As a professional golfer, your financial situation is complex: you’re in the highest tax bracket, you only receive 1099 income as opposed to W2s, you have a public financial status, and you play and are taxed in multiple countries throughout the year – just to name a few.

Your situation is unique, your solution should be, too. That’s the inspiration behind the PGA Players’ Podcast – where each week, former Korn Ferry and PGA Tour golfer turned private wealth advisor, Aaron Goldberg, CFP® will discuss the most important questions you should be asking, the nuances to your situation, and how to make sure you are able to build wealth and create a lasting legacy.

In this week’s episode, Aaron is joined by co-founder of AWM Capital and former professional baseball player Erik Averill, CFP®, CPWA®, CKA® to discuss some of the ways athletes financial situations differ and some of the most important questions to be asking.

Key Topics Discussed

• Who is qualified to be your financial advisor? (1:59)
• What makes your financial situation unique as a professional golfer? (2:24)
• The implications of being in the top 1% of earners (3:04)
• Where should players be getting financial information? (6:22)
• “But if your parents aren’t professional athletes, they’re financial advisor is probably not right for you because they don’t know what to look for” (7:15)
• “What I think is almost equally dangerous is the mediocre advisors, the ones that don’t know what they don’t know.” (7:18)
• Your job as an athlete is to perform on the course – not to know everything that goes into your financial world (7:54)
• “when you hire people that have had that experience with other athletes, whether it be baseball players, whether it be football players, whether it be golfers, they know the pitfalls that come up and the ways that we can maximize net worth for our clients by capitalizing on their human capital and making sure that we take advantage of every opportunity that they have” (7:58)
• How different are golfers when it comes to taxes? (9:55)
• “You are the business, your game is the business. You're going to be the biggest driver of your financial future as a player” (11:29)
• What’s the most important question I should be asking of my financial advisor to see if they’re qualified? (13:29)