NFL Player Devon Kennard Shares Winning Strategies for Managing Money

edition 5–6 • September 2017 • vol. 4 • no. 1 Made possible by the PwC Charitable Foundation FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR KIDS NFL player Devon Kennard shares winning strategies for managing money. timeforkids.com pick youR SpluRgeS fully educated about his choices. Now, four years “You can’t be a car person, a house person, into his NFL career, he’s starting to look at real a jewelry person, a person who wants to estate investments. Still, he says: “If someone can’t travel, and a person who wants to take explain to me how the process is going to work and care of your family,” Kennard says. “You what my money will be doing, it’s not something I have to decide the things that are important want to invest in.” to you. Then you have to give the others up.” He says his family didn’t need his help, and alwayS look ahead The National Football League helps he’s not a “car person or jewelry person,” but In seventh grade, Kennard wrote that players learn how to manage money. he did want to travel. By minimizing other his dream was to go to the University of New York Giants linebacker Devon expenses, he’s been able to visit Costa Rica, Southern California, get his undergraduate POWER RUN Devon Kennard shares some pro tips. Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, the Bahamas, and the and master’s degrees, and play in the NFL. He Kennard, New York Giants linebacker, Dominican Republic. did them all. Now he’s focused on figuring during the 2017 Last May, New York Giants linebacker Devon out life after football. He spends his free NFC wild card game Kennard got a raise of more than $1 million. don’t inveSt if you don’t time meeting with people who have jobs in That’s very unusual in regular life, but less undeRStand communications and business. These are fields so in the National Football League (NFL), As soon as players start earning money, he is interested in pursuing in the future. “I where players earn a lot of money in a people ask them to invest in real-estate, recognize that this is a game that doesn’t last relatively brief period of time. restaurants, stocks, and more. Kennard put forever,” he says. “As much success as I have on Fortunately for Kennard, the NFL recognizes that money into NFL’s 401(k) retirement plan, but the field, I want to have more off the field.” big paychecks come with big responsibilities. That’s decided not to invest anything until he was —ByJeanChatzky why the league organizes personal-finance boot camps to teach players how to manage their money. These are the lessons everyone needs to learn, says Dana Hammonds, senior director of the NFL Players Association. “Whether you’re budgeting for your contract of $285,000 [the league minimum] or your P salary of $30,000 doesn’t matter. If you overspend, S REBOARD: A C O — M you end up in the same place—broke.” EH O Kennard benefited from the boot camp. Here, he B TT O shares the top four money lessons he lives by today. S K Sc touchdown foR SavingS I P Share them with your family. O ’ 3. BreaK it down. D Think about how a football player works Football O NNELL—GETTY I Set a ReaSonable budget his way down the field. Use these same players advance toward the end GES; KENNARD: strategies to tackle saving money. A Most football players get paid during the zone in increments of 10 yards. Set M 17-week season, but they must make that mini-goals for yourself: If you have 1. Know where you’re going. M A money last all year. That’s why, when GES; REFEREE: GETTY I Set a goal, as specific as possible. Instead 10 weeks to save $50, plan to save picking an apartment and a car, Kennard asked of, “I want to save money,” think,“I want to $5 a week. himself: Is this sustainable? In other words, can I ANTA MARIA—GETTYANTA I save $50.” 4. See it to achieve it. S FAMILY CHALLENGE afford to spend this amount of money over a long period of time? He wanted to live in a place he 2. MaKe a tiMe line. Visualizing your goal helps you To save $20 by M A was “proud to call home,” but realized he didn’t December, you’ll need to be more aggressive succeed. If you’re saving for a new GES Draft your family. need a huge place with a view of New York City. than if you don’t need it until March. bike, keep a picture of it nearby. FOOTBALL: CARLOS Talk to your family He went for something less costly instead. about your savings goal. Are they interested in participating? Ask them to POWER WORDS help you set benchmarks invest verb: to spend (money) for a and a timetable to help future financial return you score a financial sustainable adjective: able to be touchdown. maintained at a certain level 2 September 2017 COVER: EVAN PINKUS—AP 3 kids weigh in Should Athletes Be Paid More Than Other Professionals, Such as Doctors, Nurses, and Teachers? Currently, athletes are paid much more than most other professionals. According to the National Basketball Association, the average NBA player will be paid more than $6 million for the 2016 –2017 season. Are we placing the right value on professional sports? YES! NO! Benjamin Who, 12 Caroline Curran, 14 Sugar Land, Texas Pocasset, Massachusetts Athletes’ high earnings Doctors and nurses save lives, are justified for one main and teachers educate every reason: The exceptional generation. These professions talents required to play sports play a crucial role in our at that level are extremely rare. society. But sporting events are Based on data from the United entertainment. True, athletes States Bureau of Labor Statistics, put a lot of work into their craft. there are 50 times more doctors But society would still be able to than professional athletes in the function without athletes. There U.S. Remarkable athletic abilities are many professions that are LeBron drive thousands of Americans to critical to keeping our world James is the pay for game tickets, and millions running, and we should pay highest-paid more to watch eagerly at home. them proportionally. In other NBA player Because of the uncommon words, we should pay more for this season. talents of professional athletes, professions that we as a society their salaries make sense. could not live without. RON HOSKINS/NBAE—GETTY IMAGES Y K Z If you pay back all of it, you pay exactly what you T Ask JeAn CHA borrowed. But if you pay back only part of the N money, the bank charges you interest, which is an JEA Jean Chatzky is a money expert. S E extra percentage of the money you owe. This can get T How does a credit card work? U O expensive. The longer it takes you to pay back what C R Y —Clare, 10, Winston-Salem, North Carolina you’ve spent, the more interest you’ll pay. If that When you open a credit card, you set up a line makes credit cards sound bad, they’re not. But they are of credit—a pool of money you’re able to borrow powerful tools—and like all powerful tools, they can from—with the bank that issues that card. When be dangerous if you do not use them responsibly. you swipe your card, you borrow some of that money. And every month when you receive your bill, Do you have a question? Write to Jean at you pay back some, or all, of the money you owe. [email protected]. 4 Made possible by the PwC Charitable Foundation Please recycle this magazine..

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