Big payday? Agent urges his athletes to save now

Imagine being only 22 and already having a US$33-million contract.

That’s something most of us can only dream about, but it’s reality for Jonathan Drouin, who signed a sixyear deal with the Montreal Canadiens after they acquired him from the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 15 in exchange for top defence prospect Mikhail Sergachev.

How does a young man handle that much wealth?

“Well, you don’t get that money in one lump-sum cheque,” Drouin’s agent, Allan Walsh, said Tuesday after the player announced he would donate $ 500,000 of his own money — $ 50,000 a year over t he next 10 years — with a goal of helping raise another $ 5 million over that time for Montreal’s CHUM hospital.

Drouin’ s contract works out to an average of US$ 5.5 million a season, which should be more than enough for him to never worry about money again. But there is no shortage of stories about professional athletes earning millions upon millions, only to end up broke after they retire.

“I’ ve always preached how important it is to save your money,” said Walsh, the head of Octagon Athlete Representation. “We create budgets for all of our players with input from them based on how much they’re making, and then we follow their monthly spending…

“The reality is it’s not how much you make in your career,” Walsh added, “it’s how much you have left when you’re done, and for the vast majority of players, their earning potential occurs in a very short window of time, and then that money that they made — while very significant — has to then last them the rest of their life.”

Walsh said a big part of his job is explaining to young players how much they need to save if they want to maintain the lifestyle they have grown accustomed to — often with young families — after they hang up their skates.

“One of the most gratifying aspects of working with players is when they’re retired, and maintaining that friendship and seeing how they’re thriving away from the game and that structure you helped set up with them when they were 21 or 22, and now they’re 35 or 40 and they’ve maintained that structure all the way t hrough t heir c areers,” Walsh said.

“Now more than ever, they’re thankful they had that input and guidance and direction, not just from me, but from all the people who work with me to help them.”

I’VE ALWAYS PREACHED HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO SAVE YOUR MONEY.