 1: be in the best thing possible for you, and that
Speaker 1: is a fiduciary. And are there still crooks who hold
Speaker 1: the fiduciary standard. Absolutely, But as you look at advisors,
Speaker 1: that is the first question I asked people is why
Speaker 1: are you not a fiduciary? And let them explain and
Speaker 1: if their reasoning makes sense to you, you can move forward.
Speaker 1: But that is a good standard to place to start. Okay,
Speaker 1: here's a quick question. I'll do some rapids as we
Speaker 1: clull out yet, so let's go around fire. All right.
Speaker 1: The first thing, what's the first clue a guy should
Speaker 1: know that may alarm them that this may not be
Speaker 1: a fiduciary right front edgial person. How they get paid?
Speaker 1: So first question is why are you not a fiduciary?
Speaker 1: Second question is how do you get paid? Do you
Speaker 1: get commissions off of what you sell? Me? Are you do?
Speaker 1: Do you sell different products, different funds, different things? That
Speaker 1: is going to be a red flag. And again there
Speaker 1: are some great people who can hold that designation and
Speaker 1: make commissions and do all that, but you need to
Speaker 1: have clarity around how that person is going to get paid.
Speaker 1: And then the last question would be what exactly are
Speaker 1: your services? Where do you begin? Where do you end?
Speaker 1: Um So the big one around fiduciaries, how do you
Speaker 1: get paid? There's another way you did something. You took
Speaker 1: advantage of programs learning on their own. How much do
Speaker 1: you recommend players doing that? I highly, highly recommend it again,
Speaker 1: and it could be you find something you are infinitely
Speaker 1: curious about. I've met some great guys in the teammates
Speaker 1: who have businesses around hunting. Why because that's what they
Speaker 1: want to wake up, you know, they try to get
Speaker 1: me out at three thirty four in the morning to go,
Speaker 1: you know, shoot some stuff that's just not my jam,
Speaker 1: that's not me. But find something you're infinitely curious about
Speaker 1: and then start looking at how you can create a
Speaker 1: business around it, because you have an opportunity, you have
Speaker 1: a brand, you have the disciplined and you have a
Speaker 1: little financial cushion to be able to live a life
Speaker 1: that very few get to. You know, I get to
Speaker 1: run my own business today because the game of football.
Speaker 1: Had I not play football, I will not be in
Speaker 1: the situation I am. So find something you're curious and
Speaker 1: then start to learn as much as you can, not
Speaker 1: only about the hobby, but about the business. Would recommend
Speaker 1: that players have just as much passion for their finances
Speaker 1: as many of us do our bodies, particularly when we're playing.
Speaker 1: I would give you a third one. I would say,
Speaker 1: have just as much passion for your mind. Invest in
Speaker 1: your mind because that is going to take care of
Speaker 1: both of those feats. And you're right, health well health
Speaker 1: and wealth are two amazing aspects, but our mind is
Speaker 1: really what we need to start protecting and not only recovering,
Speaker 1: but pre habing um. But as we look at that
Speaker 1: investment into our bodies and investment into our careers, I
Speaker 1: want to really truly empower guys to say I captured
Speaker 1: the NFL dream. How few we see those statistics, we
Speaker 1: see the documentaries. How few really get to walk out
Speaker 1: of a locker room and say I've captured it. So
Speaker 1: I'm going to give a biased dancer at the end
Speaker 1: and say we we gotta handle our money. And I
Speaker 1: will also say I got to talk to a lot
Speaker 1: of rookies this offseason, and they were very interested in
Speaker 1: the social movement, having the social injustice be a part
Speaker 1: of their voice. Finances is one of the biggest influencers
Speaker 1: in that you want to change your community, teach them
Speaker 1: how to handle their money. You want to make an
Speaker 1: impact in d C or in your city or state.
Speaker 1: Money is going to always talk. So part of this
Speaker 1: movement has to begin in our wallets as we close out.
Speaker 1: What action still would you say to us legends and
Speaker 1: to current players, we should take git So this one
Speaker 1: is going to be UH one and the as I
Speaker 1: have appreciated this has been great. Um, this is gonna
Speaker 1: be eliminating a hazard to your wealth. And insurance is
Speaker 1: not a fun or sexy topic, but I I look
Speaker 1: at rookies to ten year players, two guys five years
Speaker 1: out who have net worths that need protecting. It's called
Speaker 1: an umbrella policy, and it is a catastrophic insurance policy
Speaker 1: that says, I'm protected to five hundred thousand dollars on
Speaker 1: my car insurance. But what happens if I hit something
Speaker 1: and it's a million dollars or God forbid five million dollars?
Speaker 1: You can go get an umbrella policy for one five
Speaker 1: million dollars. That is not going to be very expensive,
Speaker 1: but for a hundred of your listeners, a thousand of
Speaker 1: your listeners. If one or two of them ever use it,
Speaker 1: it will be worth its weight in gold um. And
Speaker 1: so that's that's a hazard to your wealth that we
Speaker 1: really try to eliminate and avoid in the wealth management space.
Speaker 1: Get an umbrella insurance policy. Wow. Yeah, this has been incredible.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us once again. The book
Speaker 1: is called Your Money Vehicle, How to Begin Driving to
Speaker 1: Financial Freedom. It can be found where jet so you
Speaker 1: can connect with me on our our website, Your Money
Speaker 1: Vehicle dot com as well as my personal website jededia
Speaker 1: Collins dot com. Uh. Social media, I'm at Fullback of
Speaker 1: Finance on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok um. And yes, we
Speaker 1: have actually updated the book Your Money Vehicle into a
Speaker 1: full online virtual course and it is meant to begin
Speaker 1: people on their financial journeys. So welcome any and all
Speaker 1: to to reach out. I love questions, I love to help,
Speaker 1: and I love connected with legends like you, sir, So
Speaker 1: I appreciate it and uh yeah, I enjoy the day.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening in and the best is yet to come.
Speaker 1: This has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback
Speaker 1: or request a topic for discussion, email us at NFL
Speaker 1: Legends at nfl dot com.