YOUR FOOTBALL FINANCIAL PLAN
Al Young is a Money Coach. Get a Free Financial Plan. Below is an article by Al about the game of football and your money. Al played college football for Wisconsin as a tight end. As the 2025 football season winds down, there is an overlap between the gridiron and sound financial planning. Just like a winning team, a strong financial plan requires strategy, discipline, and the right balance of offense and defense. Below are 4 lessons from the football field that can help you move the money football forward in your financial life. Please watch the football music video that Al produced.
YOUR FOOTBALL FINANCIAL PLAN
1. Winning the Line of Scrimmage: Mastering the Fundamentals
Successful football plays start at the line of scrimmage. If you control the line, you control the game. The same is true with financial planning. Your “line play” comes down to the basics, such as:
Building a budget that fits your lifestyle
Establishing an emergency fund for unexpected expenses
Managing debt so you aren’t losing ground to high interest
These fundamentals may not grab headlines, but they tend to set the foundation for everything else. Without them, it’s hard to advance down the field.
2. Defense Wins Championships: Protecting Your Assets
It’s often said that offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships. Similarly, protecting your money and assets can be just as important as growing it. Think of it as keeping the opposing team out of your end zone.
Set up a Continuity Game Plan (a document that outlines how your family will continue financially if you are not here to help them due to your health, and various events in your life.
Set up a Family Emergency Plan (a document that specifies procedures for handling sudden or unexpected situations to be prepared for any emergency to prevent injuries and reduce damage to your home and contents.
Set up a Financial Succession Plan (a document that outlines the process of determining how you are going to transfer your ownership and transition out of your money making role, while maximizing your personal and family financial security).
3. The Playbook: Diversifying Your Assets and Liabilieies
Great teams don’t rely on a single play; they have a playbook. In finance, that playbook is your investment strategy. Diversification is like mixing up the run and pass. By spreading investments across different asset classes, you can help reduce risk and increase your potential for long-term success. No coach calls the same play every down, and generally no investor should put all their money in one place or in one investment.
4. Playing All Four Quarters: Staying Focused on Long-Term Goals
Football games are won by teams that execute from kickoff to the final whistle. Financial success works the same way; it’s about consistency over time. Retirement planning, saving for your children’s education, or building toward financial independence are all long drives that generally require patience and persistence. The key is to stick with your plan through the ups and downs, just like a good team sticks to its game plan through all four quarters.
The Bottom Line
Football is a game of inches, and financial planning is a game of habits. Winning in both often requires discipline, preparation, and the right mix of offense and defense. With a solid foundation, a diversified playbook, strong protection, and a long-term mindset, you can set yourself up to win, both on the field and in your financial life.
Al Young is a Money Coach. Al played college football for University of Wisconsin Badgers as a tight end and placekicker, and Al had tryouts with 2 NFL teams. Al has a college business BBA degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Business.
Al Young
Phone/Text: (520) 338-1004
Email: al@alyoung.net
Tucson, Arizona