Following the news that St.James’s Place has renewed its partnership with Switch the Play, a UK charity dedicated to supporting sportspeople to plan for and achieve a successful transition into life outside of sport, we look at why sports stars would look to a career in financial advice following retirement.
With over 70 former sports professionals on their books as qualified financial advisers, the partnership between SJP and Switch the Play began in 2018, following an introduction from former Rugby players Ewan Dowes and James Grindal.
SJP Academy
In an article with the International Adviser, Ewan Dowes discusses how his journey from Rugby League player, with Super League sides Leeds Rhinos and Hull F.C., to running his own SJP Partner practice began with an opportune meeting with a Partner to discuss his own finances.
The conversation then led to the SJP Academy, which struck a chord with Dowes who decided to look into it further, and the rest is history!
He feels that financial advice is a job to consider for all sportspeople as:
They are good with people, good at networking, they have trust and confidence … they’re setting goals every week, hugely driven and motivated to succeed
Life After Professional Sport (LAPS)
Another professional who has made the graduation from footballer to adviser is Robbie Simpson, former Coventry and Cambridge United striker, who set up a platform called Life After Professional Sport (LAPS), also to help sportspeople find new careers.
After helping others progress through the SJP Academy, enabled by the partnership set up with LAPS, he decided to undertake his own journey into it, setting up his practice earlier this year.
He aims to provide sports stars, particularly footballers, with financial advice they can trust, highlighting his own experience as a young player, where some of his colleagues were targeted and badly advised, identifying their vulnerability due to the amount of money they earned.
One of our longstanding clients at Plus, Matt Cairns, has also made the transition from professional Rugby Union player to Partner with SJP. Beginning his rugby career at Saracens, he also played for Sale Sharks and Harlequins, as well as being capped for England.
He is now a Director at PFP Wealth, Partner Practice of SJP, showing that the resolve required to have an illustrious sports career, carries through to life as a successful financial adviser.
The partnerships fostered between Switch the Play, LAPS and the SJP Academy provide opportunities for a new generation of financial advisers, and with sportspeople already possessing the drive & determination it takes to succeed, it looks as though they are a perfect match!!
Our Ad Hoc Admin support service can help provide the additional support you need following graduation from the SJP Academy, as well as for established Partners, and for more information on this and our other services, please click here.
