Special Themes

Greetings to all of our readers and happy holidays to everyone celebrating. This is a special one, as it is our final piece of a bizarre and tumultuous year. These last twelve months have been tough for millions of people around the globe who suffered from the pandemic and lost loved ones. We can only hope that 2022 will be better for everyone.

In earlier articles, we discussed professional athletes’ unique traits and characteristics, and how those can be used to develop athletes into successful businesspeople and entrepreneurs. While such characteristics align with what you would expect from a financially successful individual, it’s clear that not all athletes succeed in their business dealings, while others take off by exploiting their traits and how they align with the competitive and fast-paced nature of certain industries. Specifically, in this article, we will explore how professional athletes’ characteristics align with the world of real estate and further discover those individuals who succeeded in the field of real estate after their professional careers.

 Gifts between members of the same family are quite common. In its simplest form, gifting, is the transfer of wealth and/or assets from one individual to another. Athlete examples include Kevin Durant, Tiger Woods and Anthony Walker. It is alleged that Dwayne Wade bought his mum a church; yes, an actual church.

Over the past two years, we have all been tasked with navigating unchartered territories, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. A catastrophe of unparalleled proportion, which nevertheless, left us with a lot of lessons that should be considered, as we try to shift towards the post-Covid era. As stated in previous articles, professional athletes have been amongst the hardest hit by this pandemic, not necessarily in monetary terms, but in terms of seeing their status quo being challenged. Athletes have to rethink the way they approach their financial well-being and have to recalibrate their strategy towards financial freedom. In this article, we seek to explore how athletes should plan ahead, learning from the lessons of the Covid-19 era, to emerge financially stronger and more independent. Specifically, we will focus on why the pandemic has made the case for the need of multiple revenue streams, and how such streams can be pursued by professional athletes.

Sports was and is one of the hardest-hit industries by the pandemic, due to the fact that it relies on live action and interaction, momentum and the gathering of large crowds in stadia and other venues. The outbreak of the virus was like Armageddon for sports which saw most of its revenue streams temporarily blocked and stadia closed indefinitely, while clubs still had to pay the enormous salaries to their athletes. For athletes of individual sports, the situation was even grimmer. The Tokyo Olympics and the Euro championship were not spared either.

"Financial literacy" has become a very a popular term these days. It basically refers to having the right set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their personal financial resources. Specifically, it is about spending within your means, investing wisely and saving for emergencies. Although these “rules” sound simple, many people find it hard to adhere to them, especially athletes.

Athletes often put their bodies through rigorous training and expose themselves to many physical risks; at the same time though, they seem to neglect their mental health and stability.  Mental illness is often overlooked by coaches, teachers, and parents of athletes as well. It is difficult for people to understand that the brain is just as important as the body when it comes to being a healthy athlete. This article will explore how mental health issues in athletes are just as important as physical injuries.

The ancients used to say ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’ and I think many people can get behind that. The relationship between mental health and physical health intuitively seems obvious. For starters, during and immediately after exercise, the human brain releases endorphins, chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine that literally make us feel good. So, it would make sense that regular good exercise can help stay away from mood disorders and maintain a healthy mental state. But what about athletes?

On the MSA blog last week we discussed the recent events involving Naomi Osaka, her mental health and her decision to withdraw from the French Open. Mental health has long been overlooked in sports and in certain cases even repressed. Mental health issues and illnesses do not fit in the yes-can-do, celebratory and electrifying environment that characterizes sports. However, athletes are constantly under the spotlight, working hard week in and week out on the pitch, while trying to keep in touch with their fans and show their philanthropic face outside of it.

Winner of 28 Olympic medals, swimmer Michael Phelps is one of a number of star athletes who has publicly discussed in recent years his struggle with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. NBA star basketball player DeMar DeRozan has also talked about the importance of addressing mental health issues, as all athletes are first of all humans. Gymnast Aly Raisman has described her efforts to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder after being the victim of sexual abuse.