When meeting with a financial coach, it’s important to understand what types of materials you’ll receive. Ideally, you’ll receive a written plan with detailed priorities.
At NILBuckets, our Financial Playbook includes various resources that help set up athletes for success. Providing our clients with a financial overview & detailed assessment helps them organize their finances & build wealth. Below are a few of the components that should be in a detailed financial plan or playbook.
What Every Financial Playbook Should Include
Client Goals. It’s important to make a plan so that athletes know what to do with thier money. To start, it’s important to know your current financial situation and understand your short term and long term goals. Additionally, make sure you’re utilizing all of the financial tools at your disposal to make sure you’re working smart, not just hard.
Net Worth Assessment. Every plan needs a baseline, so understanding your network is key as part of the NILBuckets Financial Playbook. For a thorough net worth assessment report, clients should provide copies of their assets (bank, investment accounts, real estate, valuable personal property, etc. ) and other debts (credit cards, mortgages, student loans, etc.)
It’s important that clients don’t get discouraged if your liabilities outweigh your assets. This is very common when you’re starting to transform your financial situation, which will improve with discipline and sacrifice.
Debt Assessment. We don’t want to talk about it, but debt is that four letter word that can prevent all of your money goals from happening. While there are good types of debt and bad types of debt, we focus on cleaning up bad debt. Athletes with high-interest debt linked to credit cards might see most of their money going towards fees instead of usinfsaving and investing. Having a plan to eliminate bad debts is a crucial component to the financial playbook.
Milestones. A financial playbook should also include milestones, action steps listed in priority order with dates and dollar goals associated with them. Examples of milestones might include:
- Being debt free by ‘x’ date
- Saving ‘$x’ for your emergency fund by a certain date
- Having a 20% down payment secured by a certain date
Incorporating mestones into your financial playbook can help provide athletes with markers and goals to keep them motivated.
Emergency Funds. If something unexpected happens- a career ending injury, the loss of a job, an unexpected family medical bill, having an emergency fund helps athletes from tapping into long-term savings to cover those expenses. A financial plan should include a component that helps grow your emergency savings that can cover at least 3-6 months worth of expenses.
Progress Reports. I once had a financial advisor who set up our accounts and…. that was about it. I had to schedule time to meet with him, and our meetings were not very helpful. Within a year, we realized that the partnership wasn’t going to work out.
Your financial playbook and/or our financial coach should also include sessions to discuss your progress to date. This way, you both can see if you’re making progress and can shift your strategy if life situations call for an adjustment.
Insurance Coverage. It’s important that clients are protected with insurance, but it’s also important that they’re not overpaying for coverage they won’t need. Having the basics such as health insurance, disability, auto insurance, life insurance and more can protect athletes and their families should the unexpected happen.
Retirement Planning. Most financial professionals will ask- do you have an employer-sponsored retirement plan, like a 401K? Does your company match? If not, you can still save a percentage of your income through other investment vehicles such as an IRA.
Investment Strategy. Many times, people don’t invest because they feel this is something that only wealthy people can do. That is so wrong! Your financial playbook should include opportunities for investment. That could mean putting funds into a 401K or opening an online brokerage account to buy securities. Starting small can help you grow your portfolio over time
Protection Plan. Protecting your wealth means looking out for your future and your loved ones. Creating a will can help ensure all of your assets are protected and distributed according to your wishes. You can also provide your relatives with direction on how you would like to be cared for, who should manage your affairs and more.