Duff Sets Up Wealth Management Firm For Rockers

LOS ANGELES - The former bassist with Guns N' Roses, Duff McKagan, has founded a wealth management firm to help fellow musicians keep hold of their money.

Recovering from a burst pancreas, the result of a hedonistic lifestyle in the 1990s, McKagan realized that he had no knowledge of what had happened to the millions he had earned as an international rock star, he told The Sunday Times in an interview.

He went on to study math at college and attended the Seattle University Albers school of business and economics, before founding a wealth management firm that intends to assist fellow musicians left with the same conundrum.

McKagan's company, Meridian Rock Capital Management, will launch in October. The rock star hopes the company will provide a more approachable alternative to accountants.

McKagan, 47, said, "When I first got out of the hospital, I was just trying to stay sober so I had to fill my time. One of the things I did was to go through my financial statements and I couldn't figure them out."

"No one took the time to explain how money works, you know, simple things -- the difference between gross and net, what a bond was, how a mortgage worked," he added.

While McKagan had not lost his multi-million-pound fortune, the music industry is littered with artists who have, including Leonard Cohen who lost $6.5 million from his retirement fund.

"Even when I was taking my first math class, I started getting calls from friends of mine who were in the same business saying, 'Duff, you're in business school, can you help me invest my money?'" McKagan said.

"I realized there was great need for some kind of advice service. It wasn't just me who was freaking out about being broke," he added.

McKagan quit Guns N' Roses, who have sold more than 100 million albums, in 1997. He formed a new band, Velvet Revolver, in 2002.