You might suspect that in the extended entourage of most professional athletes, a financial planner might be an important part of the posse.
Unfortunately, even the most well-rewarded of basketball and football stars don't always take the time to do the proper planning to make their income last long beyond their time in the sports spotlight – especially when those careers can go sideways in a minute.
The Chicago Tribune notes that those much-adored professional athletes are getting some professional advice of their own and some assistance from their players' associations, hoping to help make retirement a little easier prospect.
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As part of the NBA contract negotiated last year, players will be contributing 1 percent of their income to a fund for after-retirement benefits. Those funds could be allocated for LTCI or annuities; the details are still being worked out but suffice to say, even 1 percent of some of those salaries is a significant amount of money.
The NFL is also increasing the scrutiny it pays to the financial well-being of its players. Football's players' association has dropped its existing list of finacial advisors and is adopting a new set of background checks and higher fees for those advisors who make the cut.
The basic advice on making retirement a healthy financial experience remains the same for both early retiring sports millionaires and regular folks, however.
Femi Shote, co-founder of the Sports Financial Advisors Association and president of Asset Harvest Group, gets to work with some of the biggest stars in the sporting world. His strategy is to take the actual statements of his existing clients and show them to players who haven't made their plans yet.
"It makes it real for them to see an amount someone has saved, like $2 million or $5 million, and then to talk about the amount of income that person is drawing down to live on in retirement," Shote told the Tribune. "It shows them how even a big number isn't as much as you think."
Consumers are also warned to shop around when it comes to picking a financial advisor, and to interview at least three potential prospects, rather than just taking a reference from a family friend. They're also becoming more aware of the issues of compensation, what level of customer care they'll receive and how fee-only advisors differ from the rest.
Athletes – and consumers – are also being warned to consider the long-term implications of the products they choose, be they annuities, actively managed funds or more benign investments.
Andre Mirkine, associate vice president-investments with Wells Fargo Advisors and president of the sports advisors association, said investors should still be aiming high.
"Anything more than zero savings, I'm satisfied," Mirkine said. "If you can get to 5 to 20 percent (of income), you're hitting a home run."
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