UNDERSTANDING YOUR OFFENSE, DEFENSE, AND SPECIAL TEAMS
The game of football is a fascinating sport, and by far, the most popular one in America. Because of its popularity and the need for people to understand financial planning and financial products, I wanted to write a book that would use football metaphors to educate people on finance.
In high school, I played quarterback for our football team. My coach told me, “Steve, as a quarterback, you need to make things happen, especially when a play breaks down.” The unique process of football financial planning is that you get to be the owner and quarterback of your team. An owner is the ultimate decision-maker for a football franchise; he or she can choose to be a general manager or hire one. In this book’s context, you are the team’s owner and its general manager as well.
You will be the one who decides which coach or coaches (financial advisors) to hire, and depending on how you set up your team, you’ll decide which players (products or investment vehicles) to draft as part of your team. Your salary cap is your income or financial resources and the amount of money you can pay toward each player.
To create a successful football team, you need many things, including coaches who can put a winning game plan together and players who can execute that game plan. The quarterback is the one who typically leads the team; he is the catalyst that makes the offense go, and in many cases, the team go. So as we proceed through this book, you will come to understand your role as an owner and a quarterback.
Your first step as an owner is to decide whom you will hire as a coach. In football financial planning, your coaches are your advisors. Some teams need a full coaching staff: head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, wide receiver coach, running back coach, etc. Other teams may need only one or two coaches. Your game plan and need for coaches will largely depend on your financial resources. The head coach is the person to whom you give the most control over devising your game plan. This person could be an accountant, attorney, financial advisor, or insurance agent. It may even be a firm or company that has all these coaches in place. Later, as we look at the players involved in football financial planning, we will discuss the type of coaching staff you may need.
This book is divided into three sections aligning with the three phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams. Part Three also deals with other aspects of the game such as coaching, turnovers, and different philosophies and systems that coaches use to put a game plan together. At the end of each chapter that discusses a player, you will be able to evaluate your current player. At the end of the book, you will put your team together to get a visual of what your team looks like. You can also go to FootballFinancial.com to get an online version of what your team looks like. Part One begins with defense, because most people are familiar with the first few players we will talk about, and it flows better as we then proceed to offense and you as an owner and quarterback.
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