Financial planning for professional athletes is a whole different ballgame than planning for everyday people. They make lots of money for the sports they play and their money needs to be trusted with a professional planner such as the ones found at fortislux.com. For financial advisers, working with professional athletes is a very sought after niche. It can be very prestigious and sometimes glamorous to be intermixed into their world. However, there are many challenges that financial planners need to be prepared for when working with professional athletes. Below are some rules for success.
Education
One of the bigger challenges that planners will face is trying to educate athletes about finances. The best thing you can do when first working with athletes is to help them set a realistic budget to work with. Along with the budget, it is important to educate them about saving for the future. It can be difficult to pull this off because athletes are constantly traveling and busy.
Gatekeeping
Many successful athletes are not used to being told “no” to things. Many are coddled from early childhood. When it comes to dealing with their money, someone needs to say “no” on their behalf. Helping clients deal with avoiding unwise or unnecessary investment propositions will require much sensitivity, understanding and diplomacy.
Setting Goals
It has been proven that as much as seven out of ten professional athletes end up going broke after their sports careers are over. As a financial planner, it is important to ensure the money they make now will last long after their careers are over. Along with making the money last, it is important to work with clients about setting goals. This could be savings goals or investment goals.
Investment Strategies
Tax efficiency is the key to maintaining a professional athletes portfolio. Because they tend to be in the highest tax brackets, they can end up having to pay around fifty percent. This will ultimately depend on the states they live in and surcharges involved. Even for athletes who have signed long term contracts, investments should always be done with minimal risks.
Financial planning is extra important for professional athletes. None of them know exactly when their careers could suddenly be over. The key is to make the money they earn last for many years. Financial planning is easier when the clients are active participants and not passive about their financial situations.
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 12th, 2017 at 5:05 pm and is filed under Financial planning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.