Tom Brady looks on before an NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on September 22, 2024.
Cooper Neil | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
JPMorgan Chase has recruited some of the biggest names in American sports to help solve a persistent problem: professional athletes going bankrupt.
The bank on Wednesday announced an initiative called the JPMorgan Chase Athlete Council, led by two-time NBA Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade and featuring other high-profile athletes including Tom Brady, Sue Bird, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, A’ja Wilson and Jalen Brunson.
The stars will meet with JPMorgan executives to help the bank develop programs designed to serve athletes from college to professional life and retirement, JPMorgan said in a statement.
The move reflects growing competition between banks and wealth managers to serve athletes, the most prominent of whom are increasingly becoming entrepreneurs, investors and media figures.
Most athletes don’t receive personal finance training in school, and their relatively short careers leave a narrow earning window that requires careful planning, according to JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets. About one in six NFL players declare bankruptcy within 12 years of retirement, the bank said.
“We’ve heard the same thing over and over again, which is that a lot of young athletes are making money very suddenly, they’re developing unsustainable lifestyles, they’re not always getting good advice around them, and they’re the ones who are lucky,” Kristin Lemkau, head of JPMorgan Wealth Management, told CNBC’s Leslie Picker on Wednesday.
Wade said in the release that the initiative gives athletes a chance to share hard-earned experiences with the next generation.
“Having the right educational resources and guidance is essential to making wise money decisions as your career evolves,” he said.
WNBA player Wilson said it was important to her to be able to share her financial management skills with the next cohort of professional athletes.
“We’re starting to try to turn the page and help the next generation of young people understand that you have to build trust, you have to set boundaries and know exactly how you want to operate with your money,” Wilson told CNBC.
The bank is also establishing an Athlete Center of Excellence staffed by financial professionals with sports experience and launching a content hub with checklists for athletes navigating the name, image and likeness, or NIL, system and guides for building a roster of advisors.
— CNBC’s Laya Neelakandan contributed to this report.