Celebrity financial adviser Frank Cochran’s business trips include taking
footballers with plenty of money, but questionable dress sense, to a smart
tailor in London to give them a new image.
“I say to young footballers, ‘I’m like your father and I’m not going to let
you have all your sweets at the same time’,” said Cochran. “The worst thing
they waste their money on is clothes, paying huge sums for lots of terrible
designer clothes that they are never going to wear more than once.
“The worst thing I ever saw was a young footballer in some ridiculous bright
red corduroy trousers that cost £480 and made him look like Rupert the Bear.
I told him he’d only wear them once when he saw the reaction from team
mates, but he was determined they were cool. I saw him a bit later and asked
him about the trousers. He said they were at the back of the wardrobe
because he’d had so much stick in the dressing room he could never wear them
again.
“I take footballers down to Savile Row, get them to spend £2,000 on a
tailor-made suit, perhaps £200 each on some classic shirts and then they are
set up. They tell me they feel good and that women think they look great.
Strangely, they then think my advice is good!”
Frank Cochran, 50, has been working in finance for almost 30 years and set up his
company to look after the finances of household names. Cochran has
singers, sports personalities and sports stars on his books, although the
majority demand anonymity. He’s aiming to manage over £150m worth of funds
within the next couple of years.
Are all the stars you handle prima donnas?
Not at all. In fact, you often meet people who’ve had a bad press and they can
be really nice. We have a very good personal relationship with all our
clients and that’s really important; in fact, it is one of the key factors
in deciding whether to take someone on. We have met people who are obnoxious
and decided not to take them on. We usually say something polite along the
lines of “we don’t think we can meet your expectations.”
Have you had any other interesting meetings with footballers?
I went to Puerto Rico once to see a football player and stayed in San Juan at
the Water and Beach Club. It was a boutique hotel and everything in it was
pure white. It was very South Beach Miami, but the staff bent over backwards
for you and I thought it was fantastic. Another time, I was having a break
in Barbados and met up with a client, another footballer, while I was there.
I just sat there thinking there are worse places to do business.
Do you travel abroad to meet other stars?
Very often. I also go to New York to keep abreast of everything that is
happening in the financial markets and that is invaluable, because it gave
me a heads up about the housing crisis a long time before it happened over
here. We were able to change the portfolios of our clients so they weren’t
adversely affected by the stock market crash.
I stay in the Jumeirah Essex House
hotel in New York and recently we were meeting a celebrity in there. At the
time, they happened to be making a film at the hotel, called Confessions
of a Spendaholic.
