Former Springbok, Bryan Habana, was recently interviewed by 702’s Bruce Whitfield, opening up about his financial life – including investments.<\/p>\n
Habana – who officially retired from rugby at the end of last year – spoke about his financial habits, how a rugby player prepares for retirement, and his saving habits.<\/p>\n
One stand out section of the interview focused on some of the best and worst investments he has made over his career.<\/p>\n
Habana noted that he was fortunate growing up in that he had access to a good education and received sound financial advice from the people around him.<\/p>\n
However, he acknowledged that he had still made some money mistakes.<\/p>\n
“I will be the first to admit that I have made some pretty stupid investments throughout my career,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Buying pieces of land in development\u00a0that went bankrupt etc. I think as a professional sportsman you are an easy target because people see you as having large sums of money readily available”.<\/p>\n
He added that it wasn’t the best financial decision to buy a four-bedroom house in Pretoria while living alone for five years as the money could have been used better.<\/p>\n
“Not only did I not manage to pay off much of the interest over the first six years but a lot of the money I saved up wasn’t used correctly.”<\/p>\n
Habana also said that he had one vice in that he had an ‘addiction’ in trying to buy the latest Adidas shoes.<\/p>\n
Sound investment<\/strong><\/p>\n While the above poor investments may stand out, it is clear that Habana has been mostly responsible with his money during his rugby career.<\/p>\n He added that the ‘best thing he has ever done’ with his money was investing a lot of his money in a pension fund that was specifically suited for rugby players.<\/p>\n “(The fund) then got paid out at 32\/33 years old,” he said.<\/p>\n “Obviously, it was an amount of money that was coming off before tax so it wasn’t really affecting me and it was only eight or nine years later that I saw its advantages.”<\/p>\n You can listen to the full interview on 702’s website here<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
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