Advice for NFL Retirees

Tips from a financial adviser to the pros

September 11, 2008 RSS Feed Print

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It sounds as if there's a lot of hand-holding...
I care about these guys, but I'll be very blunt in telling them they're making moves that are destroying their financial future and if they continue on that track there' s not going to be anything me or anybody else will do to save them. We give them straight-up reality. Earlier on in my career, I was just happy to get them as a client. I'd kind of "yes" them and do another spreadsheet to figure out a way to let them afford that Bentley or that Phantom. Today it's the opposite. We do a lot of services for these clients we won't be compensated for, like setting up bill pay to managing benefits. Without doing all these extras for them, we're really putting them back in harm's way. I don't want to be associated with somebody who ends up in a "Where Are They Now?" story.

Is the job more fun than your average financial adviser's?
I enjoy it a lot. We're on the road every weekend at the pro games to do in-season reviews with our clients in their home cities. To make a difference in their financial planning is a phenomenal thing because I see the other side. I've seen players taken advantage of, players who've lost money—all the negative sides of this business. It's a great feeling to be able to change the way things go.

Tags:: NFL,; football,; sports,; retirement

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Parthemer hits it right on the head. Unfortunately, we (players) tend to get caught up in what we never had when we were young. It is nice to have the $$ to purchase about anything you want. Over past year starting to work closer with my planner and now feel very confident I will have something to fall back on. Heard good things about Parthemer and hope both current and future players will follow a CFP advise.

Shutdown Corner of OH 11:45AM November 04, 2008

With all due respect, this article is focused on recent retirees from the National Football League, who have enjoyed six- and seven-figure salaries that earlier generations of players never even dreamed of receiving. Moreover, since 1993, the National Football League Players Association has bestowed extremely generous and unprecedented ancillary benefits on modern-era players for their post-football years. These ancillary benefits include severance pay, 401(k) plan, pension plan, five years of health insurance, health care reimbursement accounts, three years of tuition reimbursement (totaling $45,000), and more. All of these benefits have been given to then-active players for their post-football lives since 1993 and BEFORE improvements for those who built the game are even considered. While this article was very interesting, a far more compelling article could have been written about those who retired decades ago and who today struggle with the long-term effects of their football injuries, while the union turns its collective back.

Former Baltimore Colt of MD 8:39AM September 13, 2008

Not many of us have exactly this problem, but Mr. Shinkle's article is interesting nonetheless. I've always been intrigued by studies showing that lottery winners tend to fritter away their large windfalls in a relative short period of time. I would be interested to see a piece by Mr. Shinkle explaining what cognitive psychology has to say about why humans generally fail to plan adequately for future setbacks or future catastrophes.

L.B. Lidsky of FL 9:55PM September 11, 2008