SportTechie’s Athlete’s Voice series features the views and opinions of the athletes who use and are powered by technology. SportTechie caught up with New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles to chat about his investments in tech and the financial advice he gives teammates.
New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles is the Iron Man of MLS. From 2012 to 2018, he started and finished 183 consecutive regular season games, and 201 total league games, including playoffs. The 34-year-old didn’t miss a single minute of action for more than five and a half years. The previous record for consecutive starts was 118, held by Chris Klein, and the mark for complete games was 112, held by Kevin Hartman.
Robles, who was named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2015, played five seasons in Germany for FC Kaiserslautern and Karlsruher SC before joining MLS. The former U.S. national team player is now in his eighth season with the Red Bulls, and his second season as team captain.
Having graduated with a degree in finance from the University of Portland in 2007, Robles planned to enter the financial world if his pro aspirations didn’t work out. He has made successful investments that include buying stock in both Apple and Tesla, and mentors his younger teammates about saving and planning for their futures.
His Journey to MLS
“The very first time I signed a contract, I was sitting in this country [Germany] where I don’t know too many people, and the thing I looked forward to at the end of my days were these long walks. I’d go on these long walks, and there were these sheep. I’d go and take them Cheerios. That’s how I occupied my days. Now I’m here picking up my son from kindergarten on a sunny day in New Jersey. There’s no way I could have imagined that 12 years down the road this is what my life was going to be.”
“My wife and I sold everything that we owned in Germany on Jul. 4, 2012. We came back to the United States. She was six months pregnant. And I was waiting for MLS. They were dragging their feet. Then, all of a sudden, this agent who was supposedly helping me fell off the face of the planet. To occupy my time, because I was going crazy, a friend of mine was a realtor and just said, ‘Hey, I could use some help.’ And I was an errand boy. That’s all I did. For two weeks, I would go put up ‘For Sale’ signs, or ‘Sold’ signs and pick up ‘For Sale’ signs. It got me out of the house so I wasn’t driving my wife crazy.
“Because we didn’t know what was going on, she applied for statewide health insurance. During that process, they look at all your accounts, your assets, and even though I was unemployed at the time, they rejected us. So I’m thinking, ‘MLS isn’t calling me. The state won’t insure me. I just better get ready to pay $25,000 for a pregnancy.’ In the end, it worked out. Sometime in August, the New York Red Bull signed me to a contract, and we didn’t think we’d be here long. Yet seven years later, we’re still here.”
Making Back-Up Plans
“I think it starts in college, 2002, when I was a freshman at the University of Portland. I already had a sense that I wanted to be in finance. So, for me, I had this ambition, this personal ambition, to be a professional soccer player, yet you still know that the numbers don’t really work out. There’s a lot of people who climb this ladder or pyramid, if you will. For me, my mindset was, I wanted to be able to utilize my scholarship and take advantage of the education I get while continuing to progress forward as a hopeful professional.
“In the end, it worked out and I ended up living my dream as a professional soccer player, but I did get my degree in finance. I always thought, if it still doesn’t work out early on, I would go into finance.
“Yet 14 years later, it’s worked out pretty well. What I’ve been able to take from my undergraduate degree, I’ve applied it to my own personal finance, and I’m constantly engaging guys in the locker room to really consider saving and buying securities and looking at different tax advantages that they can utilize now because they are young and can take advantage of compound interest right from the get-go.”
His First Investing Steps
“In 2009, I started making some real money, and it was post-financial crisis. At that point, Apple was trading at, I believe, $90 a share. I remember even the first time I bought a stock or security, the anxiety but yet the rush. ‘Oh my gosh, I own a piece of Apple.’ Albeit it was a very minuscule piece, you’re just thinking ‘The sky’s the limit here because it’s such a great company.’ At the same time, when you look at what was going on post-crisis, this thing could go to zero.
“I fell into a company back in 2012. I remember, we were at Short Hills Mall. My wife and I were just window shopping, and there was a Tesla store. I go in there and I see this Model S for the first time, and I’m thinking ‘Wow, this is the future. This car is incredible.’ Right away, I go home. I look at the stock. It’s trading at low 40s at the time. I don’t have a lot of disposable income at that time, yet I put it in there, and I think within half a year, this thing was trading at 180 or maybe even 200. It was perfect timing because in 2014 we were looking to buy our first house. Because of the money we put in some of these investments, it really paid off, and we put a down payment on a house.”
(Photo credit: Elsa/Getty Images)
Market Evolution
“I do not feel in anyway confident giving anyone advice [about stocks]. I will say that, last night, I had dinner with a friend who is in finance. I picked his brain a little bit about what he’s buying. Everyone loves tech. Everyone’s looking for something, whether it’s a cloud-based company or even Apple, right? You saw their announcement [last month] about services. It’s not even the hardware anymore. As people continue to look for the next great idea, it just seems that everyone’s looking at tech.
“One thing I tell all my teammates is, since the advent of the iPhone, never has buying stocks or checking the market been easier. If there’s any sort of trepidation when it comes to getting into the market, just follow it for a bit. There are so many great apps out there. There are so many great resources.
“With my teammates, I just say, ‘Buy a bluechip right off the bat.’ Something safe or relatively safe. Just watch the ebbs and flows of it, and you’ll realize there’s a real adrenaline rush that comes with that. If you feel good, then keep buying. I love the fact that it’s so easy and accessible now—and maybe too much so. My wife is always looking and wondering what I’m doing, and sometimes I’m too much of a ticker watcher.”
Locker Room Advice
“The trend that seems to dominate the locker rooms now is that players are younger. They’re not exposed to as much information at the undergraduate level, let alone coming in from high school. And another trend that continues is that salaries are on the uptick. When I was drafted in ’07, the minimum salary was laughable, yet that’s what was necessary at that point in the league’s development—to keep salaries down.
“Now we’re still not at the same level as the other leagues, but you can see just year over year the encouraging trend where it is double-digit year-over-year increases. As one of the board members of the players association, you continue to push it through CBA negotiations and other mechanisms because the league is really exciting with what’s going on right now. Part of the excitement at the player level is that salaries are going up.
“So even more so now, financial literacy is important. If you ask any guy in the locker room, what’s the thing that I talk about the most? It’s probably finance. And the reason I do that is very intentional because I want guys to understand they have a great opportunity to put money away now. There’s not too many jobs coming out of college where you’re going to make $70, $80, $100,000 right off the bat.”
To be the first to read Athlete’s Voice, subscribe to the newsletter here.
