The athlete who earned a fortune… for a very short time

I earn more in a single year than most people do in a decade. And no one has explained what I should do with it once I stop playing.

That is exactly what Diego told us.

Diego, 27. Professional footballer. Top division.

He had spent six seasons at the top and, for the first time, was earning money he had never imagined. But two things kept him up at night: that his playing career might last another eight or ten years if he was lucky, and that afterwards he had forty more years of life ahead with that same money sitting idle in the bank.

A serious injury, a transfer or simply age could cut off his income overnight. And no one around him had ever talked to him about what would happen afterwards.

His situation when he came to Quality Finance:

• Very high income concentrated into a window of just a few years
• €1.4M sitting in accounts and deposits, with no strategy
• Image rights and irregular income with no tax structure in place
• A mortgage and two cars; zero long-term planning
• No provision whatsoever for life after retiring from sport

He had been offered everything: a friend pushing crypto, an agent pushing a flat to rent out, his bank pushing an insurance policy. He was looking for something else:

“At last, someone who talked to me about my whole life, not about one more product.”

What did we do together?

1. Career-cycle planningWe put numbers to what mattered: how many years of high income he realistically had left, and the standard of living he wanted to keep once he stopped competing. The goal was not to earn more this year, but to turn the income from a few seasons into an income that lasts a lifetime.

2. Tailored tax planningWe organised his employment income and image rights, and planned his personal income tax (IRPF) and wealth tax (IP) with a multi-year view, not year by year. A short, very well-paid career means getting ahead of tax from the first contract, not when the return is due.

3. A layered portfolio

• Layer 1 — Liquidity (€200,000): available for emergencies and opportunities
• Layer 2 — Transition buffer (€400,000): fixed income to cover the first years after retirement
• Layer 3 — Long-term growth (€600,000): diversified global equities, the engine for the decades ahead
• Layer 4 — Alternatives (€200,000): assets with low correlation to listed markets

4. International structure and ongoing reviewFor the longest-horizon portion, we assessed Bankinter Luxembourg vehicles (Unit Linked and delegated wealth management) that add diversification, efficient transfers and a single point of contact. And we gave him something he didn't have: a regular review to revisit the plan every time his contract, his club or his life changes.

Diego went from leaving his career and his wealth to chance, to having a plan that accounts for the day he hangs up his boots. For the first time, stepping away from the game stopped scaring him.

All details of this case have been modified to protect privacy. It is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.