Database Connects Athletes With Advisors
Within two years of retirement, 78% of former NFL players are bankrupt or under financial stress due to joblessness or divorce. Within five years of retirement, some 60% of former NBA players are broke. Brian Ouellette, a former money manager on the Chicago Board of Trade turned entrepreneur, was dumbfounded by these dismal stats, gleaned from a March 2009 article he read in Sports Illustrated.
"The SI data caught me off guard," Ouellette said. "For most of these athletes, their current money management plan and direction was not working. They clearly needed new advice, new money managers to 'shift the tide,' to bring those bankruptcy statistics down to zero."
The professional athletes' plight-Sports Illustrated writer Pablo S. Torre called it a "financial pandemic"-was the catalyst for Ouellette's partnership with a sports agent and a current NBA player-client who spent the past 18 months creating a database called Athlete Connect as a way for athletes to connect with financial advisors. Ouellette markets Athlete Connect through Pro Athlete Direct (www.proathletedirect.com), a Seattle-based company he founded in September and which is the product's only outside partner.
While Athlete Connect is still being rolled out, Ouellette says it's the first and only online database to contain comprehensive, real-time, downloadable contact information for more than 6,000 professional athletes-with combined annual salaries exceeding $10 billion-in 15 different sports, along with their 1,100-plus sports agents. The data enable advisors to "instantly connect, network and collaborate" with these athletes and agents, he said, and provide the athletes with the advice they need.
The database allows searches by name, sport, salary, location, personal Web sites, e-mail address and social networks. A one-year license is $2,500; other plans are available, with discounts and incentives, according to Ouellette.
In other news ...
Nearly half of affluent investors are comfortable with their own financial situations and investment decisions but are more pessimistic (67%) about the outlook for the U.S. economy and the stock market during the next six months, according to PNC Wealth Management's seventh annual Wealth and Values Survey Investors' Outlook report. The wealthy are ambivalent about the results provided them by their financial institutions during the market upheaval, signaling a wake-up call to those in the advisory business, according to the survey. For more information go to www.pnc.com/go/presskits.
Over 90% of millionaires have not abandoned the stock market, with 43% currently engaged in moderate to heavy buying or selling and 49% waiting for the right opportunity to buy or sell, according to The Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank Millionaire Investor Insights Annual Survey, commissioned by U.S. Bank and conducted online by Harris Interactive. Although 97% of millionaires report that their investments lost value at some point since the beginning of 2008, only 8% have actually pulled out of the market. For further information go to www.harrisinteractive.com or www.usbank.com.
The economic downturn has not put a damper on sustainable and socially responsible investing (SRI) in the U.S., and SRI investments continue to grow at a faster pace than the total universe of investment assets under professional management, according to the new 2010 edition of the Social Investment Forum Foundation's Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States. Nearly one out of every eight dollars under professional management in the U.S. today-12.2% of the $25.2 trillion in total assets under management tracked by Thomson Reuters Nelson-is involved in some SRI strategy. For more information go to www.socialinvest.org.
Institutional investors hit hard by the 2008 market collapse had registered substantial gains across virtually all classes of financial instruments by the end of 2009, according to a recent study by The Conference Board. Data in The 2010 Institutional Investment Report show that, by the end of last year, total institutional investment assets rose 14% to $25.3 billion, a level similar to that recorded between 2005 and 2006. For more information go to www.conference-board.org.
Entrepreneurs are more likely to give to charity, according to Entrepreneurs & Philanthropy: Investing in the Future, a new report released by The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, a donor-advised fund program, and Ernst & Young. The study, which examines how entrepreneurs apply their personal passion for giving to their corporate philanthropy, found that that companies led by entrepreneurs allocate more than twice the percentage of their profits to charity than many of America's largest companies, and that nearly 70% did not wait for "success" to give back, noting they started supporting charities while building their businesses. For more information go to www.charitablegift.org.
Members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a coalition of nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors, recently have expressed their concern regarding what they deem to be excessive speculation in U.S. food commodities markets that causes spikes in global food prices that in turn can lead to famine. More information about ICCR, which addresses the social purpose of financial investments and activity, can be found at www.iccr.org.
Affluent investors who are turning their personal collectibles, such as fine art and wine, into means of diversifying their investment portfolios, should be wary of a number of risks that could threaten their value, according to a white paper released this week by ACE Private Risk Services, the high-net-worth personal insurance business of the ACE Group, based in Philadelphia. The paper, From Passion to Investment: Asset Protection Strategies for Collectors, highlights precautionary steps for affluent consumers or their wealth managers. For more information go to www.aceprivateriskservices.com.
Events
FBR Capital Markets 2010 Fall Investor Conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt in New York City on November 30. For further information go to www.fbr.com.
CAIA's (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association) Second Annual Alternative Investment Outlook Forum & Networking Reception will be held in Vancouver on November 23. For information go to caia.org/caia-community/events.
The Cayman Captive Forum 2010 will be held November 30 to December 2 at The Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman. For information contact [email protected].
The 9th China Entrepreneur Summit 2010, with the theme "New Business, New Conflicts, New Impetus," will be held in Beijing December 3 - 5. For more information and to register, go to 2010.iceo.com.cn.
On The Move
National Financial Partners Corp., a New York-based wealth management, benefits and insurance services provider, has hired Kristen Whisnant as senior vice president, Advisory & Investment Services, NFP Securities, Inc. Whisnant was formerly vice president of advisory and brokerage consulting for LPL Financial Corporation.
Alteris, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Argo Group International Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based company focused on specialty insurance and reinsurance products, has acquired ARIS through Argo Group US, Inc. ARIS is a New York-based underwriter that offers title insurance for art and other tangible personal property.
Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm that manages about $5 billion in institutional investment capital, has completed its acquisition of Revenew International LLC, a cost recovery solutions firm in Houston.
-Cort Smith