Swindon Town footballer talks financial advice to fellow pros

Swindon Town footballer Darren Ward is aiming to raise awareness of the pitfalls of poor financial advice among fellow professional players with a social media campaign.

Ward (pictured), a first team regular at the League One club, is tweeting to his 34,000 Twitter followers about personal finance issues, and warning others not to repeat his mistakes.

The centre-back is the founder of Basingstoke-based New Incentive Financial Consultants, which specialises in advising sports stars. Clients include Norwich City players Russell Martin and Simeon Jackson and Swansea City defender Alan Tate.

He told his Twitter followers: 'I have had my fair share of poor financial advice and I now want to ensure that young players have the right knowledge', and has written a blog describing his past finance issues.

New Incentive is an appointed representative of Finsbury Financial, alongside Noir Wealth Management, which advises professional models, and was founded by model Zabeena Harris.   

Finsbury director Lee Eldridge said: ‘It’s so important that the young sports people and fashion models are given the right help at the right point in their careers.

‘Since the arrival of  Noir and New Incentive, new and up and coming models and sportsmen are now able to leverage the experiences of both Darren and Zabeena and put them to good use, exchanging their once vulnerable positions for one of being firmly in control.’

Along with its sister company, Switzerland-based Finsbury International, the group services approximately 320 clients with average portfolios of £750,000 and currently has in excess of £250 million funds under advice, according to Eldridge.