www.seatconsortium.com / @SEATconference
The Foundation
SEAT Money Matters:
Financial Strategies
Shared by Jacqueline Dheere
(SEAT Sponsor & Strategic Partner)
The similarities between player development and effective financial strategies are blatant. Someone has the education and experience, so that person teaches an aspiring athlete how to swing a club, hike the ball, hold the bat, dribble, skate backward. The hopeful dreamer creates a plan, with input from experts: amount of practice, type of practice, cross-training opportunities, nutritional considerations, and necessary rest. That athlete commits to the plan, attends practice flu-ridden with taped joints, ignores social pressures, and skips the junk food at college parties for the sake of sticking to the plan and succeeding.
Effective financial professionals embrace the same model. Education comes first. Basic concepts must be learned: the Rule of 72, dollar cost averaging, pay yourself first, and use a budget. The starting point is located and evaluated (think blue bouncing dot on your phone’s GPS) and then a strategy is created to move toward the goal. The individual commits to the necessary steps, but similar to the dedicated athlete who succumbs to a marvelously greasy slice of pizza after a game, the individual slips and coaching becomes necessary to get back on track.
Coaching has the same objective in both arenas: build resiliency, speak with authenticity, foster the focus, and embrace the discipline.
People don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.
A few common elements exist in hundreds of case studies focused on bankrupt, retired athletes.
They supported an entire community at home – parents, siblings, cousins, close friends, charities, etc. who were happy to take a handout from the likely short-lived, high stream of income the player wanted to share with them.
Families can easily be provided for with the appropriate strategy, but that comes with the understanding that athletic careers may only provide large sums of money for a brief window of time. Additionally, divorce does not have to create financial hardship.