Merrill Private Wealth Management and IMG Academy recently announced a new partnership for a financial literacy program to help the school's student-athletes have a better understanding of finance when they move on in their careers.
IMG is well-known for its athletic training program, having produced numerous high-level college and professional athletes in football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, soccer and other sports. In the ongoing Paris Olympics, 14 IMG alums are representing their countries, including three on Team USA, including golfer Nelly Korda, tennis player Danielle Collins, and track and field athlete Malcolm Clemons.
The partnership comes as the last few years have seen the NCAA change its policies to allow student-athletes to earn name, image and likeness (NIL) money – a move that opens up new financial avenues for college athletes but also prompts the need for greater financial literacy.
"Student-athletes are just starting out on their financial journey," Brent Richard, CEO of IMG, told FOX Business. "While they are certainly focused on their academic and athletic endeavors, they also need to understand how the financial decisions they make now may have an impact on their future. Providing them with core financial information will help them develop a solid financial foundation that they can use for the rest of their lives."
MARCH MADNESS LETS ATHLETES BOOST NAME, IMAGE, AND LIKENESS OPPORTUNITIES
Richard explained that the focus of the financial literacy initiative will be on several areas, including helping student-athletes understand how their financial decisions impact their bottom line; how their compensation can impact tax liability; developing a budget for their current and future lifestyle; protecting personal information from cyber threats; and discovering how basic and more sophisticated investment options work.
"It's really about teaching the concepts around budgeting," Greg McGauley, head of Merrill Private Wealth Management, told FOX Business in an interview. "For a young person, unless they're taught how to make a budget, they're not going to learn it."
McGauley explained that the program will in part leverage Bank of America's "Better Money Habits" educational program and covers not only budgeting but also understanding how credit and debit cards work as well as investments, diversification and the power of compounding through market simulations.
"Think about where they are today – being in boarding school, they probably have some responsibility to be able to manage some amount of money, whatever they need to have for their basic spending. But when they get to college, that's going to change a great deal," he explained. "Their ability to be able to understand and to have a credit card and debit card now, and understand the differences, is incredibly important."
"The power of compounding, learning how to budget, learning how important it is to put money into tax-deferred accounts – basic concepts at a young age can have a major impact," McGauley said. "I think it's really about getting them to be able to have the information so when those situations come up they make fully-informed and educated decisions in the moment that may have a huge impact on their lives for years to come."
Richard said that IMG's financial literacy program comes in response to the growing need for student-athletes to deal with the new collegiate athletics landscape following the emergence of NIL deals that can range into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even more than $1 million in some cases. He noted that 84% of IMG's on-campus student-athletes make college sports rosters while its online product NCSA helps nearly 30,000 students find college roster spots each year.
"Families are asking us for help in navigating this new landscape and it is our job to provide education that is relevant for the questions our families have," Richard said.
He explained that families are focused on two areas now: "First is their desire for more clarity on a confusing and evolving college matriculation landscape that is offering far more opportunity than the historical books and scholarship model. Second, is their desire for education, resources and advice on how to handle their new personal financial reality; far more students are receiving financial benefits, far sooner than they used to."
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Richard added that the financial literacy curriculum will be provided on IMG's campus in Bradenton, Florida, as well as on the IMG Academy+ and NCSA College Recruiting online platforms.
