For the boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather, according to current data, it takes more or less 28 minutes to pocket the average annual salary of an ordinary employee. An employee who, hypothetically, would take about 14.000 years to earn as much Cristiano Ronaldo. But what could happen to some athletes, excellent in their disciplines but perhaps a little less from the point of view of the conscious management of their savings, when they stop competing?
Much has already changed compared to the past, much still needs to change. "The issue of economic and financial education concerns sportsmen not only for the conscious and correct management of their money (which then becomes assets for the champions in a short time) but above all for the role of testimonial that they can and must have in front of the kids , to the fans and to the public opinion”, he declares Stephen Lucchini, President of FEDUF. And he adds: “I believe a lot, in fact, in the social role of sport even in a delicate and decisive area such as savings management, financial planning and economic legality. The value of savings and its correct management are part of the baggage of informed and aware citizens such as women and men of sport".
According to the Consob 2020 report the financial literacy of Italians remains limited, albeit slightly improving, especially among investors: in particular, the share of respondents who correctly answered questions on basic financial knowledge ranged from 38% (concept of diversification) to 60% (ratio of risk - performance). "We are proud of this initiative - declares the President of CONI, Giovanni Malago – because it is part of a project aimed at guaranteeing athletes the possibility of obtaining the tools to develop an aware knowledge of the financial world, with the aim of making them rise to the role of protagonists also in the financial field, through forward-looking management of their savings and a correct assessment of the related financial opportunities.
I want to express my sincere thanks to FEduF andICS, exceptional teammates ready to make their immense know-how available to our movement, the best guarantee for exploring prospective horizons and identifying the best paths, with the aim of establishing a culture called to become the reference paradigm of the excellences that they project the winning image of our country at every level. In addition to a present bountiful with successes, there is in fact a future to be conquered by transferring talent to a new field, the most intelligent investment to enhance and secure the certainties built over the course of a career”.
The data relating to the dissemination and knowledge of financial education issues acquire even more importance if considered as a whole together with the brevity of a sports career: precisely because a competitive career lasts between 8 and 15 years, the window of time available to athletes to be able to plan in the best possible way from an economic point of view is very small and for this reason it is very important to manage your savings more than carefully, so that they guarantee sufficient coverage even when the spotlights have gone out.
"For Credito Sportivo, a social bank for the sustainable development of Sport and Culture - declares the President of the Institute for Sports Credit, Andrea Abodi – education, training and information are indispensable tools for consolidating the intangible foundations of the system and its physical infrastructures. Having said this premise and taking into account the nature and role of the Bank, we feel the need to make ourselves available in a systematic and systemic way to make an adequate contribution to the challenge of spreading financial culture in the world of Sport.
This is the spirit that unites us with the FEduF and CONI - continues Abodi - by signing the Protocol on Financial Education, which will allow for the development of a program of commitments, activities and projects dedicated, in particular to male and female athletes, but of which, for communicative force and significant sporting value, will be able to benefit the entire country, which needs it. According to the OECD, Italy has only 30% of the population with financial literacy, with enormous gender, professional role and territorial distribution disparities.
The development of Italian Sport, at the heart of our mission as a public banking company, can and must also qualify with the growth of awareness of topics and subjects of extreme importance and delicacy for women and men who practice the various sports disciplines at the highest level, in anticipation of their inclusion in working life, also from an entrepreneurial perspective. We are certain that we want-know-must transform the institutional agreement just signed with FEduF and CONI - concludes President Abodi - into an articulated and effective operational agenda, to allow the beneficiaries of our commitment to draw up a more correct, careful and shrewd management of one's financial interests, also in the post-career perspective."
The "Foundation for Financial Education and Savings” (FEduF) was set up by the Italian Banking Association to create a cohesive pole of subjects involved in the dissemination of this issue in the broader concept of education in economic citizenship and legality. The Foundation acts as an aggregation center for the private financial world to make the large amount of successful experiences developed available to the country. Its action is based on a vast policy of dialogue and cooperation with the Ministry of Education, University and Research, thanks to collaboration protocols with the Regions, the Regional and Territorial School Offices and with other public and individuals active in this field.
