panopticon
Superstar
These advisors be playing chess
I'll put up a more detailed post later.
But for now, I just want to say - the vast majority of athletes should not need any sort of financial advisor.
Given the extraordinary losses suffered by so many players due to poorly thought out private equity investments, shytty real estate deals, single-name securities investments (rather than indices), bizarre loan structures and tax minimization "strategies", their best bet would be to do the following:
1) Go to the biggest-name bank in their city (BoA, Chase, Citi).
2) Set up all game checks, sponsorship checks, etc. to direct deposit to their fukking checking account.
3) Don't "invest" a fukking penny until they're done playing. Literally allow it to pile up in their checking account earning bullshyt interest.
4) At some point, maybe move some money into a linked savings account (usually these get opened automatically when you set up a checking account).
The Feds, their home state, and states in which they play away games will automatically withhold whatever taxes they owe on their game checks. There won't be much, if any of a tax refund for them.
Filing their taxes should be a simple as going to a fukking storefront H&R Block. Larger dollar amounts don't make taxes any more complicated than smaller ones. Income is income is income.
Will they miss out on 10 or even 15 years of investment returns? Yes.
But it means there isn't the possibility of losing their entire fortune to some fukking crook.
When they're done playing, they can turn their focus to properly investing all the cash they've amassed. They'll have the time and energy necessary to vet advisors, and learn as much as possible about how to preserve and grow their wealth. Trying to do that while also focusing on being an extraordinary athlete is too much for the vast majority of people.
