My biggest cash win paid for a Porsche – but I made a big loss when I sold it
Q What did your parents teach you about money? A THAT you have to work to earn it. From a young age, I understood if I wanted to play tennis and travel around the world playing in the biggest and best tournaments, I had to earn money to pay for that. My parents taught me that was my responsibility.
Q Was money tight when you were growing up? A NO, I was lucky. I came from a middle-class family. My dad was a lawyer and worked incredibly hard. When I think about competing at sport, the first person that I think of is my dad. There was no one that competed harder than him, and still does. My mum was a fashion designer. She also worked hard. Raising three boys as well, she definitely had her hands full.
I think it is very important to instil in children that if you want something, you have got to work for it. My parents made sure I understood that. Even though they were generous towards me, I was not spoilt. I knew the value of money.
Q How much pocket money did you get as a child? A I CANNOT remember. What I do remember is my parents being supportive of my tennis. They made sacrifices to give me the opportunity to play and paid for my coaching. For example, when I was eight or nine, my mother used to drive me from Oxfordshire to London once a week to play tennis at the first David Lloyd centre. Travelling to tournaments and staying in bed and breakfasts overnight costs a lot more than pocket money. I was so grateful for all the opportunities my parents gave me, I wasn’t interested in asking for pocket money on top of that.
Q What was the first paid work you ever did? A WHEN I was 17, I won three pre-qualifying matches at Wimbledon and won £650, the equivalent of about £1,300 today. I remember thinking what a lot of money that was.
I thought it was pretty amazing I’d earned that at 17.
Q Have you ever struggled to make ends meet? A NO, because I’ve been fortunate enough to have support, both from my parents and the Lawn Tennis Association, the national governing body of tennis. I’ve been lucky, but I’ve also always been working in the right direction to get that support, and at a young age earned enough to be self-sufficient. I have faced plenty of challenges, though. When you’re travelling to tournaments 40 weeks of the year, you have to pay for flights, accommodation and food. Plus, by the time I was 21, I was paying the salaries of a coach and a fitness trainer, and later a physio.
It all added up to a massive expense, but I saw it as an investment. The rewards if you compete at the biggest and best tournaments are enormous. But there is a financial cost to get there.
Q Have you ever been paid silly money per hour for a job? A YES, when I competed in the Grand Slam Cup in 1996. Only
the 16 best performers in the four grand slams qualified. I played three matches and won £275,000 – the equivalent of about £485,000 today. Each of the two matches I won took just over an hour.
Q What has been your best money decision? A CUTTING the cost of my holidays. One of the ways I’ve done this is by joining the Hideaways Club – an international property investment fund. You buy a share of the fund then have access to any of their properties for six weeks of the year. We went to one in the South of France eight or nine years ago, loved it and have been members ever since. We’ve had so many great holidays around the world and we’ve saved a lot of money compared with what we would have paid to rent them.
Q What is the most expensive thing you’ve bought for fun? A PROBABLY a car. I had a couple of Porsches a long time ago and those were quite fun toys. For example, I had a dark blue 911 at the age of 22. I didn’t have them for long. With three children, a Porsche isn’t that appropriate.
Q What is the biggest money mistake you’ve ever made? A BUYING those Porsches. Purchasing a brand new car is always a waste of money. I don’t remember how much I paid for that 911 but I lost a five-figure sum when I sold it.
Q Do you save into a pension or invest in the stock market? A I DO have pensions. But I don’t pay a great deal of attention to them. I’ve had the same financial adviser, Neil Granger, for more than 20 years. I trust him and let him get on with it. I’m not a fan of the stock market. I do not like the risks that go with stocks and shares. I have always invested in property instead. I prefer bricks and mortar. I bought my first property when I was 20, a newly-built, twobedroom flat on the river in Chiswick, in London. I paid £124,000 for it and by the time I sold it two years later, I think it had roughly doubled in value. In hindsight, I should have bought ten of them.
Q Do you own any property today? A OUR main home is an old house just south of Oxford, between Wallingford and Didcot. It was built in 1753 and has five bedrooms. We bought it in 2003 for £2 million. We also have a house in Barnes, SouthWest London. We used to live there, and have kept it as an investment.
Q What is the one little luxury you like to treat yourself to? A WINE, particularly French wine – white burgundy and claret. I’m not fussy but I am building up a wine cellar at home – it’s fun. I will typically pay £50 to £100 a bottle for those wines.
Q Do you pay off your credit cards in full? A I ALWAYS pay them off. I just do not like to be in debt.
Q If you were Chancellor, what would you do? A PLEASE don’t make me Chancellor. I can’t bear politics. But I suppose if I had to be, I would invest more money in sport in schools. There are so many health benefits if kids are more active.
Q Do you think it’s important to give to charity? A I DO. I set up the Tim Henman Foundation and support the education and health of disadvantaged young people.
Q What’s your number one financial priority? A MY family. No one else is going to look after them.