Financial lessons: Vita Palestrant
The rewards can be rich at the top of any field but the financial lessons learnt getting there can also prove invaluable
The world champion is 100% what I want to get out of my career”
DANIEL RICCIARDO
What does it take to be a great cricketer, F1 racing driver, principal soprano or actor? Behind all the glitz and glamour is a high-stakes game. For years their earnings are unpredictable and making it to the top is in the lap of the gods. While most of us pursue job security with good salaries and benefits, they throw everything they have at their chosen field, knowing success is by no means guaranteed.
We interviewed four stars about their careers and how they managed financially. Despite being in different fields they share common characteristics. While most of us would have given up at the first signs of failure, they were spurred to greater heights, driven by self-belief and passion. They were also remarkably resourceful at supporting themselves in the early stages of their careers. It taught them the value of money and the importance of setting some aside for the lean times. Investing for a secure future was a crucial part of it.
Ricciardo started racing go-karts at nine and his passion for racing – and success – grew from there. “It’s what I really wanted to do. My parents could see that and they continued to support me for the first part of my career.”
He didn’t take their financial help for granted. “It’s the way I was brought up. I knew at a young age money doesn’t grow on trees.” He secured a scholarship in 2005 and by 2007 was a signed-up member of Red Bull’s junior team, but he still wasn’t earning anything.
“Putting aside the opportunity it would present me fast-tracking my career, it meant we no longer had to pay to race. We didn’t have to go and scout a team and spend $200,000 in one season racing. Red Bull was now covering this,” he says. “There was four to five years of racing in junior categories in Europe and Red Bull was paying for that but I wasn’t actually earning anything. It’s only when I got into F1 that things turned around pretty quickly.” It taught Ricciardo valuable lessons. “Even though my career looked promising, I knew it could change very quickly. I knew when I did finally have something to show for it, and money in the bank, I wasn’t going to splurge. You hear stories about young sportsmen making money but losing it just as quickly.”
Like others interviewed for this article he shies away from talking about what he earns. The sports blog Total Sportek lists his salary as $US5.5 million ($7.3 million) a year. “Without going into numbers, it’s only been the last few years that I’ve been earning money. I know that sport is pretty short term, it’s not guaranteed for another 10 years. It’s nice earning what I earn today but it’s not going to last forever either.”
He invests in real estate in Perth, where he lives. “Dad is in the earth-moving business and deals with a lot of builders and has a lot of contacts and knows Perth quite well, so I take some advice from him.” He also aims to invest in property overseas.
Like other stars of the sports world, there are lucrative deals on offer. Ricciardo is a global ambassador for Perth-based TFS Corporation, an ASX 300 listed company. It’s the world’s leading grower, producer and seller of Indian sandalwood. “It’s a big part of WA and I believe in what they are doing,” he says
The sandalwood is a key ingredient in pharmaceuticals, fine fragrance and cosmetics. It is also an important ingredient in Chanel No. 5 perfume. This month TFS will rebrand as Quintis.
But racing comes first. “The world champion is 100% what I want to get out of my career. For me it’s to hold the big trophy and to know that in that given year I was the best in the world. That’s the biggest achievement you could really ask for.”
is so addictive”. “You put up with it because the rewards are so great,” she says.
One of her 6am jobs was to pack roasted coffee beans for a Greek retailer. One day he asked her whether she had all her eggs in one basket. “I had no idea what he was on about,” she says. He then delivered an impromptu lecture on diversification. “‘ You need four baskets and 25 eggs in each,’ he said. ‘ Work out what you are doing: if you leave the opera scene, you have 25 eggs in the cello, 25 eggs in teaching, and 25 eggs in packing coffee beans!’ I was 30 at the time and I’ve never forgotten it.”
Her big break came in 2004. “I remember Opera Australia ringing me and saying we want to offer you 10 months’ work. We’re so sorry we can’t give you a year and I went OMG! Thank you SO much! OMG! I’m going to get super!” She’s now in her 13th year with the company.
By then her disciplined approach to money was firmly entrenched. “I’m a good saver. I work out how many weeks I’ve got work in a year and then I work out what I’ve got in the bank and what that gives me per week, and then if there’s anything else that comes up, then that’s a bonus.”
In 2008 and 2009 she starred as Eliza Doolittle in a national tour of My Fair Lady, doing 200 performances. “I didn’t alter the way I lived my life other than getting myself a beautiful watch. I put all my money aside for a little flat and bought a one-bedroom apartment in Elizabeth Bay.”
Fiebig is married to Jud Arthur, Opera Australia’s athletic baritone. As part of their retirement plan, they’ve invested in a large property in the NSW Southern Highlands that they hope to live on eventually, combining a passion for music and horses. “We bought a property in Bundanoon which we’ve made into a horse agistment. Jud had a farm in New Zealand. He’s a very fine horseman and a farrier. It’s a beautiful part of the world with a lovely house and cottage. We hope to one day put on concerts there.”
What advice can she offer the next generation? It comes with a characteristic mix of passion and practicality.
“It’s a romantic notion to think you can solely be an artist – you need to get an occupation. At the moment I’m working with scholarship kids at Opera Australia. This one girl has just finished school and is going into nursing. I told her that was fantastic. ‘ You can do night shifts and support yourself while you are becoming an opera singer. You don’t really mature until you are 26 so you can do a degree before that, be practising, take your singing lessons, experience life. Get all those things under your belt to be a fantastic storyteller. Do that, and do it parallel to your music learning and vocal development.’ ”
“They alleviated some of those financial pressures. You appreciate the resources others invest in you to allow you that journey. And you learn a lot about the value of money.”
That includes dealing with sponsorships. “When I got my first major commercial contract I took it to a good friend of mine who was a lawyer and had him look over it. At the same time, a big management company asked me to go onto their books and be part of their stable. The advice from this guy was, ‘You probably don’t need a management company, you probably don’t even need a manager, you just need a trusted lawyer and an accountant.’ That guy has been my manager for 20 years. He found himself in a management role, after telling me I didn’t need a manager!”
His manager is Stephen Atkinson, the founder of TFS Corporation. Gilchrist has served as the company’s global ambassador for years as well as a non-executive director. He invested in TFS when it listed on the ASX in 2004. Two years ago The Australian Financial Review estimated his shares had doubled in value to $2.5 million.
Gilchrist says he has never tried to put a figure on his worth but is happy to talk about his portfolio. He has a blend of commercial and residential real estate and a portfolio of mostly blue-chip shares. “I invest a bit across a variety of areas but I like to see it, so real estate has always been my first attraction. I have a mixture of residential and commercial properties in Perth, Sydney and Brisbane.”
What advice would he give young sportspeople? “Try to develop an element of self-reliance because there are moments in your career where it’s just you on your own, and you need to find a way to deal with whatever’s in front of you.”
And the flipside – never get too cocky. “Tom Moody, a great mentor and teammate always said, ‘Beware the rusty gate.’ You can be going well and cheering a financial gain or success on the field but be careful of that rusty gate swinging back and smacking you in the face.”