The NFL wide receiver Golden Tate recently signed the largest contract of his career — a $37.5 million deal with the New York Giants. Tate, 30, is known as “Showtime” on the field, but he’s much less flashy when it comes to investing and saving. In fact, he runs the numbers on how much he spends annually on things like restaurants and coffee shops — and it leads him to go grocery shopping a little more often, so he’ll spend less.
“Say I spend 8 bucks a day on Starbucks. Add that up yearly, and it’s in the thousands. It makes you plan a little differently.”
Personal finance celeb Suze Orman couldn’t have said it better. See: Worried about retirement? Make your own damn coffee
Tate, who entered the NFL in 2010 and has played for the Seattle Seahawks (with whom he won a Super Bowl), the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles, is married and has two young children. He recently spoke with MarketWatch about his investing and spending philosophies, as well as his favorite sport to play other than football.
MarketWatch: What’s the best money advice you’ve received?
Golden Tate: Being in the highest tax bracket, it’s to save over half of my paycheck, and to spend a quarter of it. Which is still a lot of money for me. I don’t think young people completely understand how much money we really make. I just signed a big contract. The overall number is 4 years and $37 million. But the only thing you can look at is guaranteed money and you might as well cut that number in half right at the jump. For me that’s $23 million, so cut it in half and it’s really $11.5 million. And from that I pay management fees, and there’s what you spend to live on, houses. Of course, it’s still a lot of money to make. Just not as much as people think. I have a house in California, and I’ll get paid in New York and New Jersey — two places that kill you with taxes.
MarketWatch: Have you been with the same financial team since you turned pro?
Tate: I switched financial advisers after my third year in the NFL because I got audited then. My adviser now is also my CPA. My wife helps a lot too. She’s really good with numbers and money.
MarketWatch: How’d you find your adviser?
Tate: A couple guys on my team at the time worked with him. I interviewed him and got to know him. Made a decision to hire him. I’ve been with him for six years now.
MarketWatch: I’m guessing you’re happy with your agent?
Tate: I love my agent. Todd France with CAA. He’s the best out there. I’ve been with him since I turned pro.
MarketWatch: Have you made any money mistakes?
Tate: Not looking over your everyday spending. I realized after a while that, say I ate out four times a week, and spent $50 every time. That’s 200 bucks a week — maybe that doesn’t sound like so much. But then you realize that it’s $800 a month. Over 12 months that’s almost $10,000 right there. Same thing with smaller purchases. Say I spend 8 bucks a day on Starbucks SBUX, +0.37% . Add that up monthly and yearly, and it’s in the thousands. It makes you plan a little differently. It’s always cheaper to get groceries for a week.
MarketWatch: Even though you signed this big contract, you still keep an eye on all this spending?
Tate: I’m a big fan of sharing. I took my family out to eat last night. It was almost 200 bucks. I have no problem blessing people, but that’s not something I’m going to do every week.
I like playing credit card roulette.
MarketWatch: Do you talk with your adviser about making your money last after you stop playing?
Tate: Oh yeah, we’ve had that conversation. That’s how we plan everything. He says, ‘if you make this many millions, you can live off this amount for the rest of your life.’ We max out our 401(k) every year. The NFL has a great pension plan to take care of us. And we make little real estate deals. Put in 100k or something like that and get 110 back, which is great.
MarketWatch: How’d you get involved with investing in the hat-liner company NoSweat?
Golden Tate: I invested in another company with Jared Robins, who is now the president of NoSweat, and learned about it from him. And I talked with my financial adviser about it. It’s a great product. It doesn’t cost much. You can produce it for almost nothing and sell if for a cheap price. And it’s good for people who do CrossFit, golf, and even for construction workers and people in the military. I use mine in my football helmets. Also, I’m a huge golfer. The worst thing is to sweat through your favorite hat. It keeps hats fresh.
NoSweat
Golden Tate is an ambassador for NoSweat.
MarketWatch: What’s it mean to be an ambassador for the company?
Tate: I’m a strong believer in being a part of brands I like and enjoy. Some people just want to invest and get equity. I have a large network of buddies in lots of sports. I give them NoSweat and ask for feedback and pass the info back to the NoSweat team.
MarketWatch: What are your goals with the investment?
Tate: Ultimately I’d like to get my money back 10-fold. Or at least make a decent amount. At least more than if it’s sitting in the bank. It’s hard. A lot goes into a startup. I like NoSweat because it’s a simple concept that a large part of the world can use. I talk to Jared Robins all the time — probably too much. He gives me updates on how they’re doing with sales.
MarketWatch: Do you invest in other businesses too?
Tate: About half a dozen.
MarketWatch: What percentage of your money is invested in startups, and how much is in real estate and other investments?
Tate: I keep a lot liquid. A very small percentage is in startups because they’re so hard. Unless you receive dividends, sometimes you don’t get money back until it sells or makes money or goes public. That’s why you have to really study up. You have to look at the board and what their vision is and what companies they’ve been a part of. Sometimes it’s a great idea but it still doesn’t work out. I had one where I put a small amount of money in. It was a great idea. Rep the Squad. You could rent jerseys. Say I wanted to see LeBron play for the Lakers, I could rent a LeBron jersey. Then I could go to a Miami Heat game and get a DWade jersey. But the company went under.
MarketWatch: I interviewed Ryan Broyles a few years ago about how good he is at budgeting. What do you remember from your year together on the Detroit Lions?
Tate: Oh yeah, he was big on real estate. But he didn’t spend a lot of money. I read an article about him years ago that he and wife lived off like $200,000 a year—
MarketWatch:— He said they lived on $60,000 a year
Tate: — Yeah, yeah. That seems impossible.
Also see: Why NFL player Ryan Broyles lives like he made $60,000 last year, and not $600,000
MarketWatch: I recently read Eli Manning’s comments about Eagles fans — how little kids will give you the finger. Would you like to comment on that?
Tate: Eagles fans are really passionate. They love their teams and they’re very knowledgeable. They’ll boo quickly if you make a bad play but also cheer quickly if you make a good play. They know what they’re talking about.
MarketWatch: How come you think you’re so good at gaining yards after catches?
Tate: God blessed me with very strong legs. I was a running back in high school. I take a lot of pride in it.
MarketWatch: What’s your favorite possession?
Tate: My golf set. PXG’s. For me, you can’t put a price on golf. I’ll always find a way to justify it. I play three or four times a week.
MarketWatch: The last great investment you made?
Tate: My house in San Diego.
MarketWatch: The last great thing you bought?
Tate: My golf simulator. It’s upstairs in my house.
