Proposing a network of advisors that could guide a professional athlete’s financial decisions in pursuit of sustainable financial well-being

ABSTRACT

Rationale

Being a successful and well-paid professional athlete offers little protection against the risk of experiencing financial distress or going bankrupt later in life. This increases the need for professional athletes to attain financial literacy skills from a young age and to gain appropriate financial advice from a range of qualified financial advisors. This begs the question: Who or what should professional athletes enlist to provide them with financial advice in their pursuit of sustainable financial well-being?

Research methodology

Actor-network theory (ANT) guided the selection of 27 South African interviewees from a potential network of influencers that could guide a professional athlete’s financial decisions.

Findings

The results show the actors or advisors that could inform a professional athlete’s financial decisions. The results also show that ANT may in this case be best applied if the professional athlete (as the primary actor) facilitates the flow of information to others within the network.

Practical implications

Professional athletes are advised to deliberately establish a network of select financial advisors to inform their financial decisions and to manage the flow of information within this network.

Contribution

This study should provide some guidance to professional athletes on how to enlist the help of financial advisors.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional athletes
• financial advisors
• financial decisions
• financial literacy
• actor-network theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).