Milestone-Based Savings Scoreboard
Make saving motivating by linking each rate to a desired milestone and score
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 96%
McLean developed this method after finding that fear of going broke did not motivate young athletes. Instead, he begins with a milestone the client wants, such as seeing one million dollars in an account. He calculates the money the client will actually receive after taxes and other deductions, then shows the date on which several savings rates would reach that milestone. The client can see that saving 30, 40, or 60 percent is not an abstract sacrifice but a choice about when the desired outcome arrives. McLean then makes the agreed rate a relationship standard and tracks performance on a scoreboard. As later contracts increase earnings, the savings requirement rises. Visible scores and peer comparison create immediate feedback that ordinary financial systems often fail to provide.
Origin
Extracted from Masters in Business. Joe McLean said the rule grew from early advisory mistakes and a client's desire to become a millionaire.
Core principles
- 01A desired milestone motivates better than a distant bankruptcy warning
- 02Savings rates should be translated into dates and visible outcomes
- 03Standards can rise as income and financial professionalism grow
- 04A scoreboard creates feedback where spending otherwise provides none
How to run it
- 1
Choose the milestone
Ask what visible financial achievement the person wants and when they hope to reach it. Use a goal that carries personal meaning or respect.
Pro tip Frame the conversation around attainment rather than a generic warning about failure.
- 2
Calculate true net income
Start with contracted or expected income, then subtract taxes, agent fees, and other unavoidable deductions. Model from money the person can actually allocate.
Watch out Using gross income creates an unrealistic milestone date and spending plan.
- 3
Model savings-rate choices
Calculate when several savings percentages would produce the target balance. Show the date attached to each choice.
Pro tip Use a small set of materially different rates so the trade-off is easy to understand.
- 4
Set the required standard
Agree the savings percentage and make it a condition of the financial plan. Increase the percentage as earnings rise and foundational needs are already covered.
Watch out A suggested rate without commitment is easy to abandon when spending opportunities appear.
- 5
Publish the scoreboard
Report the actual savings rate on a recurring cadence and compare it with the commitment. Where appropriate and consented to, use peer performance to make progress socially visible.
Pro tip Celebrate the score and the milestone date moving closer, not deprivation.
Watch out Peer comparison should reinforce mutual respect rather than shame.
In the wild
McLean described a young client with a three-year professional contract who wanted to become a millionaire. McLean calculated the client's income and taxes, then showed when saving 30, 40, or 60 percent would put one million dollars in the account. The client could choose between milestone dates rather than respond to a vague warning about future bankruptcy.
→ A savings percentage became a concrete timeline to a desired achievement.
McLean's clients began discussing how much they saved, and his team showed scoreboard reports comparing annual savings percentages. One athlete challenged a peer's 92 percent score after seeing that his own was 74 percent, prompting a direct conversation about their financial discipline.
→ Saving became visible performance that peers discussed and tried to improve.
Common mistakes
Leading with bankruptcy statistics
McLean found that young elite athletes often see themselves as exceptions, so fear about distant failure does not reliably change behaviour.
Ignoring net income
Contracts are reduced by taxes, fees, and sport-specific deductions; a gross-income target overstates what is available.
Tracking without a milestone
A percentage alone feels restrictive; connecting it to an attainment gives the score motivational meaning.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for young or high-income earners who discount distant risks but respond to achievement, status, and visible progress.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when income, taxes, or essential expenses are too uncertain to model a credible savings commitment.
From the transcript
“what I realized is using fear is not a great motivator for young people to make decisions. Putting it around a milestone and or a…”
“if you save thirty percent, it's going to be May first of you know, twenty twenty eight, that's when you're going to have a million…”
“then we would show a scoreboard report of hey, so and so, you know that he saved ninety two percent last year, you saved seventy…”
From the episode
NBA Finals Bonus: MAI Capital's Joe McLean on Being the NBA's 'Money Whisperer'