From scrum-half to talking for cash… and why my houses beat the dollar
Dubliner KYRAN BRACKEN – a winner of the Rugby World Cup (playing for England!) and Dancing On Ice – is a savvy property investor across the UK and Ireland. His most expensive purchase was an Aston Martin DB7, which he crashed into a tree. He appeared on Friends – the one where Ross ‘learns’ rugby – and is an honorary president of the charity Wooden Spoon, which improves the lives of disadvantaged young people.
What did your parents teach you about money?
To be frugal. My dad was a dentist and he worked hard for his money. He was not a spender and neither am I. I weigh up every purchase. If I make a lot of money, I do not suddenly spend it and treat everyone. I am a carbon copy of my dad in that respect and prefer to save my money for a rainy day.
How much pocket money did you get as a child?
No more than a couple of pounds a week from age seven, which I would spend on football stickers and flavoured sherbet. Strangely, my dad did not mind me spending money on sweets even though he was a dentist. He did not just give me pocket money though, I had to work for it. I would clean the car or the house, sweep the driveway or do some gardening. With my own kids, I do not make them work for their pocket money. Maybe I am missing a trick.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
No, but I have had tricky times. The worst was after the 2008 property crash. I had bought land in England and Ireland to build properties on: six in total. I had been planning to sell them afterwards but could not because I would have made a loss. I ended up having to rent them out, which meant borrowing money to pay my children’s private school fees. It was stressful.
Have you ever been paid silly money for a job?
Yes, to talk to companies about motivation and winning. Usually, I only speak for a few minutes and get paid thousands. The most I have ever earned was for an after-dinner speech during the Rugby World Cup. I talked for 20 minutes and earned €9,000. What was the best year of your life in terms of money you made? I sold my former home. I bought it for a couple of million pounds back in 2010, spent half a million on it and sold out for more than €3m. This is in addition to the half a million (yearly) I have earned as a speaker and through my timber-frame building company.
What is the most expensive thing you have ever bought for fun?
It was a red Aston Martin DB7 in 1999. It was not brand new. I was the third owner, so it only cost just over €30,000. It was a lot of fun to drive until I crashed it into a tree. Luckily my wife and I were both fine. I still own it but my dad drives it now.
What is the biggest money mistake you have ever made?
Along with other rugby players, I was persuaded to change my mortgage into a multi-currency mortgage in 2006. The bank would regularly trade my €700,000 debt into different currencies with the aim of reducing the debt using fluctuations in the value of sterling.
It was great and the bank often brought my mortgage down by thousands of pounds a month without me having to make any repayments. Then the 2008 crash came when much of my debt was in the US dollar, which collapsed. It increased my overall debt by €80,000.
Do you save into a pension or invest in the stock market?
No, but I used to. When I was playing rugby, I always put money into pensions. Then when I retired several years later, my pension was worth less than what I had put in, so I stopped. I do not invest in the stock market. I prefer to invest solely in property. My mistake with the multicurrency mortgage taught me to stick to what I know. Do you own any property? Yes. I enjoy building projects and am good at them. Well, good at supervising them. I am not much of a handyman! I have also got a flat in Jersey that I let, and a restaurant, three houses and some land in Ireland I co-own with my brother. What is your No.1 financial priority? Paying for my kids’ education. That costs over €30,000 a year.