I am a financial planner for professional athletes.
I have worked with everyone from:
*Top 5 picks
*League All Stars
*Players earning more than $25,000,000 per year.
7 things I preach so their money lasts long after their player career ends:
Sometimes our clients don’t need another financial strategy.
They just need our support.
Last night, our team went to watch one of our clients do his thing on the field.
Sure, we talk a lot about money moves during the year but at the end of the day, we are doing life with our athletes.
Pro sports is an incredible job, it is also a grind.
It takes a team (on and off the field) for an athlete to thrive.
Our role is to help our athletes make the most of their careers and sometimes that looks different than executing on a tax or investment strategy.
It is just being there.
Sometimes our clients don’t need another financial strategy.
They just need our support.
Last night, our team went to watch one of our clients do his thing on the field.
Sure, we talk a lot about money moves during the year but at the end of the day, we are doing life with our athletes.
Pro sports is an incredible job, it is also a grind.
It takes a team (on and off the field) for an athlete to thrive.
Our role is to help our athletes make the most of their careers and sometimes that looks different than executing on a tax or investment strategy.
It is just being there.
Average salaries of the four major sports leagues:
NBA = $11,900,000
MLB = $4,900,000
NHL = $3,500,000
NFL = $2,700,000
The three factors (outside of talent) that determine these salaries:
1) Revenues
The more money the league makes, the more money each player makes, right?
Not so fast.
The NFL is king at more than $20B.
Yet their players earn the least of the four.
The NBA while north of $12B only puts them in third amoung the leagues, yet their players make the highest average salary.
Why?
2) Roster Size Being an NBA player is far harder than being an NFL player.
Don't believe me, just look at the number.
An NBA roster has 15 players. An NFL roster has 53 players.
More mouths to feed means less for everyone at the table.
3) Collective bargaining agreement (CBA)
This is the agreement between the players and the league.
The king = MLB players union.
Why?
They have locked out.
They have a united front.
They have strong financial footing.
The result?
No salary cap.
Fully guaranteed contracts.
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Professional sports are a business first.
Players have 1-10 years in most cases to earn for a lifetime.
Outside of talent, these factors set earning power:
*Revenues
*Number of players per roster
*Collective bargaining agreement (CBA)
***If you enjoyed this, share it with someone and follow along for more at the intersection of sports and money
A quarterback came to me last spring.
I’ll call him Matt.
Matt had just signed his first NIL deal. $900,000.
He was 18 years old. Enrolled early. Hadn’t played a single college snap yet.
His phone was blowing up. His family was excited. His teammates were asking questions.
Nobody was talking about taxes.
When we finally sat down, I asked him one question.
“Matt, what did you set aside for the IRS?”
He got quiet.
“I didn’t think I had to do anything until April.”
April came.
His tax bill was deep into six figures.
He had set aside nothing.
The IRS classifies NIL income as self-employment income. You are not an employee. You are a business. And the IRS expects quarterly payments throughout the year. Not one lump sum in April.
Here is what we built together:
→ A cash, tax and savings plan with accurate projections so we knew exactly what he would owe from day one
→ An LLC with S-Corp status so he could be paid as an employee of his own company
→ A real business with tracked expenses that reduced his taxable income
→ A quarterly tax payment schedule based on our projections, eliminating penalties and interest
$900,000 is life-changing money.
Only if you keep it.
I work exclusively with athletes navigating exactly this. If that is you, or someone you know, my DMs are open.
♻️ Repost this. There is a NIL athlete somewhere who needs to read it today. Trust me.
We are 40 days away from the 2026 MLB Draft.
This is what we’re talking about with our clients waiting to hear their names called.
Before your signing bonus hits your account, there are three things you need to understand about what the IRS is about to take.
1. Most teams withhold around 22% for federal taxes.
Your actual federal liability is likely higher. The gap is often six figures and it comes due at filing. By then, most rookies are already spending money they don’t have.
2. The MiLB 401k lets you defer up to $24,500 of taxable income before the IRS touches it.
3. If you’re earning from cards, memorabilia, or appearances, a Solo 401k can shelter a significant portion of that income too.
The athletes who get this right just had someone in their corner who knew the specifics before the check cleared.
Make sure your team does too.
Two MLB players both earn $30,000,000 in their careers.
Yet at age 60, they have a net worth difference of nearly $40,000,000.
This is the path I have lived, seen, and experienced working with the most elite MLB players.
You sign the first big deal.
The money feels like it is going to last forever.
Until that one year, the down year.
Now, all of a sudden, there's no guaranteed money the next year.
Before you know it, the career is ending.
The line I always use with athletes is: "You can live like a king for a while or a prince forever," but the choice is yours.
The problem is that the choice needs to be made at the beginning of the career, not the end of the career (you know when you are 18-21).
One decision that affects the next 40 years of lifestyle. The thing to remember is this decision (unlike much of pro sports) is within your control.
A business owner client was leaving thousands on the table in taxes.
Incredibly generous family.
But like most people, every year they donated cash.
So we showed them a different approach.
Through utilizing a Donor Advised Fund + Grouping Donations, it will save them more than $100,000 in taxes.
Example of how this can work:
Let’s say you invested $100,000 into Google stock in early 2015.
Today, that position would be worth roughly $1.4 million.
Meaning you have about $1.3 million of unrealized capital gains.
Now here is where this gets interesting…
If you sold the stock first and donated cash:
• You owe ~ $267,000 in federal capital gains taxes (20% rate)
• You then donate the cash to the charity Instead, consider if you contributed the stock directly to a DAF. The result (if you donated all of it):
• ~$267,000 of avoided capital gains taxes • ~$1.4 million charitable deduction
• Potentially another ~$518,000 in tax savings (37% tax bracket)
Same generosity.
Same desired outcome.
Just one leaves you tipping the IRS, and the other leaves more money in the hands of your favorite charity.
A PARENT’S JOURNEY THROUGH YOUTH SPORTS:
Age 5: “He’s got a cannon.”
Age 6: “He’s the fastest kid out there. Coach said so.”
Age 7: “Rec ball isn’t challenging him anymore.”
Age 8: “We tried out for select. Obviously made it.”
Age 9: “$2,800 for the season. Plus uniforms. Plus tournaments. Plus hotels.”
Age 10: “Cooperstown is basically a family vacation, right?”
Age 11: “He needs a hitting guy. And a pitching guy. And probably a mental performance coach.”
Age 12: “I’m not a crazy sports parent. The OTHER parents are crazy.”
Age 13: “We changed schools. For academics. (And also baseball.)”
Age 14: “Showcases are a requirement at this age.”
Age 15: “Ya his ranking just ticked up. We’re cooking.”
Age 16: “He just needs to get seen by the right school.”
Age 17: “The D1 schools want him to walk on. He’ll earn a spot by sophomore year.”
Age 18: “Okay, D2 is actually really competitive.”
Age 19: “He’s redshirting. Strategic.”
Age 20: “He’s focusing on school now.”
Age 21: “You know what? He’s so much happier.”
Roughly 7% of high schoolers play in college.
About 1.5% of those get drafted.
Less than half of draftees ever play one day in the big leagues.
The odds of our kids going pro are somewhere between “struck by lightning” and “find a $100 in old shorts.”
I love youth sports (all my kids play a bunch of them) just keep a good perspective my friends. ✌️
Most NIL athletes making seven figures will hand the IRS roughly 40% of their income.
They don't have to.
A college athlete making $1M+ in NIL this year should be looking to contribute to a Solo 401k. Most don't know it exists or how it works.
Here's what the math actually looks like.
Contribute $72,000 to the Solo 401k.
$24,500 as the employee. $47,500 as the employer.
That's an immediate tax savings of about $26,000 this year.
Real money back in the athlete's pocket instead of in Washington's.
Now invest that $72,000 and let it compound.
Fast forward 40 years, when the athlete is 60 and long retired from whatever their second or third career was.
That single contribution could be worth $3 million.
One move. One year.
The boat sinkers in athlete finances are loud. Bad cars, bad houses, bad business partners.
The wealth builders are quiet.
Tax-advantaged accounts, smart entity structures, decisions nobody posts about.
NIL income is taxable self-employment income.
The athletes who win long-term aren't the ones with the biggest deals. Rather, they're the ones who knew what to do the moment the money hit.
What's your $3 million decision this year?
7. Invest to Not Think About It
For our athletes and business owners, their time and energy are better spent on family, health, business, and life than managing every detail of their finances.
So we fill the gap.
We act as the sounding board for major decisions, coordinate the moving pieces, and help bring the entire financial picture together.
I have worked with MLB All-Stars and $100,000,000 business owners.
7 reasons they hire a financial planner and what it looks like to work with @momentwealth:
6. Get It Right the First Time
Building a business takes years. Selling it happens once.
Building a professional career takes years. The earning window closes faster than most people realize.
Our clients often get one shot to nail these moments. While it may be their first time, it is not ours.