Client Profile: Tony O’Brien

By Nicole Carmichael

Taking early retirement at 50 meant Attivo client Tony O’Brien could fulfil his lifelong dream of becoming an athletics coach and running champion

N ot everyone can consider redundancy at 50 years old as an opportunity. But then not everyone is like Tony O’Brien. The Construction Manager-turned-athletics coach is the current holder of World and European Master titles across multiple running disciplines and holds the British record in his age group for the outdoor mile (four minutes, 29.6 seconds). In short: there’s no stopping him.

‘When I’m running hard, there’s only one thing I think about,’ says Tony, now 54, from Formby in Merseyside. ‘That’s strategising the race and making the right moves at the right time. You must have plans A, B and C. I say the same to the athletes I coach.’

When Tony was growing up in inner-city Liverpool, plan A for him was to leave school with a good education, get a job and settle down. His first love was sport, from kicking around a football in the street with his best mate Stephen to multi-sports at school, but the idea of turning a hobby into a profession was just a pipe dream. ‘I suppose back then we were always set on a journey of getting a job for life and finding financial security.’

Securing an apprenticeship as an electrician at North West Water (which later became United Utilities), Tony progressed to becoming a Construction Manager, reaching the pinnacle of his career working on renewable energy projects.

Between the ages of 25 and 31, he competed as an international athlete for England and Great Britain.

His wife Tracy, a Project Manager in a shipping company, was a constant support. ‘Tracy followed my sporting journey, and I would never have got to the level I did without her.’

But at 32, Tony had to put the brakes on his running passion. ‘I was getting to the point where I couldn’t balance all of the factors of trying to be a sub-elite athlete. We had three children by then and my career aspirations became my focus, which meant I could put in plenty of overtime and build up my savings. I’ve always been a saver and wanted to be financially stable to raise our children.’

Meeting Tony, you get the sense that his positivity drives him forward to be the very best at whatever he is doing, whether developing his career or training to win races. It’s this positivity that meant that after lockdown, when his role with United Utilities came to an end, Tony was happy to take on the next challenge of his life.

‘I had a defined benefit pension which offered the option of retiring at 50, plus I’d be getting a redundancy package, so I started exploring what life could be like for me on the other side. At this point, I was connected with a financial advice company that later became Attivo. I then made a conscious decision that I wasn’t going to go back into the industry, and I had the opportunity to fulfil my lifetime dream of becoming a full-time coach. Even though I wasn’t running to elite athlete level at that stage, I’d always had sport in my life, and I’d kept up my fitness at the gym and played five-a-side football.’

With the buffer of a notice period, Tony started researching how to optimise his finances. He was put in touch with Attivo, who provided him with advice and information about how to diversify his investment portfolio in order to set up his new business as an athletics coach. ‘Obviously, it was a very emotional time as there’s always going to be anxiety and fear about what the future holds,’ says Tony. ‘I really valued Attivo’s advice because when you are an employee, everything is done for you, so you have to learn all the different aspects of running your own business.’

After starting running again in 2019, Tony had been concentrating on training correctly for his age, optimising his nutrition and following a proper recovery programme. ‘I did lots of research into what works for Master [over-35] athletes and made it bespoke to me. I used myself as a guinea pig to understand how I was feeling and to translate it to other athletes.’

Tony also completed an intensive coaching training course in 2021, and his new career quickly started to fall into place, as did his successes on the track. Meanwhile, Attivo Financial Planner Ben McCarthy has been there for him every step of the way.

‘In some respects, he is like a coach, too,’ says Tony. ‘He gives me the competence to understand informed risk and how to grow and adapt. Attivo quells any anxieties I have about financial instabilities in the future, giving me clear information that I can make decisions about.

‘From reading up about resilience online and talking to other runners, I’ve built better knowledge, and I am more in control of my mindset. I get low like everyone else – that’s the bio-rhythmical nature of our lives: struggle and release and relaxation and enjoyment. If you know it’s going to come, you just need to give it time to work itself out. You can’t r ely on motivation to get yourself out of the door. You must act, and the motivation will follow.’

Tony has been a valued client of Attivo for a number of years and during that time, we’ve been able to support the family through challenging times. The plan we have built will allow Tony and Tracy to continue to chase their dreams in retirement and gives them the confidence to focus on the things that are most important at this stage in their lives. I’m inspired by Tony and Tracy’s passion for life and sense of adventure.’
Ben McCarthy, Financial Planner