Week 8: From Waiver Wires to Wealth - Building a Roster and a Retirement
Fellas, we’re knee-deep in Year 15 of this league — fifteen years of laughter, heartbreak, trash talk, one-sided trades, draft busts, waiver-wire bids, and memories to last a lifetime. And the way it’s going, there’s no sign of slowing down. Before we know it, we’ll blink and be twenty, maybe thirty years into this thing.
Picture it: we’re 55 years old, silver in the beards, still talking reckless in the group chat. I’ll probably have at least five championship rings by then, still holding claim to being The Most Decorated. Zayn will be Zayn’n harder than ever, and Steve will still be giving unsolicited draft opinions and trade advice that nobody asked for. Mel will have evolved his fantasy religion from Voodoo to Buddhism — same bad luck for opponents, just with more inner peace. Lance and Kenny will still be clawing for that first chip. Claude will still be questioning my motives in every commish review. Love you C! Dunc and Dre will still be leveraging the most innovative AI bots to exchange the funniest of memes and battling in the “Brotherly Shove.” Sherv will somehow still be drafting 80% Chiefs players. Will’s lineup will remain a mystery until kickoff, and Tone will still be holding on to the ghost of OBJ’s 2016 season like it’s the Lost Ark.
And through it all, we’ll have one thing in common: we’ll be older. Mid-50s. Nearing retirement. Our kids will be headed off to college and getting married. Our wives will still be wondering how we curse each other out on a week to week basis and yet remain the closest of friends, and we’ll still be doing fantasy draft weekends across the globe.
That’s the dream. But to live that dream — comfortably, confidently, freely — we have to start planning now.
From Fantasy Points to Real-Life Returns
I wanted to take a quick break from fantasy football this week to talk about fantasy futures — not the kind on Yahoo, but the kind we control in real life.
Candidly gents, I’ve been hit with some real perspective lately. My pops lost his job this past weekend - a month after my uncle lost his government job. Forty years of working, grinding, raising families… and very little to show for it in retirement savings. It wasn’t surprising — I could see it coming — but man, it still hit like a ton of bricks.
It made me realize how easily time passes while we’re “meaning to save.” My parents are now considering selling their home just to have a cushion for retirement. There’s sadness in that — and frustration — but also hope. Hope that we can learn from it. Hope that we don’t have to face that same moment at 60, wondering, “Where did all the money go?”
The truth is, we have the tools and knowledge our parents didn’t. We can do better — for ourselves, for our families, and for our peace of mind.
The Why Behind Investing in Yourself
We all talk about “providing” for our families — but part of providing is future-proofing our lives. Investing in yourself isn’t about greed; it’s about freedom. Freedom to say “yes” to opportunities later. Freedom to not panic if life throws a curveball. Freedom to spend time with your wife, your kids, your people — without the constant stress of “how am I going to make this work?”
Here’s the wild part: each one of us could literally become millionaires just by being consistent. I’m not exaggerating. I’ve seen it firsthand. My cousin’s a 33-year-old teacher in Georgia, on track to retire comfortably because she started early and automated her savings. No massive salary, no secret hustle. Just steady, automatic investing.
That’s the key word: automatic.
How to Make It Happen
Start by flipping your mindset:
Don’t think, “I can’t afford to save.”
Instead, think, “I can’t afford not to.” Because, honestly, that is the reality.
Most people try to save what’s left after spending. The problem is, there’s never much left. You’ve got to flip it — pay yourself first, and let your bills and lifestyle adjust to what’s left.
A month before turning 30, I bought my crib here in Atlanta and was basically back to being cash-poor. I had a nice income, but nothing crazy. At some point around my birthday, I was on the phone with Malik and somehow, we started talking about retirement. He asked me what I had so far. When I told him, he was like “bro, you can be doing better than that.” He implored me to increase my retirement contributions immediately and put it on autopilot.
Thankfully, I took heed to his advice. I immediately went to my HR portal at work and increased my retirement contributions to 15%. I also added an additional 10% of my paycheck to be automatically directed to a high-yield savings account, and left the balance to come to my checking account. In essence, I started living on 75% of my income. It was tough at first, especially when I wasn’t making six figures, but eventually, I adjusted. Maybe I went out to eat less and cooked more. I started going on dates to coffee shops instead of dinner lol. And spent more Friday nights at friends’ backyards versus the clubs and lounges. One year later, I looked at my accounts and saw progress I had never seen before. I wasn’t working harder — I was working smarter…
Ten years later, at 40, I have a substantial amount saved up for retirement, and the growth is compounding on itself. My contributions are now relatively small in comparison to the compounding growth of my investments from 10 years ago. Shout out to Leek for planting a seed of advice to his friend that will grow to provide for my family in years to come. He won’t read this, but I truly thank him for that.
You don’t need to start at 25%. Start at 10%. The point isn’t perfection — it’s consistency.
Track Where It’s Going
Now I know that the immediate response to the thought of increasing your retirement savings might be, “but how?” Our dollars are already being stretched to the limit with all that life is hitting us with. Here’s my suggestion: Before you save/invest another dollar, sit down and calculate know where your dollars are currently going.
Take the last three months of your bank and credit card statements. Categorize every dollar! — mortgage, transportation (payments, insurance, gas), utilities (electric, gas, water, cell phones), groceries, non-groceries food (going out, UberEats, coffee shops), entertainment (streaming services, Spotify subscriptions, etc), health & grooming (gym memberships, barber shop runs, etc). Once you calculate where your money’s going, go back and label each expense a necessity or a luxury. I encourage you to take the time to do that for the last 90 days. It might take a whole Saturday afternoon, but you’ll be surprised by what you see.
Seven years ago, when I decided to fast-track paying off my student loans, I went through this process. And I was shocked at how much money was going to Uber Eats, random subscriptions, and stuff that brought me zero long-term value. Once I reallocated reallocated those dollars to debt-payments, savings, and investments, my money started truly working for me — not Sallie Mae, not Starbucks, not DoorDash, not Netflix. Think of yourselves and/or your family as a business. How much is Davidson LLC bringing in … and keeping, versus giving to other companies?
If nothing else, remember these wise words from the book, The Richest Man in Babylon: “A part of all I earn is mine to keep.” The premise here is that a portion of your income should be yours to save and invest for YOU - before expenses and spending to other companies. (side note: this is the best book I’ve ever read when it comes to managing my money. It’s an easy read, too. I would encourage everyone to grab it on Amazon here. It’s only $5.99 and worth the investment a thousand times over.)
The What-Ifs of Doing Nothing
Now, imagine the flip side.
What happens if we don’t plan? If we keep putting it off? We’ll end up like so many people — working into our 60’s and 70’s not because we want to, but because we have to. Selling the home we love just to stay afloat. Watching our kids head off to college and get married, while we quietly stressed about whether we’ll ever be able to stop working.
That’s not the fantasy ending for any of my friends.
The Endgame
Brothers, this isn’t a lecture. And I pray that as you’ve read this week’s review, you don’t take it as such. It’s out of love. And it’s just a reminder that all the grind we put in — the hours, the stress, the sacrifices — should pay us back one day.
It’s not about how much you make; it’s about how much you keep, how much you grow, and how much peace you buy yourself later.
Fifteen more years will fly by. Let’s make sure that when we’re still clowning each other about waiver claims, terrible draft picks, and fantasy football records in our 50’s and 60’s, it’s from a place of comfort, not chaos.
If any of you ever wants to talk privately and deep dive into some of the steps you can take to better manage your personal finances, I promise you I’m more than happy to do that. The whites talk money more freely than we do. And the more I’ve opened up to others about what I’m doing and where I can improve, the more I learn. There’s power in community. So feel free to just hit me up.
Invest in yourself. Automate your growth. Future you — and your family — will thank you.
Love y’all.
– Commish
