John Barnes talks bout money

[Hortical]

John Barnes: 'All the clothes I buy now are from shops like Primark'

Former record-breaking England footballer John Barnes, 45, has learned a lot of hard lessons about money since he quit the top flight. He lives in Liverpool with Andrea, and their two children. His first wife, Suzy, lives nearby with their four children. He's now the coach of the Jamaican national team



By Sarah Ewing
Last Updated: 4:00PM GMT 02 Mar 2009


John Barnes: 'All the clothes I buy now are from shops like Primark' Photo: GETTY


By Sarah Ewing
How did your childhood influence your attitude towards money?

I was the youngest of three kids, with two older sisters, growing up in Jamaica. They were brainy (one's now a lawyer and the other has a master's degree), whereas I was never good at school and loved football, so I left when I was 17 to play. My Dad was a military attaché and not at all extravagant, so you'd expect this to have made me more careful too, but it had the opposite effect. By the time I was 17 I had signed to play for Watford, so lots of money was coming my way. I wouldn't go as far as saying I became like P Diddy, but I did act like an idiot for many years. It's always better to start off with no money and get it later on, whereas where I am now, I've got no money, but had money then.
It's taken me a while to readjust, but when you're a young footballer you think this money's going to come in forever, and when you retire at 35 it may last a while longer. But at 45, ten years later, it doesn't. The lifestyle I can lead now is very different to the one I had in my heyday. When I first started playing football, I bought an Aston Martin DV7 and stupid flashy clothes, which were very expensive, but I can't wear them now. I should have bought nice, conservative suits I could still wear now. So all the clothes I buy now are from high street shops like Primark, but I'm happy.

Have you ever been in debt?
I'm not a budgeter at all, because I never had to be when I was playing football, so I ran up lots of debts and credit card bills and got used to having debt. The hardest period is when you first finish playing because you still have some money left over from your football salary, but you can't keep spending at the same rate. A few years later when that runs out you really do have to adjust. With six kids it's not cheap!

So are you no longer a spender and more cautious now with money?
Oh, much more cautious because I just don't have the money to spend on what I want. I would love to have the money I had back then, because I still have the urges, like when I'm walking down Bond Street window shopping, wishing I could go in, but I can't! I find it much easier now to resist, but at one time I found it difficult because I'd get so frustrated and down when I couldn't go into shops and spend. I'm quite happy to walk down there now and feel the way a lot of people have their whole lives and who never go into these shops and buy anything.

Is there anything you hate about dealing with money?
I don't like dealing with taxes of course! I just hate not having enough money. Apart from that, I don't like dealing with bills and never have done. I let my wife Andrea deal with them. I don't even like opening them. A few times my credit card has been declined when I've been travelling abroad. Then I have to get creative about paying the bill and have to really route around. That's much more satisfying than just having it come easily.

What's been your best business decision since you stop playing football?
I bought a five-bedroom house a few years ago in Liverpool, after renting for four years. I was paying someone's mortgage and property seemed a secure investment. It's got a lovely garden, enclosed by 20 foot conifers. When you look at the front of the house you don't imagine there's a garden, except the garden's better than the house really. It's on the main road, but in the garden you can't hear a thing. It's very peaceful except, mind you, when all the kids are here at the one time.

Were you worried when the housing market started to decline?
No, I'm not a worrier. I'm the biggest believer in fate that you could ever imagine. What's to be is to be and if you buy a property just before the bottom drops out of the market, then you just have to face the challenges and get on with it. It happens for a reason and it's there to teach me a lesson. Every decision you make is the correct one at the time, whether you turn left or right. Take for example, when people say 'a glass is half empty', and to be positive you should say 'a glass is half full'. Well I go one better and say it's full, because whatever's in the glass, that's what is meant to be in there and is right for that given time. That's not to say you have to accept that's all you're ever going to have. You can always try to make the glass bigger in the future.

What's your most treasured possession?
My children, definitely. I've always said when you have children you love them, take care of them and give them understanding, and when they're old enough you have to let them go, so I'm not holding on to them at all. I just want them to do their best and then they are going to be the people they are going to be. Fortunately they've all been wonderful children – my eldest son has just qualified as a doctor and my other son is doing a mathematics degree in Leeds, and the others are at school. But even if they hadn't accomplished so much, I'd still love them as much. They're the people they're meant to be.

How do you pay for things – cash, card or cheque?
Just a debit card. I don't have a credit card and don't want one. At least paying by a debit card will tell you if you can afford it or not.

What sort of tipper are you?
I'm a guilty tipper – I do it out of guilt rather than wanting to do it; even when the service is bad I have to tip, begrudgingly. A lot of my family are in America and there you have to tip.

Do stocks and shares interest you?
They interest me as far as it could make me more money, but I know nothing about the stock market. I like horse racing or gambling, but as with stocks, I want a 100 to 1 definite, sure thing, because I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't think that's where I'm going to make money, as much as I would like to! When I watch the lottery on telly, as soon as the first number comes up, I rip it up because I've never got one number.

Do you have a pension?
Yeah, I've had one since I was 35 from the FA – it's not much, but it helps. I don't have any other pension investments.

Do you bank online?
I don't even know how to go on the internet. The kids laugh at me because I can't even send an email. I'm afraid of computers! If you email me, put your number at the bottom.

Do you use a financial adviser?
I don't need one – I don't have any money to invest! I think he's left me….

What's been your favourite holiday?
My wife Andrea loves Bali. But basically I love going home to Jamaica or somewhere where no one knows me and I can just be by myself with the kids. I love quiet places.

[Farmah]

It's sad to hear stories like these! Quite disheartening to hear of people - especially black people - who have made so much money and yet never had the common sense to spend wisely. People get caught up in the shopping and spending on things they want, as oppose to buying things they need.

I have seen where acquaintances who earn 1/4 of what I make, spend five (or more) times what I spend. And we as blacks have become guilty of saying things that cause our friends to go out and "buy." Quite often the word "cheap" is used by many blacks to throw scorn at another black person who tries to spend wisely. But essentially what we have become is the consumer race. Yep! The other races have learned how to live happily and comfortably off our spending habits. And we do continue to shop until we drop...even until the credit cards have been maxed out. The reports are littered with the many blacks who earned millions and end up broke. But as the old writer warned: "a fool and his money will soon part."

It's time black people wise up and spend smartly. Invest in the children's education and a good home. A car is NOT an investment. Get involved in business/corporation if possible. It's time we stop rushing to the stores to purchase the newest gadgets or the hippest piece of Armani suits. For a change, let others buy from us so we can stop being the loony consumer.

[Hortical]

According to the Toronto Star, 60% of NBA athletes go broke five years after retiring from the game. I would assume there is a similar statistic fi athletes in other professional sports.

Wha yuh have is yutes who tend to be less educated and they are not schooled in financial affairs, and dem continue fi live the high roller lifestyle when they leave the game.

[Mosiah]

A car is NOT an investment.

Really?



ESCALADE FOR SALE
Call 555-SIAH

[Dunny]

It's sad to hear stories like these! Quite disheartening to hear of people - especially black people - who have made so much money and yet never had the common sense to spend wisely. People get caught up in the shopping and spending on things they want, as oppose to buying things they need.

I have seen where acquaintances who earn 1/4 of what I make, spend five (or more) times what I spend. And we as blacks have become guilty of saying things that cause our friends to go out and "buy." Quite often the word "cheap" is used by many blacks to throw scorn at another black person who tries to spend wisely. But essentially what we have become is the consumer race. Yep! The other races have learned how to live happily and comfortably off our spending habits. And we do continue to shop until we drop...even until the credit cards have been maxed out. The reports are littered with the many blacks who earned millions and end up broke. But as the old writer warned: "a fool and his money will soon part."

It's time black people wise up and spend smartly. Invest in the children's education and a good home. A car is NOT an investment. Get involved in business/corporation if possible. It's time we stop rushing to the stores to purchase the newest gadgets or the hippest piece of Armani suits. For a change, let others buy from us so we can stop being the loony consumer.

This is not a black problem,it is a major problem with young sports people around the world,they need to be constantly reminded how short a sport career is.

[Jangle]

I pray that Usain and Powell are making wise investments with their earnings. A sprinter's career is even shorter than most athletes.

[Bricktop]

Unnuh gwaan follow Johnnie

[Karl]

Perhaps we are more prone to make such mistakes...but I am not too sure about that...many are they of other races that do the same thing.

btw - Of the very many lotto winners who are now broke are not the majority of the white race?

[Karl]

According to the Toronto Star, 60% of NBA athletes go broke five years after retiring from the game. I would assume there is a similar statistic fi athletes in other professional sports.

Wha yuh have is yutes who tend to be less educated and they are not schooled in financial affairs, and dem continue fi live the high roller lifestyle when they leave the game.

What period the study covers?
Was there a time when the NBA was a whites only club?
Just asking!

[Hortical]

What period the study covers?
Was there a time when the NBA was a whites only club?
Just asking!

Karl, black people have been playing in the NBA since 1950.
The stat came from a representative of the NBA players association at a meeting with the Toronto Raptors.

-----
Jan 31, 2008 04:30 AM

Dave Feschuk
It was a decade ago Kenny Anderson, then a Boston Celtics point guard, set a standard that has helped define the filthy-rich silliness of NBA players.


With the league two months into a lockout, Anderson lamented times were so tight, he might have to pare down his fleet of luxury automobiles.
He confided to The New York Times he owned eight cars, including a Porsche, a Lexus and a Range Rover. He was thinking of shedding a Benz.
Seen 10 years down a prosperous road, Anderson's parking garage looks downright quaint. With the average player's salary having approximately doubled in a decade to $5.36 million (U.S.), the definition of NBA excess has become, well, more excessive.


"I've seen (an NBA player) having two cars a day to drive. You know, 14 cars," said Raptors sharpshooter Jason Kapono the other day. "Think about how absurd it is. You say 14 cars. All right, you may have some kids, a family of nine. But a single guy having 14 cars?


"It's one thing if Bill Gates wants to do that. But when you're 22 years old and you don't even have kids yet, it's not good."
Kapono, then, wasn't the least bit surprised when a representative of the NBA Players' Association addressed the Raptors recently on matters of financial prudence. A statistic was cited during the meeting that startled some of the hoopsters. It was said that 60 per cent of retired NBA players go broke five years after their NBA paycheques stop arriving.
"How could that be?" said Jamario Moon, the Raptors rookie. "I don't want to believe that stat."


But that stat, used by the players' association to get the attention of young millionaires, is thought to be an educated estimate.
"Sixty per cent is a ballpark. But we've seen a lot of guys who've really come into hard times five years after they leave the league," said Roy Hinson, the former NBA forward who's a representative for the players' association. "The problems are, for a lot of guys, they have a lot of cars, they have multiple houses, they're taking care of their parents. They're taking care of a whole host of issues. And the cheques aren't coming in anymore."


Experienced players like Kapono, who has played on four different teams in his five-year tenure, were not surprised by the number.
"You see how guys live," said Kapono. "A lot of players get in trouble because they want everyone around them to lead the same lifestyle. So you fall into a hole. You buy this big house now for those people, and they no longer want to drive the low-end car to go with the big house. So the big house leads to the big car, to the better clothes, to the better restaurants and stuff. It's a snowball effect. That's why the stat isn't as shocking, because I've witnessed it."
It's not just the spending, it's the scamming. Hinson – who, as it happens, said he knows of a current NBA player who owns 15 cars – said unwitting athletes have been charged as much as $5,000 a month for bill-paying services and as much as a $100,000 to have their taxes prepared by unscrupulous agents and business managers.
"If you never check up on someone," said Raptors guard Darrick Martin, "you become a target."


Public stories of NBAers in financial trouble occasionally make headlines. Back in October, Jason Caffey, who made an estimated $29 million during his eight-year NBA career, was in bankruptcy court seeking protection from his creditors, among them the seven women with whom he fathered eight children. And late last year Latrell Sprewell, who famously turned up his nose at a $21 million contract offer – "I've got to feed my family," was the money quote – had a yacht worth more than $1 million repossessed.
Hinson said the problems go far deeper than the headlines. The players' association has long recommended a financial firm that offers players free second opinions on their financial particulars, but getting players to act is a challenge.


"Sometimes you can stop the bleeding, and other times you can't stop the bleeding," said Hinson, who added that many players associate with "too many `yes' people."
"Sometimes you need someone to say, `No, you can't buy that.' I fell prey to that myself, and I know a lot of people I played with who had the same problem," said Hinson, whose 10-year career ended in the early 1990s.
"It takes a strong constitution and a good team of advisors around you to make sure you're doing the right things."


Common sense and honest advocates are sometimes in short supply in NBA circles, but they do exist.
"My approach is I want to enjoy my life for the long term, and I want my family and my kids to be able to enjoy it," said Kapono, 26. "So there's a fine line between extravagance and having fun and enjoying it at a reasonable rate.



"Going above and beyond isn't worth it. I don't want to be a part of that 60 per cent that's in trouble five years down the road. It's a short career and I'm blessed to be earning a great salary playing basketball. But if it ended, my contract only takes me to age 30. Life expectancy is 80-plus. So I've got another 50 years.
"Do I really need to buy another car?"

[Mosiah]

Yuhseeit! Nuh one Range him was a drive di odda day widout insurance??

Nuh sorry fi Johnny!

[Mosiah]

Sorry, but I can't help feeling it's more of a black problem. Yuh ever watch Cribs on MTV and see what the black superstar purchases compared to what the white one does? The blacks always seem to go for the extremely gaudy and uncomfortable houses while the white rock star buys something more realistic, and LIVEABLE, not a museum piece. You know - pools you'll never swim in, dining tables you'll never sit around. Maybe it's because the black superstar might be pulling down more money than his white counterpart, or maybe we still just like to consume big time!

[Hortical]

I tend to agree wid yuh, but mi wonder the statistics from retired NHL players, and how dem a gwaan when dem off the payroll.

[Mitty]

Most black people nuh know how fi handle success. Dem believe in the bling ting. Look pan di Amerikan idol gal, Fantasia, she bruk now, dem repo har $270,000 car and did a foreclose pan har house b4 Simon feel sorry fi har and len r some money.

Suppen wrong wid some a wi

[Hortical]

Well she is a high school drop out.

MORE FANTASIA REPOS


Fantasia's Charlotte, NC residence that's being foreclosed on.


December 10, 2008
TURNS out the foreclosure on "American Idol" champ Fantasia Barrino's North Carolina mansionis only the latest in a string of financial calamities for the star.
Since 2005, Fantasia has nearly lost a second house she also owns in Charlotte, NC as well as her $240,000 Mercedes Benz because of money she owed creditors, according to court documents.
Only last-minute settlements appear to have saved the house and the car from being repossessed.
The court papers indicate that she ignored a lien on the $740,000 house in Charlotte after winning "Idol." The lien was brought by the neighborhood association when she allegedly failed to pay $897 in fees.
The same year she appears to have stopped making payments on a limited-edition Mercedes coupe, which also became the subject of litigation.
Her latest financial woes come after a Florida-based finance company loaned her an undisclosed sum of money to pay off the IRS for back taxes that she owed.
Last week, the company - seeking $58,000 it says it is still owed - foreclosed on a second home Fantasia bought not far away in Charlotte.
An auction of the $1.3 million house is scheduled for early next month.