Top 5 Financial Tips and Tools for College Bound Athletes

This article was written by a guest contributor, Amobi Okugo. Amobi is the founder of A Frugal Athlete, an online financial media platform that promotes prudent financial practices and smart career decisions among professional athletes and student-athletes.

As a high school student-athlete, there are quite a few things that you need to make sure you have in order to make the smooth transition to the collegiate level both on and off the field.

The transition from a high school student-athlete moving into college is no small feat. The fact that you are one of the select few to make the jump from playing high school sports to playing at the collegiate level is something only a select few elite student-athletes are able to do.

It doesn’t matter if you play D1, D2, NAIA, D3, or even Juco, you should be proud of the fact you were able to take your game to the next level.

With any transition, especially when you transition up a level, there comes great responsibility. Responsibility is what separates the pretenders from the champions.

In college, you are the driver of your destiny. While you are driving, you will be faced with roadblocks and blind spots. It’s up to you to make the right decisions to make it to the next level.

College is a pivotal moment in your life because it’s usually the first moment when you are on your own and have to take care of yourself financially. Being smart financially during your pivotal college years can help give you the head start you need for when you eventually move on.

Whether or not you move on to play professionally in your respective sport, you will be a professional in something whether it’s the corporate space, real estate sector, entrepreneurship, etc. You have to be financially literate so you’re able to make strategic decisions that can help you in the long run.

With NIL coming into play, every athlete has the capability to monetize their name, image, and likeness. While the monetization pay scale will fluctuate depending on who you are, performance, status, location, and several other factors, the ability to at least make some money for yourself is enticing.

Just like you learn the basics in your respective sport, you need to learn the basics when it comes to finances. With that said, here are the top financial literacy tips, tools, and strategies for high school student-athletes moving into college.

TIP #1: BUDGET

If you don’t have control of your money, then your money has control of you, and that’s not good. Understanding what is coming in and what’s going out is essential to building any sort of financial freedom. Understanding cash flow and income versus your month-to-month expenses will give you a better sense of how to organize your spending habits.

It doesn’t matter if you are making $100 dollars or $100,000 dollars you have to have a budget that keeps you disciplined, organized, and accountable on how to navigate your money management. It would be like having a class without a syllabus or being a football quarterback without a playbook.

TOOL TO USE: MINT APP

This is a great tool to help you digitally organize your budget. It will help you keep track of how much money you are making and where your expenses are going. It also helps with goal setting, expense management, and overall decision-making awareness

TIP #2: AVOID INCOME CREEP

The biggest mistake people make when they start making money is that they allow their expenses to grow with them, ultimately leading you back to where you started and sometimes even worse. Income creep is the concept that as you make more money, you spend more money.

With college athletes being in a situation where you are getting scholarships, financial aid, NIL money, etc it’s easy to forget that you still have obligations and a standard of living you have to account for. If you don’t act right you can lose money before you even have it.

TOOL TO USE: Get Trim or Bill Shark

Either one of these apps will help you cut down on expenses and even help you negotiate lower pricing for existing bills you may be overpaying for.

TIP #3: COMPOUND INTEREST

Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world, according to Benjamin Franklin. The reason being, compound interest is the concept of the interest on your interest. Essentially it’s your money-making money compounded over time.

The earlier you start investing the better.

If you have the opportunity to invest any extra money you make, please do so.

TOOL TO USE: Open Up A Brokerage Account

Invest strategically based on your goals and knowledge of how the market works. If you are new to investing there is nothing wrong with simply investing in the S&P500, which are the 500 largest companies in the United States.

Disclaimer: Before you invest, make sure you consult with a financial expert to help you clarify your goals. This is meant to be educational.

TIP #4: Understand CREDIT CARDS

Credit card companies prey on college students so it’s important that if you do potentially get a credit card you understand the nuances and complexities around it. There are things you need to look out for.

For example, what’s the annual percentage rate, what’s the annual percentage yield, is it secured or unsecured, what are the fees, what’s the credit limit, etc.

Credit can be a mechanism to build your financial future but if you overuse it, it could hinder you as well.

TOOL TO USE: Chime App

An app that helps you build credit, this is ideal for someone in college because of the unique circumstances you are in without having too many obligations to provide credit history to build your credit score up

TIP #5: BE FRUGAL

Being frugal does not mean being cheap, it means being efficient and being rich in areas that provide high value to ultimately build leverage.

TOOL TO USE: A Frugal Athlete

Follow www.afrugalathlete.com