The Real Athlete Blog

Introducing The KR Group Monthly Broadcast for Professional Athletes with Access Athletes

92906 Views

One of our goals for 2011 was to begin creating educational products for athletes. We set out to build on top of the strong foundation that we already have in place here at AccessAthletes.com by delving into other mediums, in an effort to give our athlete readers more options when it comes to being informed and maximizing their potential.

I'm very happy to announce the launch The KR Group Monthly Podcast for Professional Athletes with Access Athletes. Each month, both Dr. Tim Thompson, our VP of Educational Programs and human relations expert, and yours truly, will be recording a podcast in Philadelphia together with Scott Kaminsky and Matt Ramer of the KR Group at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). It is produced by Digilog Sound & Image of Philadelphia.

Before I get to the podcast's format and what's in store for you for you all this month, I wanted to give a little background about Scott and Matt and what led to us to collaborate with them on this project.

Scott Kaminsky and Matt Ramer are Vice Presidents of the KR Group in Morgan Stanley's Philadelphia office. Scott is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) who received his B.S. in Accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1989, where he also played on the baseball team. His partner Matt, an Estate and Retirement Planning Specialist, received his Bachelor's Degree in Economics and American Studies from Brandeis University. Matt is an Auxiliary Captain in the U.S. Air Force, as well as an Angel Flight Pilot. They were both named to Philadelphia Magazine’s 2010 FIVE STAR: Best in Client Satisfaction Wealth Manager listing in 2009 and 2010.

What impressed me the most about Scott and Matt is their commitment to educating athletes and helping them make informed financial decisions. In early November, Scott Kaminsky traveled down from Philadelphia to share a study, which both he and Matt commissioned, called the 5 Biggest Challenges Facing Professional Athletes. This well-researched study, produced by the Empire Research Group, provides a great deal of solid information and statistics in an easy-to-understand format.

The study is broken down into 5 challenges: (1) Overindulgence, (2) Debt Control, (3) Misplaced Trust, (4) Family Issues, and (5) Wealth Preservation. Not only does it dissect the root causes behind many of the financial issues experienced by many professional athletes, it also lays out 5 action steps for success. These include (1) Build the Proper Team, (2) Advisor Trust Guide, (3) Tax Planning, (4) Protect Your Assets, and (5) Create a Financial Plan. At the end, it instructs athletes that the choice is theirs - whether they want to "live large for a few years" or "live comfortably forever."

Athlete Education on the Rise: Get into the Game

by Dr. Timothy Thompson 05-19-2011 11:59 PM Finance | Athlete Career Development | Education | Human Relations

15553 Views

In a May 10, 2011 Yahoo! Sports website article entitled Fighter summit educates about finances, author Kevin Iole showed his readers that athlete education about a variety of subject areas that are closely related to the athlete's professional status is on the rise. Iole's article explained how the recent third annual Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Fighter Summit focused much of its attention on teaching the pro fighters how to apply their training discipline to the management of their money, as well as to other important life decisions.

I regard this as a highly encouraging sign that there's a real growing market among some athletes for learning how to be smart about leveraging their influential social roles to achieve lasting benefits for themselves, their families, and their communities. And the more this market of life-long learners grows, the bigger the part pro athletes will be poised to play in inspiring young people to develop the kinds of multi-dimensional decision-making skills that will help our country's future leaders to respond effectively to the new and different challenges that we're all facing.

Whenever I read stories about guys like all-pro tight end Tony Gonzalez or former all-pro linebacker Lavar Arrington, among others, making the most of their life opportunities beyond pro football, I get an increasingly hopeful feeling that the stage is being set for pro athletes to show others how to get and stay in "the zone" off the field as well as on it. After all, the holistic thinking, precise mental focus, and painstakingly consistent ritualistic performance preparation behaviors that all highly tuned athletes must sustain can easily translate to any type of human activity. Therefore, all a pro athlete really needs in order to taste similar success outside of his or her sport is a strong desire to make it happen and effectively conveyed guiding information that emphasizes practical how-to tools and techniques.

Athletes, the Time to Invest in Real Estate is Now

by Matthew Allinson 05-12-2011 09:45 PM Finance

10537 Views

This is a guest post from Ikem Chukumerije, CEO/President of SportsRelocation.com

The stories have been flooding the news wires for months now. It seems you can’t pick up a newspaper or turn on the television without hearing about another foreclosure or another town struggling under the weight of the current recession. Job growth is weak at best, the stock market resembles a Yo-Yo with its up and down nature, and nobody is really sure when things will turn around for the economy.

In other words, this is the perfect time for professional athletes to invest in real estate. That last sentence wasn’t a misprint! This really is a great time to look at long-term investing and there is no better long-term investment out there than real estate.

Something To Think About: Introduction

by Matt Ramer 02-22-2011 02:24 AM Finance

5868 Views

The culture of Professional sports is in so many ways glamorous. In fact, more often than not, among the first thoughts one has when thinking of Professional Athletes is their life style and levels of income. We often marvel at some of the current day contracts and wallow in thoughts of how much those paychecks can be. However, while the paychecks may be enormous, do too many of us, including these athletes, make the error of not discriminating between the size of a paycheck, and the amount of career earnings?

Would it surprise you to learn that the average physician in America earns significantly more during their career than the average NFL player? However, we are in awe of the NFL player not because of their career earnings, but because of how big their contracts are perceived to be. And yet, each and every year, retired players are running out of money and declaring bankruptcy. How can that be?

Lamar Odom to battle the IRS all by his lonesome

by Noah Matheu Sheer 11-13-2010 06:16 PM Finance | Sports Business

15917 Views

As if it wasn't bad enough that Lamar Odom gets exorbitant fines for committing a flagrant foul and then fined again for voicing his opinion to the referee. He'll now fight an uphill battle challenging the IRS for back-taxes over...semantics?

Can an ex-NFL star achieve a balanced portfolio?

by Matthew Allinson 10-20-2010 12:40 AM Finance | Life After Sports | Trusted Athlete Educator | Athlete Career Development

37138 Views

MSN Money recently rolled out a new online reality series called The Invested Life. Over the next 9 months, it will feature the stories of 7 real-life investors who will be working with financial coaches to transform their portfolios and lives. Among these investors is former NFL linebacker Winfred Tubbs who played in the League for 7 seasons (Saints and 49ers) and retired in 2000. Tubbs is paired with his long-time confidant and Financial Advisor Ed Butowsky, and is on a quest to manage his money properly and have a balanced portfolio now that he is entering the married life and preparing for his daughter's college education.

Safeguarding Money Management

by Marc Silverman 10-04-2010 11:47 PM Finance

11409 Views

Sports business is big business. Owners are prospering and athletes’ salaries are at an all-time high. With such escalation in salaries over the past five years, effective money management for professional athletes is even more crucial. In order to prosper long after the cheering ends, an athlete must avoid both poor and improper money management. There is a very large difference between the two. Due to their differences, there are diverse ways to combat them.