Professional athletes face a financial reality most people never encounter. You earn life-changing money in a compressed window, you carry real risk of injury or sudden incapacity, and you operate in the public eye where privacy is constantly at stake. Those three factors together make estate planning one of the most important financial conversations you can have early in your career, not decades down the road. The right estate planning moves can help protect your family, you

Brendan Fraleigh, CFP, has spent years inside the world of wealth management for athletes, close enough to see what works, what doesn't, and what nobody talks about. These are his confessions.

Every athlete knows what it feels like to play without a full team behind them. No film session. No position coach. No coordinator calling plays. Just individual talent trying to figure it out alone. That is exactly what most professional athletes are doing with their money. They have people around them. An agent. A CPA. A financial advisor sending quarterly reports. But nobody is in the same room, working off the same game plan, making decisions together. In this blog, I am

A $50M exit doesn't mean a $50M payday. Without planning, a Missouri-based C-corp owner walks away with $35.7M after taxes. With the right strategy in place before the sale? $44.5M. That's $8.8M that didn't go to the IRS, it stayed with the founder. Here's how the math works.

Brendan Fraleigh, a Certified Financial Planner, breaks down everything you need to know about the 2026 NBA Pension.

Brendan Fraleigh, a Certified Financial Planner, has the latest on the 2026 NBA Retirement Plan.

Brendan Fraleigh, a Certified Financial Planner, breaks down everything you need to know about the 2026 NFL 401(k).

Brendan Fraleigh, a Certified Financial Planner, has the latest on the 2026 NFL Annuity Program.

Brendan Fraleigh, a Certified Financial Planner, has the latest on the 2026 NFL Pension.

Brendan Fraleigh, a Certified Financial Planner, has the latest on the 2026 NFL Retirement Plan.

Most MLB players know the number six. Six years of service time gets you to free agency. That number gets talked about constantly. Agents track it. Teams manipulate it. Players build their entire early career around it. The number that doesn't get nearly enough attention is 43. Forty-three days of MLB service time is the threshold that determines whether a player walks away from professional baseball with a pension benefit for the rest of his life, or walks away with nothing.

A professional golfer's apparel sponsorship portfolio is one of the most efficient wealth-building engines in sports. Unlike the NFL or NBA, where team-wide contracts dictate what you wear, a golfer is a walking billboard with full control over their inventory. When you see a player on a Sunday afternoon, every inch of their apparel from the front of the hat to the back of the collar has been negotiated, priced, and structured to maximize both cash flow and brand alignment. F

Brendan Fraleigh, a Certified Financial Planner, breaks down everything athletes need to know about NIL and the most important things advisors should be doing for you as a collegiate athlete.

The NFL Draft is one of the biggest moments in a football player’s life. It is also one of the most misunderstood moments from a financial standpoint. Draft weekend brings headlines, grades, and projections. What matters far more happens quietly over the next several years through contract structure, guaranteed money, tax planning, and long-term financial decisions. For a deeper dive into how we think about Wealth Management, specifically for athletes, make sure you check out

The line between amateur athletes and professional athletes is blurred. It used to be: · One is paid · One is not paid Today it is: · Both are paid · Each are paid in different ways Welcome to the ever-changing world of amateur sports, where players are (finally) compensated for the revenue they bring to their schools. Something that has taken far too long, but has provided athletes today with financial opportunities not seen by previous players. Those

I remember my first big league spring training. The veteran leadership had let us know the Major League Baseball Players Association was coming in the next day for our spring meeting. A naive 18-year-old, I had no idea what that meant or what we would be talking about. That meeting opened my eyes to the sacrifices former players had made to pave the way for current players. Everyone sees the ever-increasing salaries, but what many don't see is the greatest pension allowed und

Done correctly, players can get more than $16,500,000 in retirement plan benefits, countless tax savings, and access to lifelong health care. Retirement planning for professional athletes is a mix of understanding specific information and how it connects to your life. I had seen the big contract numbers. I had heard of the opportunities Major League Baseball players had. Yet, one thing I didn’t understand was the MLB benefits plan. What benefits do players get? How are those

Let me take you back to my signing day. I was 18 years old. No credit card. No clue how taxes worked. No idea what a “qualified account” was. And suddenly, I was a millionaire. We went out to celebrate with my family at a local ice cream shop. I remember sitting there thinking, "Is this real?" The next morning, I woke up and life went on, but with one major difference. The financial decisions I made from that point on would either set me up or set me back. For a lot of athlet

(How to keep more, protect more, and build what lasts.) If you're an athlete, your career will move faster than most people’s lifetime. Your earning years start earlier. Your peak is shorter. And your transition out of the game? It usually happens while your peers are just starting to hit their stride. That’s why your approach to wealth has to be different. It has to be smarter, more disciplined, and designed around your real timeline — not the one most people follow. At Mome

The biggest financial mistakes most MLB Draft picks make have nothing to do with baseball. They don’t come from strikeouts, slumps, or...