Financial literacy is not the top of a professional athlete’s agenda when they are competing at the highest level, but if past bankruptcy stories of ex-professionals suggest anything, maybe it is time for them to think about this before they hang up their boots.
Jess Biggs, Head of Growth at FirstWealth, writes for Insider Sport on her first-hand experiences of life after sport, why financial planning is taking on greater importance in the social media age and five key principles financial teams can help athletes for their post-playing career.
There is nothing like the life of an elite athlete. No matter what sport you play, it’s a rollercoaster of incredible highs and tough lows. It’s something I experienced myself, playing a high standard of hockey when I was younger until injury forced me to stop.
I also know how it can end all of a sudden and what that feels like. One minute you’re part of a team, doing something you love; the next, you’re an ex-player, and you have to work out your next move.
Even those who go on to have long, celebrated and rewarding careers must face that moment. Emotionally, it is very tough; what compounds that for professional athlete’s is the financial impact. It’s the same whether your peak earning years saw you bring in £50,000, £500,000 or £5m.
The financial illiteracy phenomenon in an evolving landscape
Despite this inevitability, how many professional athletes are truly prepared for that moment?
Many would argue that they are, yet anecdotal evidence suggests a different story. We’ve all read the high-profile bankruptcy cases and the ‘where are they now’ articles, but people don’t need to be in the news to have not maximised their wealth in retirement. This is hardly surprising when we consider that 71% of UK adults don’t know how a savings account works.
This isn’t pointing fingers; one trait common among elite athletes is the ability to focus solely on what they need to do to perform at a high level, and much of the support they receive is geared towards that as well.
Both athletes and their advisors can only operate with the knowledge and structures available to them, and they’re often hamstrung by the same issues that dog the wider population; namely, a lack of financial education.
I’ve worked with people earning seven figures who do not understand tax brackets. They think that if you earn over £125,000, you pay 45% on everything, not just the bit above that threshold. These are accomplished people who, like athletes, are masters in their specific fields.
But financial literacy is not taught in schools, and often parents do not know how to explain it either. As a result, we get a situation where there is a widespread lack of retirement planning, even among the educated.
Athletes also have to contend with a shifting landscape that renders old attitudes redundant. The earning potential in some sports has gone through the roof, while in others, it has become more precarious having previously been predictable and stable. Both scenarios demand new approaches to managing finances, both for the now and the future.
How attitudes to financial literacy will change
There are and always have been outliers of course, people who start thinking about life after sport while still competing at the highest levels. We see the visible examples: punditry, dipping their toes in new businesses, taking coaching badges.
The tides are turning. We’re seeing athletes starting to make those moves much earlier in their careers. There’s a realisation that it won’t last forever; they may have seen their heroes fall on hard times, or as with the general public, they might have picked up on the wave of financial ‘advice’ widespread on social media.
This shift in financial understanding is also demonstrated by the rise in new types of insurance. Protection against potentially career-ending injuries has been available for years, but now we’re seeing products around reputation damage, critical at a time when a social misstep can cost significant sponsorship opportunities. That has an immediate impact, but it can also disrupt retirement plans.
It is positive to see this shift, but tips, suggestions and one-off products are ad hoc adjustments; they are not full financial literacy. So, how do professional athletes turn that interest, that curiosity, into something that will have a genuine positive impact on their long-term financial future?
Turning financial curiosity into financial literacy
- Know your cashflow, know your lifestyle – To begin with, it is critical that athletes know how much money they are making. This may sound obvious, but when you have basic salary, performance bonuses, sponsorships, prize money and other endorsements, keeping track of all the different income streams can be challenging. But it’s critical that everyone has an understanding of what they’re making, because it’s only with that knowledge that they can align it with their lifestyle. In doing so, they can see whether they are making enough to fund how they live, or whether adjustments need to be made.
- Decide what you want your future after sport to look like – Athletes can’t assume everything will work out, that they’ll move into coaching, punditry or lucrative business roles. They need to take the time to understand what that means from a financial perspective, how that aligns with their current circumstances and plan accordingly. Even if a coaching role, for instance, is waiting for them, they’re effectively starting a new career, and with that comes a significant adjustment in income.
- Start building a post-sport team – Right now, many athletes have access to coaches, agents, trainers, nutritionists; advisors all geared to helping them maximise their abilities. But teams change, and it’s never too early to think about who is right to help shape what the next career looks like. That means thinking about values, and who aligns with them, not just who promises the best returns or pushes certain products.
- Hold that team to account – The V11 story highlighted how unscrupulous advisors can exploit trusting clients, so it is vital that athletes do not blindly trust what they are told. It is perfectly fine to challenge and interrogate potential advisors on what they know, who they work with and what qualifications they have in order to weed out conflicts of interest.
- Build your own knowledge – That team needs to have the right expertise, but it is important that athletes develop their own knowledge as well. Being able to challenge, have their own ideas and consider options is important to making sure that the advice they’re being given aligns with their financial plan. There is more information available than ever before, so it pays to build personal understanding. That extends to critically assessing what’s factually accurate and what’s clickbait, particularly when dealing with unregulated social media influencers.
What’s next: improving financial literacy and planning
No one can know what’s going to happen, so the best any of us – whether an international athlete at the apex of sport or just breaking into a team – can do is develop a plan that offers flexibility, resilience and is structured to provide a decent quality of life – whatever happens.
It’s all underpinned by improved financial literacy. Ignorance isn’t bliss, it’s often very expensive, and athletes need to know what’s available to them and what they need to do.
There is a growing awareness among the professional athletes we speak to, and as 2026 unfolds, I believe we’ll reach a tipping point where proper planning for the future becomes a priority rather than an afterthought.
Jess Biggs is the Head of Growth at FirstWealth, a UK financial planning firm that provides wealth management services to entrepreneurs and professionals. She leads FirstWealth’s Sports and Entertainment Division, having joined the company in June 2025 from Evelyn Partners. Biggs is tasked with delivering strategic client experiences and partnerships to maintain support for clients from the relevant FirstWealth experts.
