I really enjoyed my recent conversation with professional soccer player, Amobi Okugo. Off the field, Amobi developed a website, A Frugal Athlete, focused on helping professional athletes manage their money effectively. In this podcast, Amobi shares what he learned from his parents about money, his frugal tendencies and how he handled that first big paycheck after signing his professional contract (spoiler alert: there's no Bentley in his garage!). Amobi's commitment to changing the narrative of the free-spending, high-living athlete is having an impact as teammates and others seek his financial counsel. Enjoy! 

Details: 

• 0:00~1:02 Introduction
• 1:02~5:33 Deciding to play professional soccer
• 5:33~9:11 Relationship to money growing up 
• 9:11~10:42 First job and hustling in school
• 10:42~13:00 Talking about personal finance with athletes 
• 13:00~15:11 What Amobi did with his first paycheck 
• 15:11~18:01  Professional soccer in the US
• 18:01~19:53 Amobi’s role on the team 
• 19:53~24:07 A Frugal Athlete
• 24:07~24:43 A word from NGPF 
• 23:43~26:14 Favorite podcast episodes 
• 26:14~28:58 Go-to books and resources 
• 28:58~30:27 Common questions Amobi gets asked 
• 30:27~33:45 Investment philosophy 
• 33:45~37:18 Speaking to the next generation
• 37:18~38:34 Conclusion  

Resources:

• Website: A Frugal Athlete 
• Documentary: Broke
• Amobi's podcast
  • With David Byrne 
  • With Jeff Locke
• Books
  • Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete
  • I Will Teach You to Be Rich

Quotes:

• “I have done angel investing but that’s hit or miss and that’s what people don’t understand. Especially nowadays with athletes, angel investing is really popular but we always hear about the stories about ‘oh this one got IPOed’ or ‘this one got acquired’ but there’s a lot of stories that we don’t hear about that go belly up.”

• “When I say ‘A Frugal Athlete’ people automatically assume that it means cheap. To me, frugal means being efficient. Just be efficient with your decisions, whether that be with personal finance, career decisions, or social decisions.”

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Listen to this Troy Murphy podcast to hear about another athlete giving back. 

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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Ren Makino

Ren started interning at NGPF in 2014, and worked part-time through high school and college. With his knowledge growing alongside NGPF, he joined the team to work full-time after graduating from college in 2020. He is also the producer of the NGPF podcast. During his free time, he likes to try out coffees from different roasters across the world.

More posts by Ren