Donnie Nickey, former Tennessee Titans safety and 8-year NFL veteran, is now a financial advisor with Stonebridge Advisors in Brentwood, Tenn. His clients, which include players from the NFL, NBA, PGA and NHL, are an extreme example of what you can expect in advising the high-net- worth client. 

After his rookie season in 2003, he trusted his agent to find him a CPA and financial advisor to protect his interests. Thinking he was in good hands, Nickey touched base with his advisor monthly and devoted the rest of his time focusing on football.

Three years later, he noticed excessive commissions for seemingly meaningless trades in his brokerage account. Investigating further, Nickey found he was being “churned” by his financial advisor.

“I feel like I have been called to educate other current and former athletes on how to make the money they earned through sweat, blood and tears last a lifetime—or at the very least, springboard them into a successful second career,” he said.

The sudden “rags to riches” phenomenon—taking a college student to millionaire in the case of first- and second-round draft picks—skips much of the learning experience and knowledge that typical high-net-worth clients attain over the course of their careers. “Wealthy families spend time and effort grooming their younger generations on some of the skills necessary to preserve the family's assets,” he said. “Professional athletes get a crash course in wealth management over a 3-day period by the NFL at the annual NFL Rookie Symposium.”

Although your client roster may not include any NFL superstars, you need to apply the same skills to educate your customers. “Earning anyone's trust is something that takes time,” Nickey said. “This is no different than an average insurance agent gaining the trust of a new client, other than the fact that the clients are in their early 20s when they are coming into a lot of money.  Respect, like money, takes lots of time to accumulate and just seconds to lose.”