'I could only retire from football because of dad's financial planning'

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'I could only retire from football because of dad's financial planning'
Tommie Hoban quit a career in professional football to become a financial planner. (Carmen Reichman)

Hoban, a professional footballer with Watford FC, retired last year aged 27, after a string of injuries and a growing sense of disillusionment with the professional sport.

He has now qualified as a financial planner and, working in his dad's firm, has made it his goal deliver advice to more sportspeople like him, at a younger age.

Hoban benefitted from financial planning in his 20s and says he could have never retired early had it not been for his father's advice.

"He treated me as he did any other normal client," he says. "And that was really my introduction into financial planning. And I'd say the reason that I've gone into it after football is probably the impact that it's had on me personally, in terms of just the peace of mind I used to get from the meetings with my dad, just seeing a plan for the future.

"For myself, my partner, it really had a big impact on our lives. And my football career finished a lot earlier than I'd anticipated. And the only reason I was able to retire when I did was because of the financial planning that my dad did for me."

His father, a former HSBC financial adviser who later set up his own firm, started to put a financial structure in place when Hoban was 17, at the beginning of his professional football career. He later engaged him in proper financial planning to ensure his cash would work as best as it could for him in future.

 

 

 

Suddenly it dawns on you: you're not 21 anymore, you haven't got 15 years ahead of you, you've literally got three or four years left and you have no idea what you're going to do after.

 

 

 

Hoban started playing football at Arsenal as a kid and joined Watford aged 14 when he made his way through the academy and was given a professional contract at age 17. But injuries started to dampen his career prospects after a few years in the game, and so eventually last year, at age 27, he decided to retire. 

A chosen specialism

Hoban says sportspeople would benefit greatly from receiving advice earlier on in their careers, due to the way their lives and finances are structured, which is part of the reason he wanted to become a financial adviser in the first place.

He says for the majority of footballers their peak earnings are in their mid-thirties, which can be "mentally tough" if they don't plan ahead and make the most of what they have at that stage.

"Usually for a lot of footballers, things seem to happen earlier," he says. "So by age 30, a lot of them might have young families already, they've got a lot of financial responsibilities, and it's very daunting when suddenly it dawns on you: you're not 21 anymore, you haven't got 15 years ahead of you, you've literally got three or four years left and you have no idea what you're going to do after."

Hoban started taking his qualifications from the Chartered Insurance Institute last year after joining his father's business in Woodford, north London. His sister is also a financial adviser, though she is not part of the family business at this stage.

He says it took him about a year to get level four qualified, having put all his energy and focus into studying after leaving football.

Hoban wants to specialise in helping sports people with their finances (Carmen Reichman)

For the next couple of years he's set his sights on becoming chartered but in the meantime he has started to work on his chosen specialism, which is advising sportspeople. He hast started to bring in football clients, aided by good connections to both players and their agents.

But advising sports professionals is different to advising others whose earnings peak later in life, he says. Their young age makes them less susceptible to the idea of financial planning. 

"When you're that young all you're really thinking about is the here in the now, it's going out at the weekend, a nice car, going to nice restaurants, stuff like that, they're not already thinking about the importance of saving, investing, having money in a pension or in various different investment accounts. The age 50, 60 just seems so far in the future."

But when they near the end of their careers, typically in their early 30s, many start to panic, he says, if they have no solid financial plan in place.

"Most footballers I've come across are pretty much solely invested in property. Property is the only thing they're kind of aware of, there's a culture within the game and, you know, I think property obviously has been a fantastic investment for a lot of people and it's got definitely a place in people's overall portfolios.

"But quite often it can be very illiquid, and players can have a lot of their money tied up in properties and then when they retire they can't actually get their hands on any liquid cash, which they need to then fund their lifestyle.

"So that's why I think the benefit of an overall financial plan is really important."

The less well-off need it most

For Hoban financial planning is all about fulfilling people's life goals as opposed to "just selling financial products without any sort of meaning or purpose behind it.

"Nowadays, it really is about understanding the client and what they really want, and then building a kind of bespoke financial plan that enables them to achieve the things they really want to achieve in their life. And there really is, I think, a lot more meaning behind.

"That's what I love about it. The few conversations you have with people who, if you're doing your job properly, I think you know, they really start to open up and you can make a really big difference on their life, and once they see that path that future enables them to make better life decisions and improve their life."

Hoban wants to convince younger players that financial planning is important (Carmen Reichman)

He says people often find it difficult to open up so it's important to be trained on soft skills and know which questions to ask.

"Asking the right questions and giving people that kind of safe space to really just relax, think and not be rushed into just saying stuff. It makes them aware of the real reasons for why you're there to help them and lets them have that moment to think about the questions you're asking.

"And I think, once they break down that initial barrier, they do start to open up and you can have really meaningful conversations with people."

But he also plans to reach out more widely in an educational capacity, on a pro bono basis, via platforms such as social media and by going into football clubs and their academies.

"Just to get in, to have a 15 minute chat, show them a little presentation on the importance of a financial plan and the importance of being sensible with their money from an early age.

"That's the whole financial education side which I think is so important for younger people and I guess I need to think about the right way to make it 'wow' for them so they see it as something that is really important."

But he thinks financial planning is not just for people with money.

Having peace of mind about money allowed Hoban to concentrate fully on football (Carmen Reichman)

"It frustrates me that unfortunately the way everything is, we've got fees, there's a lot of expenses involved from our side of things so to become a client, for it to be valuable to the client, they unfortunately do need an asset base.

Hoban's firm charges 1 per cent up front and 0.6 per cent ongoing, with room for discounts on higher AUM levels. Clients typically have upwards of £200,000 to invest.

But he says: "Probably the people that do really need a financial plan most, a financial coach if you like, are the people at the other end of the wealth spectrum, so it's a challenge.

"If one day you can create a model that works where you can run a business and maybe have clients en masse and maybe charge a fee structure that's cheaper but gives them the access to advice and education and stuff like that, that could be great but it's one that I probably need to [wrap] my head around."

carmen.reichman@ft.com