Not too many people can retire early, let alone at 33.
But that's what sprinter Donovan Bailey did in 2001, when he walked off the track after having earned himself a spot in history for his two 1996 Olympic gold medals.
Back then, the track star estimated his net worth to be in excess of $10-million, largely from track earnings and product endorsements. He now says that's something he should never have said, and is quite adamant that he'd be where he is financially even without track and field.
"Whatever preparations I made, I made them a long time ago, " he says. "The exact same philosophy was going to be implemented."
He credits his father, once a machinist who used his savings to buy a townhouse and later a string of apartment buildings, for his own love of real estate. "That's something that's in the family," he says.
By the age of 20, Mr. Bailey had purchased his first home in Oakville, Ont., at 40 per cent of its value in a power-of-sale transaction when the builder went belly up.
Around that time, Mr. Bailey says he ran a telemarketing company and managed several apartment buildings that he and his brother purchased from their father. "I'm quite comfortable," says Mr. Bailey, who is a partner with three other people in Blue Cave Developments, which develops a handful of commercial and residential properties in Ontario and other provinces.
The private office where Mr. Bailey agreed to be interviewed takes up half the fourth floor of a converted Toronto warehouse building that he and some friends purchased in the 1990s.
His full-time staff of four was not present that day, lending the floor plan the appearance of a set built for business and pleasure, with its pool table, built-in gas fireplace and open-concept offices.
Mr. Bailey, who turned 36 in December and spent his birthday golfing with a buddy in Jamaica, where he and his relatives own beachfront property, did not want to talk about his girlfriend and daughter, who, according to past stories, share with him an Oakville home that property records show was purchased for $765,000 in 2000.
His money, he says, is now making him money. In the mid-1990s, when he was still sprinting, he opened three separate accounts with three investment firms, which he declined to name. So he has three financial advisers, he says.
Last year, the average rate of return for one portfolio was in the 18- to 22-per-cent range, mid-teens for another account and about 10 per cent for the third one, he says. The investing philosophy for each one is for the long-term.
One account is his registered retirement savings plan, to which he has been contributing an undisclosed amount every year for as long as he has been earning money, he says. Another one is more aggressive, delving into hedge funds, he says. He also taps that portfolio for his business investments.
Last month, he and physiotherapist Scott Anderson, whom he credits for keeping him healthy throughout his athletic career, launched their first rehabilitation centre called Core Fitness and Rehab in Oakville. It's the first of three they plan to open this year in the Greater Toronto area. The 8,000-square-foot facility, aimed at minor league sports players, will also house a gym called Hard Core.
He's also shopping for a location to build a training centre that will have an indoor and outdoor track field, basketball courts and soccer field for kids. He recently launched DBX Sport Management, a scouting and recruiting firm for athletes though he wouldn't name clients.
He still earns appearance fees on behalf of Bell Canada and Xerox Corp. and also gets paid for being a sports commentator for sports channels such as BBC Sports, a relationship he began in the late 1990s. Next month, he is off to Budapest to cover the track and field event, the IAAF World Indoor Championships, for the Eurosport sports channel.
As a businessman, Mr. Bailey is focused on the sports and health area, but he is also branching out. He and an unnamed Los Angeles-based actor have started a venture called Engine to market movies and television scripts.
He also plans to come out with an urban menswear line and is in talks to buy an independent record label, both of which he declined to discuss further. "Maybe I'm paranoid," he says. "I don't like to talk about things until you can see something."
He doesn't claim to be an expert in all these fields but he does surround himself with good advisers, including family friend and lawyer Bill MacLeod and a roster of business people he describes as mentors, including John Bitove Jr., former owner of the Toronto Raptors.
"There's a lot of guys in that circle that I can call on to give me their life experiences and their knowledge of business," he says.
And to put his accomplishments into perspective, a Donovan Bailey autobiography is in the works. He and sports writer Bruce Dowbiggin have an agent and are shopping the idea around to various publishing houses.
So the question of what he hopes to be doing when he's 65 doesn't really apply to Mr. Bailey in more ways than one because, as he says, "I'm doing it right now."
© The Globe and Mail
Only GlobeinvestorGOLD combines the strength of powerful investing tools with the insight of The Globe and Mail.
Discover a wealth of investment information and and exclusive features.
