Who's on your team? What's your game plan? Let's build your financial future together!

CONGRATULATIONS! ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK AND COUNTLESS SACRIFICES HAVE PAID OFF AND YOU ARE NOW IN A POSITION TO EARN A SUBSTANTIAL LIVING AS A PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE.

Too many times Professional Athletes experience the “Superman Syndrome” when the Rookie contract is signed or even with the second contract extensions. Many challenges arise with this new found wealth that cannot be anticipated such as Divorce, Injury, and non-contract extensions. It is best to consider these your “kryptonite” and create a strategy to plan for them with a Wealth Management Advisor.
Our team of financial professionals are well equipped and understand the unique challenges that are ahead for you as a professional athlete and later after sports.  At Research Financial Strategies, we take a unique approach to our planning. We believe that each client has something unique about them, something that they want to achieve during retirement.

Finding the right financial plan requires you to focus on your short-term financial needs and long-term financial goals. There is no cookie-cutter approach.

  • Discovery– seeking to understand what your goals and visions are off the field and what roadblocks are in the way.
  • Game Plan– creating a tailored plan and strategy is the key to success in your career and your financial life; helping take you to the finish line.
  • Execution– implementing the game plan designed to make your incredible visions a reality.
  • Reevaluate– continually working with you to review and maintain the implemented game plan and ensuring it evolves as you do.

This is a very personal decision.  You will need someone to do your taxes and help you plan for retirement? Do you need a long term financial plan? Do you like to do your own research and let someone else just validate and give you a second opinion?”

As hard as it may seem to lose millions of dollars, it is not uncommon. In fact, the National Bureau of Economic Research found that nearly 16 percent of NFL players drafted between 1996 and 2003 declared bankruptcy within 12 years of retirement. Even more alarmingly, 60 percent of athletes find themselves in some type of financial stress only a few years after retiring from the league. Financial advisor, Don Padilla, goes as far as to say “78 percent of NFL players, 60 percent of NBA players, and a large percentage of MLB players file bankruptcy within five years of retirement.”

Why does this happen to so many athletes? In the face of empirical data, countless horror stories, and a laundry list of professional athletes who have seen their riches wiped away from them, why has no one found a way to prevent athletes from going broke?

Professional Athletes are often young individuals who usually have limited, if any, experience managing significant sums of money. With new found wealth & fame comes many responsibilities including taxes, mortgages, insurance and retirement planning, just to name a few. If athletes do not plan properly, often times they walk away with nothing to show from decades of hard work and dedication. Additionally, roughly 80% of athletes admit to being taken advantage of by family, friends and close advisors. The choice of who to trust to manage their investments both in the short term and also throughout their life is critical to preserving hard earned wealth.

Why Research Financial Strategies?

We act as fiduciaries. Simply put, we must act in our clients’ best interests at all times.  Additionally, our clients never experience a corporate “push” of proprietary products. Our independence allows us to provide specific investment and/or financial planning recommendations without any exclusive affiliations to sway our focus from keeping your interests and needs first. This objectivity safeguards that we will always view planning and investment strategies solely in the well-being of your overall financial picture.

Below is a short list of the services we provide to athletes that help make them financially sound during their career and long after their retirement:

  • Retirement Planning
  • Large Purchase Consulting
  • Investment Consulting
  • Wealth Management
  • Mortgages and Real Estate Planning
  • Insurance Review
  • Estate Planning Strategies
  • Family Trust
  • Charitable Giving
  • Family College Savings Plans
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