“Their investments for the future mainly involve buildings. Buying and renting out houses.” The experienced sports manager Dennis Klaster knows better than anyone how Dutch top athletes are engaged in their financial future. He manages, for example, the popular short track champions Sjinkie Knegt and Suzanne Schulting, and top ice-skaters Jan Blokhuijsen and Ronald and Richard Mulder. “The trend is for athletes not to only invest in stones, but also for talents to receive professional commercial support from the moment they take their first steps into the world of top sports. There are hardly any derailments to be witnessed anymore.”
Heerenveen has the most top athletes per square kilometer. Ranging from ice-skating icon Sven Kramer to Olympic gymnastics champion Sanne Wevers. The facilities for top sports in the Friesland municipality are impressive. Not only the legendary Thialf ice-rink but also the impressive gymnastics hall where Epke Zonderland shed blood, sweat and tears to achieve his Olympic success.
The Heerenveen entrepreneur Dennis Klaster is in his element in these centers for top sports. Everybody knows Dennis and Dennis knows everybody. As a manager of popular sports heroes, he especially wants to make his athletes aware of the harsh fact that a career in sports is only short and that investments in the future must be made. Those are tough conversations at times and in those cases he will be joined by fiscal expert Hans Visser of accountancy firm ACCON-AVM. Visser is very familiar with the ways to help top athletes secure a good financial future.
He always remains modestly in the background, but the Friesland tax specialist is helping dozens of top athletes realizing the best possible constructions for a financial future without worries. Dennis Klaster and Hans Visser are happy to provide some insight into their activities but are not allowed to mention any names for reasons of privacy.
Houses are trendy
Dennis Klaster: “I think most athletes are more concerned about their performances and realizing their goal, than about their pension. The day-to-day affairs. Two categories of top athletes can be distinguished when it comes to finances. One category is earning really good money. That category is involved in finances, but not in terms of pension. They just see: How much will I have later on, how will I be able to make it through and I just buy a house or something like that. There are also young athletes who are very much involved in their finances and who, no matter their age, have already bought some real estate in Heerenveen. They don’t even earn enormous amounts yet, so they invest in their future early on.”
Financially conservative
Hans Visser: ”There are also athletes who spend everything they earn and think: I live now and time will tell. Only when the liquid position becomes dire, the realization arises that things have to change. And then they all want real estate to rent out, just as trendy in sports such as ice-skating as tattoos are for soccer players. Most top athletes are conservative when it comes to finances. A few of them have been successful in trading bitcoins, but eventually they switch to real estate. It is not just the ice-skaters who think that way.
This is no different with cyclists and top swimmers. The ‘big earners’ in soccer have other financial constructions, but everyone below that level buys and rents out real estate. That provides security and peace of mind, is the prevailing opinion. Athletes shouldn’t have too much worries on their mind. If the interest rates were not this low, the money would just be stalled in a bank. Many athletes own a BV (private company, ed.) from which they pay themselves a fiscally responsible salary and from which money also houses are purchased.”
Pension-aware on the ice-rink
Hans Visser tells the story of a known ice-skater who managed to realize a carefree financial future without making it to the absolute top. “She took good care of her money and skated wherever she could. She never cancelled a World Cup. She was ranked in the top of the world, not often at the highest level but always part of the best. You don’t want to know how much money she managed to gather, without being part of a large team. That is pretty much at the level of a carefree future. She did what was needed on the ice-rinks with pension in the back of her mind. An exception.”
Dennis Klaster: “You should actually ask the question what an athlete considers to be pension. When it comes to pension, many athletes think about an old-age provision and as long as I have real estate, I have rent. But pension is much more than that, it can also be an investment in some education for later.”
Hans Visser: “I don’t know any athletes who put money in a pension policy. Nobody, that’s just not something they do. It’s more like: I have money in that BV, what shall I do with it? And indeed, ice-skaters all invest in real estate. But not just the ice-skaters. Top athletes in other sports also start investing in real estate.”
Smart sponsor deal
Dennis Klaster: “A great example. I concluded a sponsor deal with a construction company. That always revolves around the amount it should entail. Wouldn’t it be great if construction companies could just say: We build a house for an Olympic ice-skating champion? She purchases the land, that construction company will build that house for her and she then has her pension provision. Hans Visser and I then come up with a construction that is also approved by the tax authorities. Eventually two smaller houses were built. One to rent out and the other house to live in herself. In addition to the value increase, she has rental income for a lifetime.”
Everyone does it
Hans Visser: ”Nearly all athletes handle their money responsibly. They have to work hard to earn it and their horizon is short. I don’t know of one athlete who invests in high-risk funds. They prefer depositing their money into a bank account. No matter the 0.1 percent interest, but at least he or she knows for certain no crazy things could happen. Those athletes even consider an investment fund to be a major risk. They often don’t think about their pension yet. The horizon more often is something like: I will have something left after my career is finished. Some of them are smart and also invest in an education, but also start buying buildings early on because they hear: He or she has a building, so I need to buy another one as well. That has become more trending in recent years, but it applies to all athletes. Whether it involves swimming, sailing or ice-skating, the athletes all do it.”
Dennis Klaster: “You never know what lasts forever, but it works for them.
They also receive commercial support much earlier on in their careers. Most sports talents already have managers who are handling the commercial aspect professionally, meaning there are way less derailments than there were in the past.”