On Leap Day 2016, Warriors Center Andrew Bogut teamed up with financial services company PwC to host a Future Leaders event for 30 students with San Francisco afterschool program Beacon Initiative. Bogut spoke to the students earnestly about the importance of developing financial skills and career plans as early as possible.
“I think it’s incredibly important today to have a basic career plan to make money and the financial knowledge of how to use and invest that money,” said Bogut. “Being young and having that knowledge will really pay off down the road.”
Warriors Public Address Announcer Matt Hurwitz welcomed the students to San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley Middle School, hyping up the students for their visit from a surprise Warriors player. The seven-foot Aussie sauntered into the room to a wild applause before joining Hurwitz and PwC Representative Mark Cohen for a Q&A with the students on the value of savings and planning for their futures.
“It’s hard to not think about the things you want to buy right now, but instead about what you may want tomorrow and next year,” said Cohen. “I encourage you all to think about getting a piggy bank or a bank account where you can save for those bigger dreams down the road.”
Bogut shared his own experiences setting career goals and developing a financial plan. He shared the empowering feeling he has controlling his own finances after using a financial advisor shortly after being drafted in 2005.
“Six years into my career I didn’t feel comfortable doing everything myself, and now I can sleep at night knowing where everything is and how everything works,” said Bogut. “I used an online Australian university course for financial planning during the season to learn where to put my money and how to invest.”
After some questions from the students, PwC employees then introduced a Career Interest Assessment to help each student discover college majors and careers he or she would be passionate about. Bogut joined the students in completing the Assessment, sharing that he would thrive in social and practical environments, making the basketball court a perfect workplace for the 2015 NBA Champion.
“It’s great that these kids are exploring jobs and interests that they would be passionate about performing every day, because it will make the daily grind of their future jobs much more enjoyable,” said Bogut.
The Future Leaders program is dedicated to developing critical financial skills in San Francisco school children alongside PwC professionals teaching PwC's Earn Your Future curriculum. Earlier this season, Warriors Forward James Michael McAdoo participated in the Future Leaders program to speak to youth at San Francisco’s Balboa High School about the importance of education and his financial efforts to plan for a career after basketball.