How I Met My Client: Charles Barkley

On a typical day in mid-March, when the market reacted to concerns over possible interest rate hikes, investors — including sports analyst and former NBA player Charles Barkley — called their advisors to check in.

“Most days are busy,” said Glenn Guthrie, an independent advisor with the Birmingham Investment Group, in an interview. “It’s better than [just] sitting around … it’s good!”

Guthrie, whose group is affiliated with Raymond James (RJF) and based in Birmingham, Alabama, says he met Barkley more than 30 years ago.

“It happened over a period of time. When he was a senior in high school, I would go with a friend to basketball tournaments to see him play,” said Guthrie, who was an information-systems specialist before becoming an advisor.

“We were big fans,” he explained. “We knew [Barkley] was good. Though he wasn’t rated best in the state at the time, he would outplay the best in the state.”

Over time, Guthrie says, he got to know Barkley’s family, who lived only a few miles away from him. He also would go see Barkley play at Auburn University.

“I went to most of his college games for three years or so,” said the FA. “Then, he went professional [in 1984] and signed with the Philadelphia 76ers.”

When Guthrie visited Philly on business, he would reach out to the basketball star, who would get him a ticket. “We’d have dinner,” the advisor said.

After Barkley had been with the NBA for several years, he asked Guthrie to look into some tax matters and related issues for him.

In ’89, Guthrie officially became his advisor. “And we’re still together,” the FA explained. (When Barkley was on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in mid-February, he told CNBC, “I trust [Guthrie] with my life.”) 

The basketball star went on to play for the Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets, retiring in 2000.