GAME OVER? GET A LIFE
When the boots, bat or gloves are hung up for good, athletes can be left scrounging for career opportunities. reports.
TOP athletes are making more than ever but few plan for the time an injury or retirement will inevitably end their globetrotting glory days, an ex-All Black manager says.
This month, former All Black Daniel Carter bought a 10 per cent stake in an Auckland-based dry-cleaning delivery start-up and signed yet another deal to promote Mastercard.
The 35-year-old has been taking kicks at business and investment since 2006 in an effort to set himself up for a life off the field.
He opened Gas Clothing, a fashion chain that went bust in 2010. During his retail blunder, he and his teammate, former All Black captain Richie McCaw, invested in retirement village developments.
It must have paid off, because two years later Carter almost doubled his investment in Christchurch’s Park Lane Retirement Village and his teammate Kieran Read, bought a small stake in it too, according to Companies Office records.
Carter also has shares in rugby kicking tee maker Boffo Sports.
Before retiring from rugby in 2015, McCaw formed his own investment companies, Romeo Mike Investments, Chl Holdings and Richie McCaw.
Through them, McCaw has bought shares in Christchurchbased aggregate retail quarry Sol Quarries, transport company Pacific Aircraft Services and aviation company Cessna with his father, Donald.
McCaw and Carter co-own Garguston Investments.Neither would comment on their various investing activities.
For some high-profile Kiwi athletes, their spend on shares and stock has not been so fruitful.
Former Black Caps captains Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum were caught up in CricHQ’s fall from grace last month.
Through their co-owned investment company Moneybaker Holdings, the two were majority shareholders in the cricket scoring app that went into receivership in October.
Former All Black Va’aiga Tuigamala’s funeral home business went under, leaving him thousands of dollars in debt.
David Tua went broke early on in his boxing career and continued to struggle financially, resorting to sleeping in his gym at one low point.
The later years of former All Black Jonah Lomu’s life were spent with his accounts in the red.
Lomu’s former manger Phil KingsleyJones said sports stars like McCaw and Carter were ‘‘always going to do well’’ because they came from middle class families.
He said players