After Your Sports Career: Are you Prepared?
I recently read an article about the National Basketball Retired Players Association's program to help retired athletes transition to so-called civilian life. Charles Smith, a nine-year NBA veteran, is heading up the effort to help retired pro athletes.
Smith's efforts are admirable. However, when a retired pro baller gets to the situation where he needs major assistance in getting his financial house in order, it begs the question: Where was the agent to begin with? Why didn't the player's agent offer to set up his client with financial advice, tax shelters, and retirement planning? I am not suggesting that all agents need to delve into areas with which they are unfamiliar. Still, an agent absolutely must be willing and able to offer the resources for his client to take advantage of. Of course the article is correct when it states that only the athlete can come to the realization that he needs to plan for his future:
Sometimes the first challenge is convincing players that they need to plan at all. They live in a world of instant gratification and relative comfort. The average N.B.A. salary is about $5.8 million, and the minimum is $457,000. No one ever anticipates losing it all.“I understand they’re sitting there and: ‘It ain’t me. It’s not going to happen to me,’ ” Smith said. “You got to think that way. But on this side of the fence, and when you’re getting ready to retire, now we have to shoot straight with them.”
In my view, agents need to be more proactive. Agents can, and should, do everything in their power to make sure that their clients are more than simple money-generating machines. They should understand that the clients are human beings, often from underprivileged backgrounds, who need someone to counsel them on their financial future, or at the very least to steer them toward a professional so that they will not end up like Antoine Walker.
