Money Smart Athlete Blog

Editorials

Editorials

October 2023 Editorial: Athletes & the NIL developing landscape

With the recent developments in collegiate athletes’ Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights, a plethora of new opportunities for brand capitalization and monetization have emerged, translating into generous new income sources. Student athletes are now encouraged to work not only on their athletic performance but also on building a name for themselves and the image they want to portray to their fans and the general public. A public persona with a strong social media presence and great reach can lead to important endorsement deals, sponsorships and partnerships. However, these NIL developments need to be handled with caution, since they come with complex NCAA regulations, as well as challenges and controversies.

Editorials

February 2022 Editorial: Athletes investing in blockchain and the Crypto space

It is highly unlikely that you haven’t heard of cryptocurrencies, crypto-assets, crypto-funds, or whatever other name is used to describe these electronic currencies. It all started with Bitcoin and its mysterious founder Satoshi Nakamoto. Despite the negative publicity surrounding the crypto world with its perceived relationship to criminal activity, money laundering and terrorist financing, it has gained ground with regular people and mainstream investors. Its decentralized nature has drawn millions of people from all over the world and it has made millionaires and billionaires overnight. It has also recently gained the attention of central bankers and politicians, such as Hilary Clinton and regulatory debates regarding the crypto space have already begun.

Editorials

January 2022 Editorial: Sport parenting- The importance of laying the right foundations

We will begin this year by discussing the importance of laying the right foundations, a particularly tough challenge for parents of young athletes. Our themes for this month will be early financial literacy, gratitude, social responsibility and peer pressure.  Our formative years are of the utmost importance since that is when we are equipped with the tools and knowledge to go out in the world. Children are like blank slates and the younger they are taught something the better they will understand it as they grow, which is why is important to educate your child financially at a young age.  

Editorials

December 2021 Editorial: Sports Betting and Athletes

Betting or gambling is one of the oldest social activities of civilization. Gambling preceded history and record-keeping. The betting industry has been growing for decades. It was assisted by the digital revolution which rendered betting as easy as writing a text message and it was further boosted by the legislative changes in the US three years ago. Several market researchers believe that the market will experience meteoric rise over the next few years, with the size of the industry rising well over $100bn.

Editorials

November 2021 Editorial: Athletes and Real Estate Investments

Athletes are encouraged to plan for their future early on. The short duration of sport careers in combination with the high earnings, deems early and efficient financial planning a necessity for athletes. A huge part of that is saving and then investing those savings in places that would hopefully guarantee athletes a healthy cash flow in their lives post-retirement.

Editorials

October 2021 Editorial: Athletes planning for the future in the post-Covid era

The novel coronavirus – Covid-19 – broke into our lives almost two years ago and altered every aspect of our reality. Offices moved online, sporting events lost their magic and human interaction changed fundamentally. We can only hope that we are briskly taking back control of our lives with the increasing rate of vaccination and the gradual washing away of the virus itself.

Editorials

September 2021 Editorial: Off the Pitch: Athletes and Investments

Investing is one of the key ways that athletes can achieve the financial goals they have set in their financial and life plan.  Through investing athletes can make their money work for them and take charge of their financial security by growing their wealth and by generating additional income streams to support their desired lifestyle.

Editorials

July 2021 Editorial: The Mental and Emotional Health of Athletes

The challenges in the lives of athletes are many; their wellbeing is impacted by their situation both on and off the field, while injuries, mental and physical pressures are a natural by-product of competing at a high level. The psychological stressors experienced by athletes put a lot of strain in their mental state and they can have devastating results.

Editorials

June 2021 Editorial: The Silent Rise of Esports

Electronic Sports, commonly known as Esports, have been gaining a lot of ground during the past decade.  Esports has been experiencing huge popularity during the past few years because, among other things, it is considered a far more inclusive sport than other sports where there is no gender, age, race or any other discrimination:  Everyone has the potential and can train to be a professional gamer.

Editorials

January 2021 Editorial: Common Financial Challenges of Pro-Athletes

Happy New Year to all!  The past year has been a hell of a year for all of us.  The coronavirus pandemic has swept the whole world, sport and athletes included, with a devastating ripple effect.  Our wish for this year is to keep safe and healthy, manage to recover from the COVID effects and move on to a growth path again!

Editorials

November 2020 Editorial: The Commercialization of the Student Athlete Image and the NCAA Amateurism Criterion

Since its establishment under President Theodore Roosevelt, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been the administrative and coordinating body of college sports. Virtually unknown to the rest of the world, the NCAA, its policies and intransigence have been a focal source of controversy regarding the image rights of student athletes in the US largely because the NCAA has been at the epicentre of every reaction against the professionalization of college sports.

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