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.

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

The biggest financial mistakes most MLB Draft picks make have nothing to do with baseball. They don’t come from strikeouts, slumps, or stat lines. They come from what happens off the field — and when they make their first financial decisions. And almost all of it comes down to one choice: They wait to hire their financial team. MLB Draft Window For most players, Draft Day feels like the finish line. But financially, it’s the starting block. Those first 30 days are when the mo

“Wait, you mean to tell me I owe more in taxes?” This was me circa 2009 when it came time to file my tax return. You see, I had just signed my first MLB contract, paid what I thought was a king’s ransom in taxes, and here I was still owing more. Fast forward a few decades, and I have the opportunity to lead Moment Private Wealth. A financial planning firm that specializes in athlete wealth management. They say history repeats itself, and that certainly feels true as we advise

Draft day is electric. Years of work finally pay off - and for the first time, life-changing money is on the table. But here’s the reality no one tells you: That headline signing bonus? It’s not what actually lands in your account. And the decisions you make in the first 90 days determine whether that moment becomes a launchpad for long-term wealth… or a story of missed opportunity. At Moment Private Wealth, this is where we come in. We help athletes take control of the money

Every year the MLBPA or the Major League Baseball Player's Association speaks during Spring Training to players. Every year the messaging sounds the same and usually has some combination of this: "You will be a former player a lot longer than you are a current player so make sure you understand all of your benefits." One thing I realize now more than ever before is retirement planning as a professional athlete starts with understanding service time and league benefits. Player

"This is the big leagues"! My exact thought as I was walking aimlessly through the Detroit Tigers' clubhouse in 2011. I was a 20-year-old trying to figure out how this "big league" thing worked. It felt like every need I had was being met proactively by a world-class staff and clubhouse attendants. I never thought a clubby would help me save thousands of dollars on my taxes. Yet, that is exactly what happened when a clubhouse attendant, in passing, asked if I was contributing

The day I had waited 18 years for had come, yet instead of excitement, I felt this wave of unknowns. You know, that feeling you get when a big moment is on the horizon but you also realize the stakes are as high as possible. That was me on draft morning in 2009. Now look, I would say I had a better education on the MLB draft than most potential draftees and I still felt that way. I had three high school coaches who were 10-year big leaguers with one, Andy Benes, having been t

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 unde

Done correctly players can get hundreds of thousands in retirement plan contributions, 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 th