ORLANDO, Fla. – Josh “JP” Powell is using his status as a former NBA player and his life experiences to inspire others to build better financial success.
Powell, who played with the L.A. Lakers championship teams in 2009 and 2010, joined Corie Murray on “Black Men Sundays” this weekend to share his journey. In part two of the podcast, Powell showed how his setbacks taught him to take better control of his financial situation and build wealth, not only for himself but for his children.
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“I’ve always wanted to, since the beginning of my journey, make sure that I put systems in place so that my kids are good. And that me and, you know, my partner, whoever that is, that will be good,” Powell said.
Putting those “systems in place” includes having frank conversations with loved ones about finances, including prenuptial agreements with your prospective spouse, talking about beneficiaries for things like life insurance, pensions and 401Ks, and how assets are handled in a relationship.
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“I’m a huge advocate for people really designing a plan or figuring out what works for you,” Powell said. “Because a lot of times we’ll throw ourselves into something because someone is so serious or whatever, and it may not be the thing for you. It might be something else. So that’s why (you should) just research, ask questions, do as much as you can before you start making those types of decisions.”
He said research is also important when making decisions with another sort of “partner” in your financial situation — your advisor. Powell said he had five different financial advisors during his playing career, and in some cases those advisors took advantage of him, and other players as well.
“So currently, I don’t have a financial advisor, because I had a lot of growing pains from my divorce up until now. And I say growing pains because it forced me to look at my own money, it forced me to pay my own bills, it forced me to have the wherewithal of where things are going,” Powell said.
“And all of those different things, like, it was really a blessing in disguise because where I’m at now I’m in a much more healthy place in space than I was then. Even though I made the amount of money that I made then, I’m making good money now. But the education, there’s no amount of money that you can put on that because I’m, again, I’m in a better place of space now,” he added.
Hear Powell’s advice about the importance of budgeting in building generational wealth, and avoiding traps caused by misinformation in Season 4, Episode 7 of “Black Men Sundays.”
Black Men Sundays talks about building generational wealth. Check out every episode in the media player below.