Planning is one of the hardest words to put into practice when life happens quickly. This is no secret to anyone, right? But I’ll tell you that, in football, it’s almost a luxury. Everything changes too quickly: the coach, the squad, the country, the mood of the fans.
We live in urgency mode, and the future always seems to depend on the next game. Here in Brazil, this is even more latent. It took me a while to understand that planning is not the opposite of freedom: it is what allows us to continue dreaming on and off the field. When I started, my only plan was to play football.
I didn’t have a spreadsheet, I didn’t have a plan B. I had faith, desire and a huge desire to change my family’s life, as I said in last week’s column. It was only later, when football actually became my profession, that I realized: talent opens doors, but it’s planning that keeps you there. This applies, of course, to the career itself, but also to all the financial aspects that come with it.
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The first time I heard someone talk about “financial education”, I confess, I thought it was a bit distant. During my time at the base, the focus was different: training, eating, sleeping, doing it all over again. Nobody taught us anything. The truth is that most athletes come from simple families, and suddenly find themselves with responsibilities and money in their hands without having had time to learn how to deal with it. We learn by making mistakes, and sometimes the price of this learning is high.
Today, I look at my children and think that I want them to have what I didn’t have: time to think. And I know what a luxury that is. I want them to understand the value of things, not just the price. Let them know that each choice has an impact down the road, that now is important, but so is later.
I talk to them about planning, about saving, investing, about purpose, with the same enthusiasm with which I once talked about football (or at least that’s how I try, lol).
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I try to show that planning is not just about money, it is about conscience. It’s about knowing what moves you and what sustains you when the spotlight goes out. On the field, I plan every move, every step, but I also learned that the game of life requires the same reading: when to accelerate, when to hold back, when to retreat.
Football gave me everything, but it also taught me the weight of instability. One day you are a hero; in the other, he is being questioned. And if you don’t have a solid emotional, family and financial foundation, the ground disappears. I try to translate to them that planning is safety. It’s what allows you to continue playing, even when the score is not in your favor.
I always think that, if football were a company, many of us would be entrepreneurs from an early age. We are responsible for our brands, careers and decisions. We learned to deal with pressure, to manage time, to invest in performance. And that’s exactly what I try to pass on to my children: that the future is not built on improvisation. It’s difficult to explain the difficulties of the future to two boys who have what I never had at their age. But they understand and have demonstrated this to me several times.
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Having it is easy. Maintaining it is the challenge. Planning is an act of care for those you love, and for yourself. In football, we learn to celebrate a goal, but what guarantees the result is the work done beforehand. The invisible training, the silent effort, the drawn up plan. In financial life it’s the same. The goal is visible success, but what sustains it all is what you do when no one is watching.
Money can buy comfort, but never wisdom. And wisdom is understanding the value of time, choice and calm. What I want to teach my children is that wealth isn’t just what’s in the bank, it’s what you build with purpose and balance.
Planning is my new workout. The difference is that, now, the field is life. In this week’s newsletter interview, I spoke to Kerolin, from Manchester City, about this and she talked a lot about how even bad experiences helped her to organize better.
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And for you, does money buy bring happiness? Maybe it’s controversial, but it’s a question of humanity.
