Free NIL Long Game course teaches NCAA athletes financial literacy

A financial wellness coaching firm that already works with the National Football League Players Association launched a money literacy certification program for college student-athletes.

Financial Finesse — an El Segundo, California-based firm whose coaching services are an employee benefit to company retirement plans with more than 5 million participants — launched the free "NIL Long Game" last month for college student-athletes receiving pay for the use of their names, images or likenesses. The company teamed up with a technology firm in the NIL space to provide its coaching to student-athletes, and it invited athletic departments to apply to be one of 10 to receive the services free for five years.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association legalized NIL pay after a Supreme Court decision in 2021. Since then, student-athletes have drawn endorsements, sponsored social media posts and other contracts adding up to anything from a few thousands of dollars per month to millions of dollars per year. 

Financial advisors who work with athletes and other experts are expressing concern that the young people, like many Americans, lack basic money skills and could fall into traps such as unexpected tax bills or the bad actors in a new cottage industry.

Financial Finesse

"They need to understand it's a business, they need to understand taxes," said Liz Davidson, the founder of Financial Finesse and author of a book released in February called "Money Strong: Your Guide to a Life Free of Financial Worries." In an interview, she described the NIL Long Game module as just "a part of the puzzle, but by no means enough," in terms of the infrastructure needed to support student-athletes earning a range of newly discovered income.

"It's a huge spectrum, but they really need to understand that they can't operate in a casual way about this," she said. "This is a business. They need to have a CEO mindset."

NIL Long Game provides the 520,000 NCAA student-athletes at all levels with an online study course that's in line with any current state financial literacy requirements and includes video lessons filmed by current and former athletes such as Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Carl Nassib and onetime Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver J. R. Tolver. When users complete the three-module course, they receive a document denoting them a "Financial Finesse certified expert" in NIL and financial literacy.

Rayquan Smith, a football and track star at Norfolk State University who has been dubbed the "King of NIL" after amassing 66 deals, posted an image of his certificate on LinkedIn.

"I'm entrepreneurial, so doing deals and making money came natural to me, but what didn't come natural to me was running a business. I honestly had no idea that I was running a business so I really didn't know the things that I should or shouldn't be doing with the money that I was earning," he wrote. "The platform taught me how to THINK like a Business, OPERATE like a business and USE my business as a tool to perpetuate my personal financial success!"

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The course is "definitely a good start" for student-athletes needing to learn basic concepts such as taxes owed by 1099 independent contractors and credit scores, said Pat Brown, a former NCAA football star who is an advisor with Lawrence, Kansas-based Edmonds Duncan Registered Investment Advisors and the founder of an organization called Financial Literacy for Student Athletes. Brown teaches student-athletes financial literacy on a pro bono basis.

One-on-one sessions, comprehensive planning and experts who look like the athletes — from underrepresented groups in the industry such as women and Black Americans — should be part of the equation as well, Brown said.

"I'm more inclined to physically want to be there," he said in an interview. "It's no different from whatever position coach you have who's trying to teach you a certain technique. It would be hard to do it through a module."

Some student-athletes still find themselves shut out of NIL opportunities, which aren't open to citizens of other countries like the many players who emigrate from Canada and other places for college hockey, according to Matthew Bacchiochi, the president of Toronto-based Gavin Hockey Wealth Specialists. 

The company — part of one of the largest Focus Financial Partners-owned registered investment advisory firms, Connectus Wealth Advisors — has started its own money literacy program for athletes soon to become professional players in the National Hockey League called "Life as an NHLer." 

"We attempt to educate them on the business, opportunities and distractions with an emphasis on cash flow management, payroll deductions, taxation, the costs to being 'in the club' and the time value of money," Bacchiochi said in an email. "The dialogue is real-life situations rather than textbook/academic content. We find a lot of literacy programs spend time talking about the things the advisor likes (ie. asset classes, volatility, security selection, etc.) rather than the experiences that the player will care about." 

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Financial Finesse will be reaching the student-athletes, in part, through its collaboration with the Athlete Licensing Company, a software firm that works with athletes, agents, universities and school athletic boosters' NIL collectives "to effectively manage the chaos of the current NIL ecosystem," according to its website. Athletes that use the firm's services can access free sessions with certified financial planners who work for Financial Finesse. 

Davidson aims to expand that coaching to many universities as well. Her team will choose 10 for five years of free coaching, based on their commitment to educating the athletes about NIL deals. Financial Finesse has worked with the NFL players' union since 2009, and it's now collaborating with other major sports leagues as well.

"Since partnering with Financial Finesse, we have seen a complete culture shift and a growing number of pro players advocating for financial literacy," NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said in a statement. "Now, it's time to arm the next generation of rising stars with the same financial tools and know-how. I can't think of a more impactful way of doing this than by supporting the widespread adoption of this well-rounded NIL financial literacy certification program."

NCAA guidance that schools "generally can and should provide education" about financial topics to student-athletes doesn't go far enough toward a uniform support system tied to the newfound income, Davidson said. The problem is "getting frenzied and worsening," she said, describing NIL as a "wild west" in its second year of young people getting paid in big deals.

"Your brain isn't even fully developed," she said. "How can you expect that that's going to go well, absent massive intervention?"