34 minute read
Engineering The Future
It took a career change and a cross-country move for CHRISTOPHER STROUP to find happiness helping others plan their financial futures.
BY SUSAN RUPE
When Christopher Stroup looks out the window of his office at Abacus Wealth Partners, he can see the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Santa Monica, Calif., on one side. And he can see the Malibu mountains on the other.
The setting is a big change from the small town in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier where he grew up, and from the oil fields of Bakersfield, Calif., where he landed after college.
Stroup’s search for happiness and his quest to live an authentic life led him to a career change and a move to the Greater Los Angeles area, where he advises young professionals and startup founders, with a focus on the LGBTQ community. The 30-year-old advisor has been at Abacus for two years and is a Financial Planning Association NexGen ambassador.
A love of mathematics and an interest in geology inspired Stroup to study petroleum and natural gas engineering at Penn State University. After he graduated with honors, Chevron hired him to work as a reservoir engineer in the Cymric/ McKittrick Oil Field near Bakersfield.
“When we were out in the field, we had to wear a fire-retardant jumpsuit, steeltoed boots, a hard hat and snake chaps — depending on the season,” he said. “My days were spent waking up at 5 a.m., catching the 5:45 a.m. van pool, riding 45 minutes to the Cymric Oil Field to catch a 6:30 a.m. operations meeting, working until 4 p.m., and then catching another 45-minute ride back to Bakersfield.”
Despite the long days and harsh working conditions, Stroup was making good money. But after three and a half years in the oil industry, he realized he wasn’t happy.
“The industry was going through downturns, the commodity price of oil was plummeting, people lost their jobs — although I was fortunate enough to keep mine. I realized I pigeonholed myself as a petroleum engineer and I couldn’t easily fit into another industry as I would if I were a mechanical or chemical engineer. So I felt a little bit trapped from a professional standpoint.”
Stroup also came out as a gay man during that time and decided to switch careers as he worked to live a more authentic life. He went back to Pennsylvania,
where he earned an MBA from Drexel University in Philadelphia. But his heart was in California.
Seeing His Best Self
“After six months of living in Philadelphia, I realized that Los Angeles was actually my home … it’s where I saw my best self in the long run,” said Stroup, who grew up in Troy, Pa.
While studying for his MBA, Stroup considered the type of career that would make him happy. A career counselor steered him toward an internship at Goldman Sachs, and his interest in financial planning and wealth management took off from there.
“One of the core values that drew me to financial planning was having an entrepreneurial spirit,” he said. “Because even though I work for Abacus and I am part of the firm, I ultimately think of myself as being my own little business. I like the philosophy and mindset of owning my future. And I want to have the responsibility of taking ownership of someone’s financial life and helping them navigate that journey. I want to help people live the life they love, and I believe as an advisor, you can do that.”
As the son of educators, Stroup said he values the emphasis the industry places on lifelong learning.
“I like the fact that our industry requires you to be a lifelong learner,” he said. “Because tax laws change, estate laws change, how we think about the market changes. All of this requires you to keep up to date to ultimately add value for your clients.”
A fellow member of the Penn State Alumni Association in Los Angeles worked for Abacus and suggested Stroup consider joining the firm. One look at the company’s website convinced him it was the right place.
“There was a dropdown on the website that said ‘LGBTQ,’ and when I clicked on it, there was a page with all the smiling faces of their advisors who identified as members of the LGBTQ community. I thought to myself, ‘This is my tribe. I see myself on this page.’”
Stroup said he was sure that Abacus “would embrace my authenticity. I knew I could be myself and that my uniqueness as an individual would be celebrated at Abacus.”
He was hired at Abacus in June 2019, about nine months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“As an up-and-coming advisor, I think the pandemic made for some challenges, but it also brought opportunities. It makes it harder to network to a certain extent. But it also changes how you ultimately reach your target audience,” he said.
Stroup said being tech-savvy helped during that time “because instead of meeting people in person, now you’re going to the airwaves, you’re going to webinars, you’re creating social media posts. You’re connecting people via
those media that I think a younger advisor is more tuned into, and more senior advisors didn’t feel as comfortable in that environment.”
As an example of how pandemic restrictions helped him reach more prospects, Stroup pointed to his work with StartOut, a nonprofit organization that provides access to capital, mentorship and education to LGBTQ startup founders. A webinar series he conducted on financial planning for startup founders reached StartOut members across the country as opposed to his being able to make an in-person presentation to only one chapter.
“It was an opportunity to get out there from a marketing standpoint and show your worth to potential clients that might have not been available had there not been a remote environment,” he said.
Working With The C-Suite
Many of Stroup’s clients are senior leaders or C-suite executives in their companies. He also enjoys working with entrepreneurs in the startup space.
“I resonate with their mindset. They are changemakers, people willing to challenge the status quo. And I also want to overlay it with the LGBTQ lens
because I find purpose in working with my community. That’s an area I want to build my practice around because I believe that narrowing your focus is ultimately broadening your appeal. And that’s where I want to hang my hat as an advisor and what I want to be known for.”
Stroup’s executive-level clients have a unique set of financial concerns.
“You have to get them thinking about their varying forms of compensation. Not just your normal income, but — do they have stock options? Are they nonqualified? Are they incentive stock options? Are they restricted stock? How are we planning for that? How are we planning
The Cymric/McKittrick Oil Field near Bakersfield, Calif., was where Stroup began his post-college career as a petroleum engineer for Chevron.
around the taxes for that? I think there’s a lot that goes into understanding different forms of compensation for those kinds of individuals.”
Stroup also works with LGBTQ clients on their specific personal financial needs, with planning for a family one of those needs.
“More members of the LGBTQ community want to start families, and there are significant costs for them to make
that happen. Adoption, surrogacy, artificial insemination — those things all cost money. So we help clients plan on how they want to start a family or whether they want to save money to buy a home.”
Brian Theis formerly worked in technology for a financial services firm and has been friends with Stroup for several years. Theis praised Stroup’s attention to detail as well as his commitment to serving his clients.
“Christopher has always impressed me with his focus on working toward the benefit of others,” Theis said. “He is very disciplined and studious and sets high goals for himself that he follows through on with hard work and commitment. He is absorbed in the details of his business, while at the same time seeing the bigger picture.”
Stroup may have hung up his oil field gear, but he considers himself an engineer of his clients’ financial futures.
“From my training as an engineer, I think about the process, about the endto-end client journey,” he said. “And I think about bringing the efficiencies back around. I also think it comes out in attention to detail. I think, as an engineer, we sometimes are paralyzed by an external sense of how we focus on the details, but I think when that translates to someone’s financial life, it can be super helpful in ensuring that no stone is left unturned and that you can find elements or planning or recommendations that maybe someone else didn’t see because they’re not looking into the finer details.
“I also believe an engineer is inherently a problem solver. If you can solve a pain
point in a client’s life, you could have that client for life. And if you can solve a pain point in their child’s life, you might have them for a second generation.”
When Stroup isn’t working with clients, he enjoys beach volleyball and being outdoors. He said he strives to lead a minimalist lifestyle, living in a small apartment and forgoing a car.
As Stroup seeks to understand his clients’ needs, he said having a better understanding of himself has led to success and happiness.
“What I do now has aligned with who I am as a human, and I can lead my life authentically. And that is the ultimate freedom. There’s so much happiness derived from that. And I think as a result, I work harder because I’m happier.”
Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents’ association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at Susan.Rupe@ innfeedback.com. Follow her on Twitter @INNsusan. Please keep in mind that the primary reason to purchase a life insurance product is the death benefit. Life insurance products contain fees, such as mortality and expense charges (which may increase over time), and may contain restrictions, such as surrender periods. These materials are for informational and educational purposes only and are not designed, or intended, to be applicable to any person’s individual circumstances. It should not be considered investment advice, nor does it constitute a recommendation that anyone engage in (or refrain from) a particular course of action. Securian Financial Group, and its affiliates, have a financial interest in the sale of their products. Insurance products are issued by Minnesota Life Insurance Company in all states except New York. In New York, products are issued by Securian Life Insurance Company, a New York authorized insurer. Minnesota Life is not an authorized New York insurer and does not do insurance business in New York. Both companies are headquartered in St. Paul, MN. Product availability and features may vary by state. Each insurer is solely responsible for the financial obligations under the policies or contracts it issues. Securian Financial is the marketing name for Securian Financial Group, Inc., and its affiliates. Minnesota Life Insurance Company and Securian Life Insurance Company are affiliates of Securian Financial Group, Inc. For financial professional use only. Not for use with the public. This material may not be reproduced in any way where it would be accessible to the general public.
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Professional athletes encounter a lot of the financial risks and rewards that come with big-money careers. Meet pro athletes who became financial success stories in their post-playing days — as well as a few who didn’t.
Why Athletes Are Going Broke
Pro athletes face many tough choices upon signing that first big contract. Some find out quickly that a
million dollars doesn’t go very far. • By John Hilton
It is a regular feature of being a rookie in the National Football League that at some point during training camp, the veterans will gather at an upscale establishment to eat a mountain of food — with the rookie getting the bill.
In one famous example, Dallas Cowboys rookie wide receiver Dez Bryant was stuck with a $54,000 bill for a team dinner in 2010.
It might fall short of hazing. It might be great for team bonding. And for some, it might be the start of a professional career filled with big paychecks and bigger bills.
“There’s absolutely this peer pressure part of it,” said Matt J. Goren, assistant professor of financial planning at The American College. “I have my family. I have my friends. I’ve got teammates. And everybody is telling me to spend a ton of money.
“If you have no frame of reference, how much is $50,000 for one dinner? That seems like a ton of money, but when all these other guys are doing it, maybe it’s not that much money. Maybe I can afford it.”
Professional team sports are filled with tales of reckless spending and absent financial planning. Lack of role models is a big part of the problem, Goren said, along with many athletes coming from low-income, low-financial literacy backgrounds.
“You get these circumstances where these guys, even as high schoolers, such as Lebron James, are signing multimillion-dollar contracts,” he explained. “And you have no frame of reference for what you’re getting yourself into.”
Things are slowly changing, and progress is being made. Most pro sports leagues include financial literacy as part of rookie orientation. Likewise, major colleges that turn out a lot of athletes are offering financial literacy programs.
Meanwhile, athletes continue to make headlines for financial choices good and bad. Here are three such stories from each category.
Dwyane Wade
Age: 39 Career Earnings: $170 million Claim to Fame: A 13-time NBA All-Star who won three NBA championships with the Miami Heat Financial Fame: A reformed big spender who preaches financial planning
Hall of Fame
Dwyane Wade
Born in Chicago in the winter of 1982, NBA superstar Dwyane Wade did not have a happy childhood, and his early education was largely provided on the streets.
Dwyane Wade Sr. and Jolinda Wade separated when Wade was four months old and later divorced.
Wade lived on the South Side of Chicago with his mother and two sisters until he was 8. At that point, he moved to live with his father.
During interviews, Wade has described the difficulties of this period. His mother was on drugs, and he was surrounded by gang influences. The police raided their home when he was 6. His mother did time in prison, but today she is the pastor of a church in Chicago.
Two things saved Dwyane Jr.: his father and basketball. In his book, A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball, Wade credits his dad with stepping up to be a committed parent.
Once he sprouted to 6 feet, 4 inches, Wade’s basketball skills blossomed at Marquette University and during a long NBA career with the Miami Heat. But his early professional spending habits were not good. Wade has said his first big paycheck went to an electric blue Cadillac Escalade decked out with 26inch rims and spinners.
Wade continued to collect cars until he received what he called the best money advice of his career, he told Men’s Health in a 2020 interview. A financial advisor told Wade to get rid of the flashy vehicles, including a Maybach he never drove, but cost him $6,000 per month.
Wade listened and cut his fleet to “a modest Audi Q8,” he told Men’s Health. Although he made and wasted a lot of money, Wade said he learned his lessons along the way. It helped that he had strong earnings, topping out with a six-year, $107 million contract signed in 2010.
Today, Wade meets quarterly with a trusted financial advisor to map out his money goals. “A failure to plan is a plan to fail,” he has said.
Brent Celek
Young athletes are a prime target for financial schemes, and Brent Celek fell victim. In his case, a Ponzi scheme cost him money but gained him a lifelong education.
Celek, who played 11 years for the Philadelphia Eagles, would turn the experience into a positive, including a post-playing career as an executive with Patricof Co., a Manhattan financial investment firm. Celek leads the firm’s real estate vertical, counting a roster of former professional athletes such as Dwyane Wade and Ryan Tannehill as investors.
According to a March ESPN report, Celek sought out advice from a fellow player and connected with a money guy who seemed legitimate at first. The experience was costly for many players, with Celek losing $50,000.
“I think you learn really quickly, OK, I
Brent Celek
Age: 36 Career Earnings: $29.5 million Claim to Fame: Played 11 seasons in the NFL, retiring after winning the 2018 Super Bowl Financial Fame: Co-head of Patricof Co.’s real estate investment practice
need to figure out how to do this the right way,” Celek told ESPN.
While not a star on the field, Celek achieved the pinnacle of professional football in February 2018 when the Eagles won their first Super Bowl. The tight end retired a few weeks later.
Being able to spend his entire career in one city afforded Celek the opportunity to establish business connections and develop opportunities off the field. Those business ventures include his own brokerage, mortgage and title company.
A move to investing and real estate seemed like a perfect fit for the Ohio native. Celek’s grandfather built custom million-dollar homes, and his parents are entrepreneurs.
“This is a great way for me to give back to some of my teammates — guys I played with and against — and just help these athletes preserve their wealth,” Celek said in an NFL Alumni story. “Helping these guys preserve the NFL money they earned does mean a lot to me.”
Venus Williams
The Williams sisters have proven as shrewd and tenacious in the business world as they are on the tennis court. And Venus has led the way.
The older sister was the first to make her mark on the court, turning pro at age 14 in 1994. Nearly 1,300 matches and 26 years later, the five-time Wimbledon champion continues to grind away.
Off the court, Venus parlayed her enormous winnings into a business empire. She is chief executive officer of her interior design firm, V Starr Interiors, located in Jupiter, Fla., a company that designs residences and offices in the Palm Beach, Fla., area.
Venus also has her own fashion line, EleVen. Together with sister Serena, she owns a piece of the Miami Dolphins football team. Like many young athletes, Venus is investing in creative and socially conscious businesses.
She backed a robo-investing application called ElleVest in 2017, a company with a mission centered on serving female investors. The Williams sisters are also invested in the UFC, the MMA league that has a $1.5 billion commitment from Disney and is still growing, financially and culturally.
Running her businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be “scary at times,” Venus acknowledged in a blog post.
“The effort would have been impossible without my amazing team,” she wrote. “They make me great, they make me better, they refine me. It wasn’t easy, there wasn’t a lot of sleep and it was scary at times, but thankfully it was mostly exciting.”
Fall of Shame
Evander Holyfield
First, the good news: Former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield reportedly earns a decent income, as much as $100,000 a month, from personal appearances and
Venus Williams
Age: 41 Career Earnings: $42 million Claim to Fame: Seven Grand Slam singles titles; No. 1 ranked women’s player in 2002 Financial Fame: A variety of successful business ventures; a limited partner in the Miami Dolphins; co-authored the book Come to Win ... on How Sports Can Help You Top Your Profession
other promotional activities.
The bad news is that the rest of his earnings — by some estimates, as much as $500 million — is gone.
It takes a lot of work to spend that much money, and Holyfield lost his fortune via four bad habits: gambling, bad investments, poor family planning and old-fashioned big spending.
He bought a mansion with 109 rooms, with a 135-seat home theater, a bowling alley and a dining room that can seat more than 100 people. The home cost Holyfield $1 million per year, according to the Daily Mail, in just taxes and upkeep. Holyfield sold the mansion to a bank during a public auction for more than $7 million, but that reportedly didn’t cover what he owed on it.
The boxer was a notorious gambler — and loser — in casinos from Las Vegas to Atlantic City. But child support obligations to his 11 children by five different mothers are really where Holyfield’s debt ballooned. When he went broke in 2012, Holyfield reportedly owed about $500,000 in child support. According to court documents, his then-18-year-old daughter sued him for $300,000.
Holyfield’s business savvy was just as bad. He lost money on bad real estate deal and a failed restaurant chain, and he bet on a record label, Real Deal Records, that ate up cash.
Holyfield claims he has learned his lesson and has a handle on whatever income he earns today. However, the aging fighter seems to be still chasing a big payday and has teased a potential rematch with Mike Tyson in recent months.
“I think it will be a lot of money and a lot of millions,” he said on a podcast. “I think a hundred million. The fight would be big because so many people want the fight.”
Evander Kane
Evander Kane was named after boxing legend Evander Holyfield, and the young Canadian NHL player would go on to mimic Holyfield’s life with years of unfortunate financial decisions.
In January, Kane finally stopped outrunning his debts and declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Despite being in his 12th season as a highly paid professional hockey player, Kane listed $27 million in debts.
On the downside of his career, the clock is ticking on his ability to earn his way out of that debt load. During recent interviews, Kane said declaring bankruptcy brought some relief.
“Yes, it’s been stressful to deal with a lot of the bankruptcy,” Kane told The Athletic. “It’s definitely been stressful. But it was a relief because I didn’t have to try and hide it anymore.”
A left winger, Kane is one of the few Black players in pro hockey. He was drafted fourth overall in the 2009 draft and doesn’t turn 30 until Aug. 2. He was well into a successful NHL career before his money problems surfaced.
On Nov. 4, 2019, Kane was sued by The Cosmopolitan casino in Las Vegas after he allegedly walked out on a half-milliondollar gambling debt. The suit alleged that
Evander Holyfield
Age: 58 Career Earnings: $500+ million Claim to Fame: A fight career that spanned 1984-2011; the only boxer to win the heavyweight title four times Financial Shame: Lost a fortune through frivolous spending, multiple failed business ventures, constant child support payments and three divorces
Mike Tyson (Also lost a bunch of money)
Kane had received $500,000 in gambling markers from the casino the previous April and left the casino without making arrangements to settle the debt.
The bankruptcy filing included $10.2 million in assets for Kane, who is in the third season of a seven-year, $49 million contract extension signed with the San Jose Sharks in 2018.
Mark Brunell
Like many investors, Brunell focused on real estate as a seemingly safe place to bet his money. It turned out not to be safe at all.
A longtime NFL quarterback during the 1990s and 2000s, Brunell suffered his biggest losses on investments with friends.
He partnered with a pair of former teammates in a company called Champion LLC in order to get into the real estate game. Unfortunately, their timing was terrible. When the housing market crashed in 2008-09, Brunell lost all $11 million that he put into the deal and defaulted on a number of loans, the Daily Mail reported.
One of Brunell’s partners in the business, former teammate Joel Smeenge, declared bankruptcy.
Brunell was heavily invested in Whataburger, the popular fast-food burger chain. He invested $9 million and took ownership interest in 11 franchises, but ended up losing it all.
In 2010, Brunell and his wife, Stacy, filed their own bankruptcy petition. It listed $24.7 million in liabilities, with Brunell’s only income $5,000 monthly as president of Mark Brunell Enterprises, which operates football camps. Stacy Brunell also claimed a $5,000 income.
“The timing of the group’s real estate acquisitions at the height of the real estate market, in hindsight, clearly was not good, particularly given the subsequent collapse of the economy,” Brunell said in a statement following the bankruptcy filing.
Generally acknowledged as one of the good guys in pro football, Brunell played in the NFL for 19 years and made three Pro Bowls. He consistently gave his Southpoint Community Church a 10% tithe, which added up to significant contributions.
Brunell retired from the game the year he filed for bankruptcy. He reportedly went to work as a $60,000-a-year medical sales representative. He later coached high school football in Jacksonville, Fla., for seven years and was hired this year as the quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions.
InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@ innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.
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Evander Kane
Age: 29 Career Earnings: $55 million Claim to Fame: Selected fourth overall in the 2009 NHL draft; active 13-year career as one of professional hockey’s few Black players Financial Shame: Filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January 2021, listing $26.7 million in debts
Mark Brunell
Age: 50 Career Earnings: $70.6 million Claim to Fame: Three-time NFL Pro Bowler; played quarterback for 17 years on five different teams Financial Shame: Squandered most of his earnings on a series of bad real estate investments and poor business decisions
The Marshall Plan
Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk is heading up a successful World Financial Group satellite
agency in San Diego, part of his growing financial empire. • By John Hilton
As a professional football player, Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk provided security for quarterback Kurt Warner.
Whenever the defense harassed Warner and the pocket collapsed, he would look to dump the football off to his St. Louis Rams teammate. Faulk caught 80 or more passes for five straight seasons and remains second in all-time career catches by a running back, with 767.
Now in his second career, Faulk provides financial security these days. Faulk has a long association with World Financial Group in San Diego and runs his own agency, offering a full array of financial and insurance products.
And Faulk is not just attaching his name to the door either. He quickly warms to the topic of financial literacy and the need to have the right kind of insurance, as well as the correct amount of coverage.
“It provided me the opportunity to get into the business, learn the business, and I realized how many people didn’t have insurance or didn’t have the proper insurance,” Faulk said. “I just wanted to change the way things were being done and reach out into the community that I grew up in.
“And be a little different than the regular insurance guy and provide some financial literacy with their insurance and then explain to them how their money is working for them.”
By the time Faulk, 48, retired from football following the 2005 season, he was accustomed to success. He was NFL Rookie of the Year in 1994, won a Super Bowl ring in 1999 and was the Associated Press Most Valuable Player in 2000. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2011.
By then, Faulk was on his way to achieving similar success as a businessman with a diverse portfolio.
Faulk expanded his holdings to include a Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen franchise; part of Alliance Management Group, a full-service sports agency; part of San Diego-based Dirty Birds Bar and Grill restaurants; MAD Energy, a sustainable energy company he founded; and Midwest Elevators.
Then Faulk had a life insurance policy lapse, and he had questions.
“I was trying to get it reinstated, and I lost the cash value in it because it lapsed,” he recalled. “I started asking questions, and there weren’t a lot of people available to answer the questions. Then I started to seek out and get the information on why this happens and found out that it happens a lot. So I really started to dive into the financial industry to try to get a better understanding of it.”
Through his sports agency, Faulk frequently reaches out to young players to preach financial literacy and advises them on opportunities to protect and grow their money off the field. Yet he understands why players continue to suffer financial woes.
Faulk favors more education on things such as how credit works and what compound interest is, to teach and motivate young people to better manage financial issues.
“If you don’t understand the inner workings of money, then you have to hire people and depend on them,” he said. “If you don’t come from a family that can help you with that, you’re most likely going to be in a position where you’re trusting someone who wouldn’t trust you with their money — but you’re going to trust them with yours.”
Going For The Green
A decade-long stint as a professional golfer gave Lee Williams great training to move into wealth
management planning. • By John Hilton
Long before he became a financial advisor, Lee Williams lived a life filled with money tests.
That life as a professional golfer forced Williams and his wife to adopt austerity measures, as his earnings were completely unpredictable. Golfers compete on a merit basis — just making the field at a professional tournament does not guarantee a paycheck.
The player must make the “cut,” which is usually established after the first two days of play. Even then, the paycheck fluctuates wildly with every made — or missed — putt.
Williams’ weekly tournament compensation ranged from a lot of zero paydays to $112,500.
“For most people, it’s more stressful. The typical golf career is year to year,” Williams said. “In terms of finances, you really have to plan further ahead. You’ve got to be more conservative in terms of what you do with your money. If you think in terms of locking up money, you probably sit on more cash than what would typically be recommended.”
A pro golfer’s experience is unique in sports, where most athletes are high net worth clients before they even play a game. The minimum salary in the National Basketball Association is $925,000. In the National Football League, it is $660,000.
While there is huge money in pro golf as well, it is usually earned after at least a few years struggling to compete. That does not mean pro golf lacks examples of the big financial failures found in other sports. Golfer John Daly lost an estimated $50 million to gambling.
For Williams, the experience of life as a pro athlete provided great training for the financial planning he does for his roster of high-net-worth clients today.
“We make sure that their assets are protected if something were to happen to them,” Williams said, “and their wishes are carried out, regardless of whether they’re here or not. I’m not a family office, but I’m set up similar to a family office, to where I can bring multiple components of finances under one roof, which is hard.”
A Decade On Tour
Williams, 39, bounced between the then-Nationwide Tour and the PGA Tour from 2005 to 2014. His lone win came in the 2012 Mexico Open, a Nationwide Tour event. Now known as the Korn Ferry Tour, the mini tour serves as a minor league of sorts for pro golfers.
In total, Williams made about $559,000 in prize money from both tours. His playing career came to a premature end in 2014, when nagging back injuries forced Williams to the clubhouse for good.
When Williams wasn’t golfing, or when he wanted a break, he escaped by reading about finance. The parallels between the sport and high finance might not be obvious, but Williams recognizes them.
“It’s a lot about strategy and thinking things through in depth and being very detail oriented,” Williams said. “All of that aligns with golf. When you play at a high level, it’s all about the details. It’s all about dissecting the golf course each and every week, and strategizing and figuring out what’s the most efficient way to get around this golf course.”
A two-time Academic All-American at Auburn, Williams graduated with a degree in economics. When his back problems flared up, Williams was in his early 30s with a family to support.
A transition to a financial services career was an easy choice. Today, Williams is a certified wealth management professional with Nowlin and Associates in Alexander City, Ala.
Williams partners with an estate planner and an accountant in order to provide the full range of planning services. It’s another approach that mimics his golf career.
As an amateur, Williams competed for the Walker Cup in a team competition between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland. Williams played on two teams alongside current PGA Tour players Bill Haas, Ryan Moore, J.B. Holmes and Bryan Harman.
Williams described his client-first mindset in an interview with The American College earlier this year.
“Golf is an individual sport, except in these team events, where it’s about something far bigger than you,” he noted. “In financial services, it’s the same way. It’s not about you. It’s about your clients, their family, their business, their legacy. It’s an immense and humbling responsibility.”
Looking ahead, Williams hopes to break into his former arena. He has no pro golfers on his client roster and is working to establish himself with agents so he can get those referrals. Having lived the life, Williams is uniquely positioned to provide financial advice and management.
Regardless of who the client is, Williams sees his role as that of an educator.
“What I try to do is give people a high-level education,” he explained. “I’m not getting down into the weeds, but trying to give them a very broad overview of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. I try to give them the information that I would want to have if I were on the other side of the table.”
Interest In Life Combo Products On The Rise
Consumers that would consider a life combination product
The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have sparked a greater interest in life insurance with a long-term care component, LIMRA researchers said. Source: Consumer Perspectives on Long-Term Care and Insurance LIMRA
In January 2021, more than a quarter of Americans (26%) said it was very likely they would consider a life combination product if they were shopping for life insurance. This is 50% higher than in 2019. Overall, 6 in 10 consumers said it is at least somewhat likely they would consider a life combination product if shopping for life insurance.
When it comes to the demographic most interested in this type of coverage, millennials seem to be far more enthusiastic about it than baby boomers are. More
than one-third (35%) of millennials said it was extremely likely they would
consider life combination products. Only 17% of boomers said it was extremely likely they would consider these products, and nearly a third said not likely at all.
“Baby boomers, who are approaching or are in retirement, may not feel the need for life insurance or may mistakenly believe Medicare will cover LTC expenses,” said Karen Terry, senior research director. “Younger individuals, however, may find life combination products appealing because they mitigate the financial risk of dying unexpectedly and the costs of long-term care.”
COVID-19 Motivated Americans to Acquire or Increase Life Insurance Coverage
MIB life application activity in the United States, 2020
14.1%
5.6% 5.2%
1.2% 9.1%
7.6%
4.4%
1.6% 3.7%
-2.2% -3% Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: MIB Life Index
LIFE INSURANCE MOTIVATION ON THE WANE
If life insurance companies and producers were hoping that the sense of mortality that COVID-19 inspired would stick around and propel consumers to buy coverage, a Deloitte study is likely unwelcome news. Deloitte pointed out that 2020 had the largest increase in life application activity with 4% over the year, according to the MIB Life Index, peaking in the summer as COVID19 anxiety heated up.
However, the inspiration to get coverage dwindled as the pandemic eased up, according to Deloitte’s examination of why consumers bought insurance. More than
one-third of those who considered purchasing life insurance due to the
pandemic — but ultimately didn’t — said they decided against it because COVID-19 cases in their area started to drop.
“These behaviors make it clear that to achieve sustained growth, insurers cannot rely on global disasters to boost uptake of life insurance,” according to the report, which also pointed out the technological advances that carriers made during the pandemic. “We believe insurers can use this momentum to accelerate innovation and substantially narrow the coverage gap for the long term.”
DEATH BENEFITS HIT 1Q HIGH
Death benefits paid by U.S. life insurers hit a new high on an absolute basis in the first quarter as COVID-19 resurged, S&P Global Market Intelligence reported. However, from February onward, a dramatic decline in case counts and high vaccination rates among the age groups most at risk of hospitalization suggest mortality rates may be declining as well.
S&P data put total death benefits at $25.92 billion, an increase of 29.1% from the year-earlier period and $2.67 billion above the previous record high tally in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Death benefits amounted to 15.3% of net premiums and considerations in the first quarter. It marked the third time in
QUOTABLE
We are hearing the need for empathy coming loud and clear from producers as well as customers.
— Andrea Clark, assistant vice president of experience strategy with Western & Southern.
the past four quarters that the ratio topped 15%, a feat that the industry had achieved only three times in a 77-quarter stretch — from the first quarter of 2001 through the first quarter of 2020. The average quarterly ratio of death benefits to net premiums and considerations was 11.2% during a 10year stretch ended in 2019.
LIMRA PANEL: DIGITAL ACCELERATION IS A MUST
Although the pandemic is waning and life is returning to normal, some aspects of the life insurance selling experience should remain changed for good, experts said during a recent LIMRA panel discussion.
In particular, technology must remain a priority as well as keeping empathy and a human touch throughout the life insurance pur-
chase process. LIMRA studies show that insurers are preparing to do even more digital integration and accelerated underwriting in the future.
Rob Sims is managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group. He said the company is doing more work on the customer experience in life insurance than ever before.
“This is a moment in time when people are more open to fundamental change than before,” he said. “Products are easily copied, and there are not wide gaps in pricing. But if you get the elements of the experience right and make them relevant to advisors and customers, you can go a long way.”
DID YOU KNOW ?
Protective Life and the University of Alabama at Birmingham Source: The Wall Street Journal partnered to advance the science of healthy aging. Source: Protective Life
