With winter here, our TV screens are full of our winter sports ranging from AFL, rugby league, rugby union and football/soccer to name but a few.
An increasingly noticeable trend is the number of players sporting tattoos, in many cases, covering large parts of their visible skin. Collingwood's Dane Swan, the Swans' Lance 'Buddy' Franklin are two from the AFL, while we have Quade Cooper and Digby Ioane in rugby union, Sonny Bill Williams from both union and rugby league (NRL), ex-NRL star Todd Carney and Socceroos Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill all sport large visible tattoos. And you can throw in cricketers Mitchell Johnson and Michael Clarke to that list as well.
Now that may be more evident on television, but it's likely to be repeated in general society, suggesting a large number of Australia's younger generation are splurging their hard-earned after-tax income on tattoos.
Clearly the players have an influence on the younger generation – who may also want to go out and get tattoos. Great news for tattoo parlours – a pity there aren't any listed on the ASX!
But the players could be setting a bad example for their legions of fans – although it's not because of the tattoos themselves. The reason is the opportunity cost. I'll explain why in a minute.
Now tattoo artists don't always advertise their prices, but could typically charge as much as $200 per hour for their services. A full 'sleeve' tattoo stretching from shoulder to wrist could cost $7,000 or more by the time it's finished – and that's one arm!
Using the MoneySmart calculator, $7,000 invested for 20 years earning an average rate of 8% would turn into $32,627 if interest is reinvested each year. That doesn't take into account extra deposits along the way. For a 21-year old, investing that $7,000 at 10% – around the average rate earned on shares over the very long term – until their retirement at age 67 – would be worth more than $617,000!
I'm sure 30-year olds (and younger) will be cringing reading this article by now, and will find the idea of plonking $7,000 of their hard-earned cash into shares – and not touching it for 47 years – as ridiculous as suggesting someone in their 40's or 50's spend $7,000 on a full sleeve tattoo!
Maybe we could ask for the best of both worlds – less spent on tattoos, but still a decent deposit set aside to invest, whether you're in your 20's or 50's…
