James Anderson: 'I still have a mortgage to pay'

[1983-2011]

England test cricketer James Anderson tells Natalie Graham how he is preparing for life after his last over.

Fast bowler James Anderson, 29, leads England's Test and one-day bowling attack, and is currently ranked the third best bowler in the world. The cricketer, who grew up in Burnley, joined Lancashire at 18. He has represented England in more than 50 test matches and 100 one-day internationals. He lives in Cheshire with his wife, Daniella Lloyd, and their two daughters, Lola, three, and Ruby, one. Did your childhood experience influence your attitude to money? I was definitely made to realise the value of money and hard work. My father was an optician in Burnley and while my sister and I were growing up there was only one income, as my mother stayed at home to look after us. My father worked really hard to make sure we had a nice home. We were made to feel fortunate, and I always had cricket kit. Dad played at the weekends at a local club. My mum was taking me down there from a very young age. It was really a day out with the family. Are you a spender or A saver? These days I am a bit more of a saver. When I started my international career in 2002, I was 20 and my income changed quite considerably. I did not really know what to do with it. I bought an Audi A4 convertible, and if I went clothes shopping I didn't bother to look at prices. I would just buy whatever I wanted. It does sound a bit reckless but I'm different now. I am not massively into cars either, but I do like gadgets. The last one I bought was an iPad 3. Has parenthood changed your financial priorities? Yes, I think it has. We have got to consider our children's future so I am looking at ways to look after them and make them financially secure when they are older. Daniella and I have cut back on luxuries for ourselves and are putting money aside for the girls' education. They are still so young, but we would like to have the option of private school for them. Do you prefer to bank online or go into a branch? I have experienced banking online and in a branch and I don't particularly like either. I am quite lucky, though. For the past three years I have been with Brown Shipley, a private bank who are really good at looking after me. They used to be one of my sponsors. I get regular updates by phone and email and I have my own banking adviser, so I speak to the same person each time I call. Do you collect cricket memorabilia? I don't, though I do keep personal memorabilia, like the ball if I take five or more wickets in a game. In 2010 I kept the ball after taking 11 wickets in the first Test against Pakistan at Trent Bridge. I also keep shirts, but only things that mean something to me. When you reached No 2 in the World Bowling Rankings, did it increase your sponsorship worth? I guess every time you play well in your career you get more attention and media coverage, so it helps with your commercial worth. It is not something I overly think about. But with such a high ranking, this has been a good period in my career. I know that if you perform well on the field things off the field will pretty much take care of themselves. Do you think it is important to give something back to the sport? Definitely, yes. We did not play cricket at my comprehensive school. I was just fortunate that my father was a keen weekend player. So I know there are youngsters who don't have the opportunities and cricket equipment to get started. I think to be involved with Chance to Shine, the charitable campaign to bring cricket into state schools, is a great way to try and give something back. How is your benefit year progressing? I started my benefit year in March. This privilege is granted to a county player who has been with a club for more than 10 years, and gives them the chance to raise funds for charity throughout the year. In my case, the money will be split between myself and three causes: Chance to Shine, Nordoff Robbins, who provide music therapy sessions, and Activate Sport Foundation, who give young people sporting opportunities. On balance, were you relieved or disappointed not to be bought at the IPL auction? I was a little bit disappointed because it is something I would like to get involved in at some point. At the same time our schedule at the moment is so busy. We went to Sri Lanka for a month then the English guys who are in the IPL will be playing for another four weeks, so this is probably going to be a really worthwhile break for me. Has the recession affected you? I think it has affected everyone. At the end of the day I've still got a mortgage to pay and I won't be playing cricket forever, so I have to be careful with spending. The average retirement age for a bowler would be between 32 and 35, so if you get to your mid-thirties you have done well. I would be delighted to get as close as I can to 35. When you have such a short career you need to think about what you do afterwards. I have tried out a few things like radio and television work. I would like to give myself various options so when the end of my career does come I will be prepared for it. Have you ever invested in shares? Shares are not for me. My private bank invests some money for me with my agreement, but I tend not to do it myself. They encourage me to take out tax-free savings plans like Isas. What has been your best buy? I would say our five-bedroom detached house in Hale, which we bought in 2010 and plan to keep for a number of years. We take real pride in it. Daniella has some great ideas for decorating the house, and might even take interior designing a little more seriously when I retire. Has there been any point when you were worried about money? Not especially, but it is something that I am certainly now very conscious of. My ideal scenario would be to clear my mortgage before I take my pension at 40. I have had a pension since I joined Lancashire in 2002. Now my employers are England, and I have an England Cricket Board pension. I got my contract to play for England in 2004. I also have a private pension arranged through Brown Shipley. I'm trying to contribute as much as I can so that we will be in a comfortable position. There is no guarantee I will walk straight into a job when I finish cricket. Do you keep an eye on your finances on a regular basis? We are both quite sensible with money. The bank helps us too, taking some of the pressure off me with savings and the mortgage as I'm out of the country so much. I did make a will about two years ago, but when our second daughter, Ruby, was born in December 2010 I knew it was a priority to update it, which I did.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/fameandfortune/9294115/James-Anderson-I-still-have-a-mortgage-to-pay.html

[1983-2011]

It's a one year old article but I was surprise to see that such a successful English bowler still has mortgage to pay on his house, has concern about his money after retirement etc... It shows how privileged Indian contacted players are who earn money from BCCI and also IPL

[msb1991]

Real shame that the state of cricket is such that one of the world's finest Test bowlers and a decent ODI bowler misses out on the big bucks because he's not the strongest at T20. Anyway, can't feel too sad, I'm sure he's a very well off man. All about investing in those public speaking courses now I guess, commentating seems like a fun gig.

[TheWall]

what can ECB do... they spend all money in getting SA players into Eng team...

[Texy]

If he does

more often, I can guarantee his mortgage will be fully paid.

[Crookbond]

Please spend less on that hair cream. On a serious note, as a Test cricket connoisseur it's only a matter of time before people stick their guns to T20 for the money.

[saneindian]

Read somewhere ECB pays $ 600K to its centrally contracted players and that the English players are paid the most by their board. Add some more money from sponsorhsips. Thats a lot of money. Even at the IPL, if Jimmy does get a contract, will not be worth more than 250-300k.

[Crookbond]

Saneindian, We have to put that in context of other expenses as well. I don't know what it would be - probably this should be put in public domain for an informed opinion. Per player, per year. Source: Daily Mail August 2010 No code has to be inserted here.

Pietersen has been contracted to the ECB since 2006 and is in the top bracket of the pay scale with a deal thought to be worth around £250,000 a year basic but rising significantly with win bonuses and appearance fees.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/9526676/Kevin-Pietersen-to-miss-out-on-England-central-contract-as-India-talks-continue.html

[Pakistan]

Read somewhere ECB pays $ 600K to its centrally contracted players and that the English players are paid the most by their board. Add some more money from sponsorhsips. Thats a lot of money. Even at the IPL, if Jimmy does get a contract, will not be worth more than 250-300k.

What is Steyn and Malinga are getting paid in IPL?

[SLICKR392]

Give him an IPL contract.

[G_B_]

England players get paid about £1,000,0000 a year when you add up sponsorship etc. This mortgage think is misleading. If you get a £5 million house than clearly you are going to end up paying a lot. One thing which can be said is that the tax structure in the UK means Jimmy probably gets to keep £600,000. Jimmy IMO have another 3-4 years to go at the very top. After that I think he will retire and try to get sopme sort of gig. He has a radio station show #(or has hosted many times with Swann) with the BBC on 5 live sports. So if he does not get some sort of T20 contract woth his while he will end up in broadcasting.

[great siri]

Saneindian, We have to put that in context of other expenses as well. I don't know what it would be - probably this should be put in public domain for an informed opinion. Per player, per year. Source: Daily Mail August 2010 No code has to be inserted here. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/9526676/Kevin-Pietersen-to-miss-out-on-England-central-contract-as-India-talks-continue.html

if u take expenditure into consideration then srilankan players are the richest in the world.

[JaFanatic]

[Crookbond]

if u take expenditure into consideration then srilankan players are the richest in the world.

That is IF the salaries were paid on time. :winky:

[Executioner]

What a real shame it is for the cricket world where one of the better cricketers in the world have to cut down on luxuries and is yet to pay mortgage The problem is that cricket does not have the sponsorship, mainly due to the lack of TV ratings outside the subcontinent. I reckon that there are no more than 70 million cricket fans outside the SC. Cricket organizers, especially the ICC is truely a rubbish cricket board. I just dont understand how ICC fails to spread cricket to other parts of the world. Forget, the associate teams, even teams like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe have been treated like ****. BD and zimbabwe have played a combined total of about 14 test matches in the last 3 years. Now thats what teams like India and Australia play in a year!

[great siri]

What a real shame it is for the cricket world where one of the better cricketers in the world have to cut down on luxuries and is yet to pay mortgage The problem is that cricket does not have the sponsorship, mainly due to the lack of TV ratings outside the subcontinent. I reckon that there are no more than 70 million cricket fans outside the SC. Cricket organizers, especially the ICC is truely a rubbish cricket board. I just dont understand how ICC fails to spread cricket to other parts of the world. Forget, the associate teams, even teams like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe have been treated like ****. BD and zimbabwe have played a combined total of about 14 test matches in the last 3 years. Now thats what teams like India and Australia play in a year!

but i have heard that cricket has the second largest fan following throughout the world after football.is it true?

[Zap_Brannigan]

We dont really know the value of his house to pass judgement. For all we know, his house could costs multi million pounds. Great siri, it is probably true that cricket is 2nd most widely watched sport but thats mainly due to indias, banglas and pakistan's population than anything else. For all of executioners comment about bangladeshs numbers, they, like Pakistan numbers mean very little in financial terms. Only India's numbers matters in SC. India has a huge number of middle class cricket followers. Unless Pakistan and BD have a lot more money to buy tvs,phones etc., Samsung or lg are not going to plonk down millions on cricket in those countries. Besides, anderson plays for his national team. There is not a single sportsperson that got rich by playing for his national team alone. Not in cricket, not in any other sports. Sportsperson get rich thro' advertisements, playing for privatized teams or in very select individual sports, winnings. IPL is the 1st semi-private league in cricket.Even though it is still weighed down by a lot of factors such as it being short, it has still managed to pay way more than international cricket. Unless cricket becomes like football,baseball,basketball etc., players will continue to get less than they deserve from a pure supply and demand point of view.

[Executioner]

but i have heard that cricket has the second largest fan following throughout the world after football.is it true?

5 years, ago, YES, cricket was comfortably the 2nd most popular sport in the world. But I think basketball has overcome cricket in terms of fan following.These days, basketball is played in every part of the world a lot like football, even in Bangladesh, we see a lot of boys playing basketball. Cricket is played extensively in 9-12 nations, its existence outside these countries is quite negligible. The blame goes to the great ICC, too much of cricket for the top teams and very little for the weaker teams, no funding for Spreading the Game events and etc. The cricket world is basically concentrated in the Subcontinent. BD, Pak, SL, Indians, Afghans, Nepal people are quite cricket crazy and till the world lasts, cricket will always be a glorious sport in the subcontinent.