Misconceptions about taxes are everywhere, and you often hear many of them daily.  Below are a few examples we often hear:

• Getting a large tax refund is always a good thing
• My CPA did a good job if I got a bigger tax refund
• April 15th is the most important date in the tax world
• “Tax Planning” and “Tax Filing” are the same thing

Now for some truths that everyone should understand:

• You actually want to get back $0 or owe money (not penalties and interest) when you file your taxes
• December 31st of the prior year is the most important date in the tax world
• Tax Planning is done throughout the year and has a major impact on what happens when you file your taxes
• Being reactive when it comes to taxes can cost you thousands (sometimes millions) of dollars throughout your lifetime
• You should have a Family Office that throughout the year proactively integrates your Tax Planning with your Financial Plan

Residency, 1099 income, MiLB 401ks, team assignment, contract language, duty days; your situation is unique, and the complexities you face are different than most people.  Luckily, there are answers available if you start your Tax Planning now.  If you have questions about your situation or would like a free consultation, please text or call one of our Private Wealth Advisors to help you know what your next steps should be.

Travis Chick – (903) 714-7951

Josh McAlister – (505) 239-5488

Will McGuffey – (225) 326-0992

Your agent will be paid based on your gross signing bonus. 

You should be focused on your NET SIGNING BONUS.

Your net signing bonus is what you will have in your pocket after taxes.  This is the amount of money that you will be able to invest in your career, grow your wealth, and spend on the things that are important to you and your family.

To put into perspective why you should focus on your net signing bonus, you can look to a client we worked with in advance of the 2021 MLB Draft.  In the months leading up to the draft we proactively worked with the player, his family, and their agent to break down all scenarios, taxes, residency, and contract language so they were prepared and fully understood what different gross signing bonuses meant to them after taxes.

The result ----- Even though this player had a gross signing bonus of more than $1,000,000 less than the highest bonus in the Draft that year, this player ended up with the highest after-tax signing bonus of any player.

Whether the player would sign or not hinged on the language of the contract and how the player’s bonus would be taxed.  This was financial advice that they received before the draft that led to $700,000 more being put in his bank account after all taxes and agent fees were paid.  The family was educated and prepared for draft day and knew the decision they were making and why.

They won; other players who were not as prepared permanently lost money.  

Educate yourself, hire the right team of experts, and maximize your opportunity!

As a parent going through the draft process, it can feel like everybody is painting a rosy picture about how perfect your son’s game is – it can be hard to sift through all the feedback using data to separate out sales pitch from reality. There are also challenges in setting good boundaries to maintain family bonds and help to make intentional decisions about the long-term future that don’t rely solely on emotions or chasing shiny things. 

Todd offers a lot of helpful insight into this process and throughout the episode, he covers topics such as:

• Going through the draft process from scouting during senior year season to draft day
• The potential of getting distracted by the wrong things that can seem like really good things
• How to have good family conversations to set healthy boundaries
• The importance of staying faithful and committed to your routines
• Avoiding “Draft intoxication”
• How they handled choosing the right people in their inner circle
• What was a draft day like for a family
• What the transition to pro has been like
• Looking back, what things he wishes he would have known going through the process as a parent

The easy answer is:

“As soon as you are making financial decisions, and as soon as you have done the research to know who to hire.”

Easy enough right, but unfortunately most people have boiled down financial decisions into choosing investments.  It is not uncommon to think that financial advice is only about investments and that you should wait until after you have money to hire a financial team.  Unfortunately, this is the wrong approach to take.  By taking this approach you will cost yourself both money and opportunities that you will not be able to get back.

Every situation is different and comes with its own set of unique variables.  You want to plan and not be reactive.  Being reactive leads to quick emotional decisions that often end up being wrong.  Some topics that are financial advice that you need to understand well in advance of the MLB Draft include:

• Residency Planning
• Tax Planning
• Understanding MLB Draft contract language and its effects on taxes
• MLB Draft Signing Bonus structure
• Name Image & Likeness (NIL)
• Business Formation
• Insurance & Liability
• Financial Education

With the entrance of NIL into the amateur landscape, financial advice is now oftentimes needed at an earlier time than ever before.  While you might not need to hire a firm immediately, you should be proactive in educating yourself about who the experts are that understand your unique situation and can help prepare to make decisions to maximize the opportunities available.

If you have any questions about your situation, please feel free to text or call our advisors for answers to your questions or for a free consultation.

Will McGuffey: (225) 326-0992

Travis Chick: (903) 714-7951

Josh McAlister: (505) 239-5488

Adley covers a wealth of topics in this episode including:

- How to handle the public pressures of being a highly-ranked athlete

- The important things to look at when choosing an agent

- Utilizing time in college to hone in and build up skills

- The mental development and other key contrasts that accompany going from college to pro

- Walking through what draft meetings with scouts were like including some of the most unique questions he got

- Sharing how he maintained good family dynamics despite the high-stress level that comes with the draft

- What it was like on draft day

- Mentally preparing for the back-and-forth of salary negotiations

- Advice for players and their families as they’re about to enter the draft

How do I make this decision?

As the owner of your career and life, you should prepare for the MLB Draft like the CEO of a company would.  

To make the right decision, CEOs prepare for and understand the questions that they are being asked.  They take emotion out of decisions and are confident because they have taken the time to understand what it is that they are trying to accomplish.

As the CEO of your career, you should write up a business plan before the draft and commit to the process that you have laid out.  You need to answer questions such as:

• Am I mature enough to handle this opportunity?
• What is my “net signing bonus” and what does that mean to me?
• Am I prepared to become a professional today?
• Do I have the right experts around me today to help me make the right decisions?
• Can I put the right team of professionals around me (trainers, dieticians, coaches, mental skills coaches, etc.) to achieve my career goal?

By doing your due diligence and defining what success means and how you will get there, you will be confident and prepared to make the right decision when you are asked the only question about the MLB Draft that matters.

The financial team you hire should be Independent, Integrated, and Individualized.  If they aren’t, you are putting your financial security at risk.

Independent –The first question to ask a financial advisor is if they must always work under a fiduciary standard.  The fiduciary standard means that they are legally obligated to always work in your best interest.  Most people who call themselves “financial advisors” fit into the following categories:

1. Registered Investment Advisor (Always a Fiduciary, Continue the interview process)

2. Broker/Broker-Dealer/Registered Representative (Not a Fiduciary, Stop the interview process)

- Do not have a legal obligation to act in your best interests

3. Dually Registered as a Broker & Registered Investment Advisor (Not always a Fiduciary, Stop the interview process)

- Have a conflict of interest and can choose whether to act in your best interest or not

- As Peter Mallouk wrote in The 5 Mistakes Every Investor Makes and How To Avoid Them, “The dually registered advisor is the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Integrated – You should be hiring a complete team of people that will work together for you.  The experts on your team must include:

- Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA ®) (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cfa.asp)

- Certified Public Accountant (CPA ®) (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cpa.asp)

- Attorney

- Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA ®) (https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/cpwa)

- Certified Financial Planner (CFP ®) (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cfp.asp)

The members of your team should all work at the same firm so that there is constant real-time collaboration.  If the financial teams you are interviewing are missing any of these experts, you should stop the interview process with them.  

Financial advisors that are not part of a Family Office and do not have a CPA® on staff will often make statements like:

- We work closely with a CPA® at an outside firm (Expensive, not effective, not efficient)

- There is a conflict of interest having your CPA® and Investments handled by the same firm (False Statement)

- Having a different firm handle your taxes provides checks and balances (False Statement, you need to hire a “Forensic Accountant”, not a “Tax Accountant” to perform the audit; ask them what checks and balances are provided by having an outside Tax Accountant) 

Individualized – You are in the 1%, you have a unique career, and your situation is different. You do not fit into one of 5 or 6 “Model Portfolios” from a limited menu of firm-approved investments that are offered after filling out a Risk Tolerance Questionnaire.

Because your situation is different, you require a different solution.  You have “One Net Worth and One Effective Tax Rate” and you should be receiving tax and investment advice simultaneously to maximize your opportunity. You need a tailored financial solution based on your life, career, and circumstances.  

What should I do next?

Email every firm that you are interviewing with the following “MLB Wealth Advisory Team Questionnaire” and request that they fill it out and send it back to you IN WRITING.  If they are not willing to put their answers in writing, that is a major red flag.

If you would like to receive a copy of AWM Capital’s filled-out questionnaire, please text or call Will McGuffey at (225) 326-0992 and he will send you a written copy of our filled-out questionnaire as well as help answer any questions you might have about the questionnaire so that you can feel confident when you sit down to interview Wealth Advisory Teams.

Our goal is to inform you, support you, and help you achieve the greatest amount of success which we define as:

1. Fulfilling your potential to become the best MLB player and;
2. Maximizing the financial opportunity that is a byproduct of achieving #1

The challenge: Winning is not guaranteed. 

History is littered with "can't miss" players who never made it and volumes of athletes experiencing financial ruin. 

The good news is the results are mainly in your control. If you follow this playbook, you will win.

What's at stake?

Scouts, agents, showcases & NIL. You are now a part of an $11 billion industry. 

Everyone you interact with is making a business decision. So are you. 

The only question is: how confident are you that you are making the right decisions?

Why Listen to Us?

We are former players who have personally walked this path and now guide the best players in the game. This is our business.

• 100+ MLB players represented by 29 different agencies
• MLB clients' earnings of $3,000,000,000+
• 58 1st-Round Draft Picks
• Multiple 1sts Overall Draft Picks

With everyone asking what this number is, how should you and your family calculate this number and who is qualified to help you understand the true value of the opportunity that you are foregoing to begin your professional career?

In this episode, Travis and Will look at how to analyze the opportunities you have and give insight into the questions that should be asked. While your agent/baseball advisor should be uniquely qualified to help you determine your market value, you need to ask if they are also qualified to calculate your human capital and the opportunity cost involved with deciding between professional baseball and college baseball. 

Episode Highlights

• 1:20: What factors go into determining a player’s market value?
• 3:20: How a schedule can impact your market value.
• 5:00: How you can maximize your exposure during the draft year.
• 7:45: Looking at how your personal value and market value line up against each other and if you are “signable.”
• 12:15: Information flow from MLB teams and when your market takes shape and defines itself.
• 13:30: Beginning to understand a personal value calculation and the variables and numbers that should be included.
• 17:20: Adding value: Finding a CFP who works with athletes like you to help you define and calculate your personal value.
• 20:00: Advance preparation helping remove emotion and mistakes in the MLB Draft.
• 21:35:  Continued development and investing in yourself and how this can pay dividends in your professional baseball career.
• 28:50:  Why parents should be as involved as they can be in helping their child determine their personal value.

From the realities and importance of a mock draft in March, to discussing spending habits and purchasing your first car, to what the value of the College Education Plan really is, Travis Chick and Will McGuffey break down a number of interesting topics in this week’s podcast. 

These topics are coming from current and former MLB Draft families and prospects, as well as Travis and Will’s real world experiences in walking through the draft process numerous times. They share inside information that is important to know heading into the MLB Draft to make sure all angles are covered when making the decision whether to go to college or become a professional baseball player.

Deciding whether to become a professional baseball player or whether to enroll in college is a lifechanging decision, and properly educating yourself well in advance is the best way to prepare for the business decision that you will make in the next couple of months. 

If you have any questions or topics that you would like addressed in future segments, please feel free to reach out to Travis (Travis@AWMCap.com) or (Will WMcGuffey@AWMCap.com).

Episode Highlights

• 00:30 – What do the newest Mock Drafts mean?
• 2:00 – How should I think about changing my residency?
• 6:00 – Should I buy a new car immediately after the draft, and how should I look at the purchase and use of a new vehicle?
• 9:35 – What is credit, how do I establish it, and why is it important?
• 12:40 – What is the College Scholarship Plan and how much should I be asking for from MLB teams?
• 20:40 – What does my signing bonus mean to me, and how should I start investing, and what does it mean to invest in my career?
• 27:00 – What is investing in a private market?
• 32:00 – The importance of your 18-year-old self taking care of and looking after your 60 year old self when making financial decisions.

With so much information about mock drafts and rankings available through the internet and social media, it is sometimes hard to manage everything without being overwhelmed. C.J.’s insight into the evaluation process that an MLB organization goes through before the draft is invaluable and lends perspective on what is important, and how to take a step back and drown out the noise during the year before the draft. We also discuss how education and surrounding yourself with the right support systems before the draft and in professional baseball have helped similarly situated players be successful in their careers.

Passion, work ethic, and skill are all important attributes that MLB teams want to see and feel comfortable with before drafting a player. Throughout this podcast, C.J. talks about the importance of these characteristics, how they can ultimately positively impact the way that a team values a player in the draft enough to invest in them, as well as how these same attributes help a player achieve their full potential. 

Episode Highlights

• (2:30) Mock Drafts – What do they mean and do they actually impact where you will be drafted?
• (3:54) Who are the different scouts that will come watch me from an MLB organization?
• (5:37) What is the importance of the summer before your draft year?
• (6:30) Is there an organizational philosophy on a certain type of player that you look for?
• (8:30) Do MLB organizations think it hurts a player’s leverage to hire a financial team before the draft?
• (11:30) In-home meetings with teams and the education process for a player - learning that baseball is a business and preparing yourself for it.
• (14:25) Traits that show a team that a player is ready to handle the rigors of professional baseball.
• (17:45) Is velocity the most important thing that MLB teams look at and should that be your main focus?
• (21:45) The pressures that players face during the draft process from MLB teams, friends, and social media, and how to handle this.
• (23:05) What makes a player have a successful transition to professional baseball?
• (27:00) How MLB teams are helping develop their players in different ways to handle the workload more efficiently.
• (30:55 Health is opportunity – Why and how you should invest in yourself on and off the field.
• (35:08) Can my agent help me get drafted higher?
• (37:40) Enjoy the process – Finding perspective in the last few months before the draft.

His journey from winning the College World Series as a player in 2009 to today as the Recruiting Coordinator at his alma mater gives him great insight into the realities of the day-to-day life and thought processes of individuals that have been successful both on and off the field. Coach Cain gives a fascinating look into several topics including the effects of Covid on their roster, why having a plan off the field frees you up as a player on the field, what a network is and why it matters, and how technology is constantly changing and shaping the game. 

Having a cohesive plan that was formulated through education and preparation off the field has shown to be advantageous for players during both their college and professional careers. Coach Cain’s insider perspective continues to shed light on the importance of preparing yourself well in advance of the MLB Draft and surrounding yourself with the right people who can provide you the right information to make sure that you are making the best possible decision when it comes to choosing between attending college or pursuing professional baseball immediately out of college.

AWM Capital's Will McGuffey and Travis Chick interview Coach Cain and cover topics and questions like: 

• (1:00) Navigating how CoVid has impacted the MLB Draft and college roster construction.
• (4:58) How to keep players focused on today and the pressures that players face.
• (8:10) How to handle expectations and the perspective of players facing important decisions during their journey as a college player.
• (12:10) Why having a plan and educating and preparing yourself off the field is important for players to be able to have success on the field.
• (17:55) The negative impact of making an emotionally based business decision.
• (20:00) How playing freely with little pressure can change your perspective and outcomes on and off the field.
• (22:15) Market Value v. My Value…what is it? 
• (24:50) If you aren’t getting financial advice from someone in the sports world that understands your contracts and career, you aren’t getting the whole picture when making a life changing decision.
• (26:28) Why is my network important and how does a college impact my network?
• (30:15) Philosophies surrounding the MLB Draft and a different perspective on how to look at your career.
• (33:30) Technology in baseball and how it has changed the way players are developed. 
• (40:20) The collaboration between MLB and NCAA Baseball, and how the two actually work together.
• (45:00) Social media, perspective on who you are, and why every path is different.

Coach Seely has had a front row seat to watch over 60 of his players from Texas A&M get drafted and receive over $37,000,000 in signing bonuses. He has also been involved with numerous others who had committed and signed at Texas A&M that were ultimately drafted out of high school and joined the professional ranks immediately. His insider’s perspective gives a unique view into the decisions that families face and the successes that he has seen. 

Properly educating yourself and seeking qualified advice is the best way to remove emotion from the upcoming business decision you will be faced when deciding on whether to sign with an MLB team or attending college.  While we often hear from families and agents that “we don’t want to put the cart before the horse” or that “hiring a wealth management team costs you leverage with teams”, this episode will show you that those lines of thinking are incorrect and that you need to fill your cart with knowledge and education to actually gain leverage and better prepare for making the most important decision of your life.

AWM Capital's Will McGuffey and Travis Chick interview Coach Seely  and cover topics and questions like:

• (00:35) Coach Seely’s background and experience navigating the draft
• (3:38) How to properly value yourself as a player
• (5:35) When should I start looking for financial advice, and who should I look to for that advice? How do I better educate myself about the financial implications of becoming a professional now?
• (7:34) Where should I look for information about the business decision I am about to make?
• (10:16) The importance of removing emotion from the decision making process
• (11:23) What have players in my situation done that has helped them be successful?
• (15:28) How do I place a value on the university that I plan on attending?
• (21:28) How can I avoid mistakes in the MLB Draft process that will impact my life?
• (25:59) What is the College Education Plan offered by MLB?
• (29:30) Important qualities and experience in the professionals that a player surrounds themselves with when seeking advice on the MLB Draft
• (33:05) Who has worked with people in your situation? Who understands what your career actually looks like?

So, do you need a financial advisor?

After taxes and agent fees there can be as little as $30,000 left which will be used to live on. Nothing really left to invest. Seems like hiring a financial advisor can wait until next year.

If you’re only talking about investing, we agree. 

However, are any of the following “financial decisions” important to your family?

• How much money is enough to forego/continue your college education?
• How is the signing bonus taxed?
• What strategies are available to minimize taxes?
• How to handle 1099 endorsement income?
• How to evaluate Team 401(k) options and individual retirement plans?
• Do you have that knowledge, skills and discipline for healthy money habits?
• How to protect your new net-worth from lawsuits and fraudsters?

If the answer is yes to any of these, that means you have a lot of work to do that has nothing to do with investing the money.

Most "financial advisors" reduce your life down to only the investments their company allows them to manage and charge on. Your expectation of a financial advisor should be that they should be able to provide advice on all your finances, not just on the investments that their company happens to sell. 

You don’t need an investment broker, especially one that gives you hitting lessons. What you need is a Certified Financial Planner Professional who manages your entire net worth.

You’re making the most important financial decision. Don’t leave it to chance. 

MLB Draft Podcast with Erik Averill, CPWA®, CFP ® and former MLB Pitcher, Travis Chick, CFP ®.

Episode Highlights

• New signing bonus structure (:36)
• When should you hire a CFP®? (2:35)
• College or pro? (4:01)
• The importance of qualified financial advice (4:34)
• What is an appropriate signing bonus number? (6:42)
• The value of human capital (7:27)
• Should you get qualified financial advice before the draft? (7:54)
• How to find an expert (9:28)
• Finding more resources on navigating the draft (13:03)
• Being proactive in your search (15:40)

As a parent going through the draft process, it can feel like everybody is painting a rosy picture about how perfect your son’s game is – it can be hard to sift through all the feedback using data to separate out sales pitch from reality. There are also challenges in setting good boundaries to maintain family bonds, and help to make intentional decisions about the long-term future that don’t rely solely on emotions or chasing shiny things.

Todd offers a lot of helpful insight into this process and throughout the episode, he covers topics such as:

• Going through the draft process from scouting during senior year season to draft day
• The potential of getting distracted by the wrong things that can seem like really good things
• How to have good family conversations to set healthy boundaries
• The importance of staying faithful and committed to your routines
• Avoiding “Draft intoxication”
• How they handled choosing the right people in their inner circle
• What draft day was like for family
• What the transition to pro has been like
• Looking back, what things he wishes he would have known going through the process as a parent

• How to handle public pressures of being a highly ranked athlete
• The important things to look at when choosing an agent
• Utilizing time in college to hone in and build up skills
• The mental development and other key contrasts that accompanies going from college to pro
• Walking through what draft meetings with scouts were like including some of the most unique questions he got
• Sharing how he maintained good family dynamics despite the high stress level the comes with the draft
• What it was like on draft day
• Mentally preparing for the back and forth of salary negotiations
• Advice for players and their families as they’re about to enter the draft

There is a lot of uncertainty for athletes in all sports currently as seasons are indefinitely suspended and training facilities can be inaccessible for many. Are there ways you should be utilizing this downtime to stay on top of your game – despite some potential difficulty in accessing facilities? In this episode, Bobby, Erik and Travis talk through this question and address other topics like:

• The importance of structure and consistency
• Ways to focus on joint mobility and structural flexibility
• Being creative even with limited access to workout facilities
• The difference between success and results
• How to find a good performance coach including questions to ask and specializations to look for
• Resources to learn more on this topic

As a player, your ultimate goal is not the gross (before tax) MLB Draft signing bonus amount; rather, it is the net (after-tax) amount. In the past, how you structured your payments - whether they were uneven payments or not - was a huge opportunity for tax planning, but that option has now been eliminated. However, one thing that hasn't changed is how the signing bonus is taxed.

In this episode, Travis and Erik discuss what a signing bonus is, and how the recent changes might impact families and cover commonly asked questions like:

• What changes have been made to the signing bonus structure in 2020?
• How are signing bonuses are paid out?
• Are these true signing bonuses? Or are they wages?
• How does my residency impact the way my signing bonus is taxed?
• What is an abandonment clause and how might it impact my signing bonus?
• What happens when an abandonment clause is removed?
• Now that signing bonuses are paid out over 3 years instead of 2, what are the important implications and opportunities that families should consider?
• When should I start doing the tax planning?
• When is it important in the draft process to bring on certified financial experts?
• Why are players hearing the argument that they shouldn't bring on financial experts if they're only going to earn $100,000 in their first year - regardless of the size of their signing bonus?

• As a high school draft prospect, is disability insurance really necessary?
• Is disability insurance even worth it for me?
• If I am currently enrolled at a university, what should I do?
• Will my university pay for my disability insurance?
• What are my chances of getting injured and filing a claim?
• How much disability insurance should I take out?
• Does it just cover me on the field?

Who should I trust with my risk management?In episode six, we are going to breakdown disability insurance. We want you to be well informed of all your options. You have worked hard to get here-we want you to protect what you have earned and what you are going to earn in the future.

Throughout the episode, Tyler walks us through his career from high school to the major leagues and covers topics like:

• What it was like on draft night
• Advice from a major league perspective on what he relies on his agent for, how to be a good client to your agent, and some pitfalls to be aware of
• How to build a team who can help handle the business of professional baseball so you can focus on improving your game
• Navigating the draft process with his parents
• Discussing what he would have done differently during his college baseball career and the importance of enjoying where you’re at
• Reflecting on what it takes to be successful in the major leagues.

This week, we continue the conversation to help you finish building out a trusted team that can help you navigate the biggest financial decision of your life by finding the right financial team for you.

As an athlete, you would take the time to research and find the best medical professional to help you deal with an injury. You should do the same when it comes to managing your wealth. To do that well, it’s important to understand some basic concepts of the financial advisor world to be able to take responsibility in this decision and own your wealth.

During this episode, we discuss topics and questions such as:

• What are the unique issues a draft family will face from a financial perspective?
• When should you begin searching for your financial team?
• What are the biggest financial mistakes draft families make?
• What is the difference between a financial advisor and a certified financial planner? What is the difference between a broker/dealer and a registered investment advisor?
• How can you ensure that the team you’re hiring has the experience and expertise to handle your wealth?
• What beyond investing should your financial team help to manage?
• What are the key questions you should ask while searching for a team to handle your wealth?

Listen to episode 4 for answers to these questions and more.

In a $10 billion industry, it brings a host of characters that want a piece of your business. It can be difficult to know who are the people that have the expertise and the experience to help you.

Too often, the only advice you receive is to do your due diligence. But that assumes you know what questions to ask, which is largely untrue. So what ends up happening is families are trying to do the best they can, but end up asking the wrong questions, and when you ask the wrong questions, you're going to get an answer, it's just the wrong answer.

In this podcast, we provide a framework and the right questions to ask when choosing your sports agent.

• What are the needs a player has?
• Who is qualified to meet those needs?
• What are the three types of employees of an agency that the MLBPA regulates?
• Is an agent worth paying 4-5% commission on your signing bonus?
• Can your agent get your drafted higher?

Download this show's free resource ("Questions to ask a potential sports agent") HERE

This is the decision every high school or college player with eligibility will make this upcoming June. This looming decision will have a dramatic impact on the trajectory of your baseball career and life. How prepared and confident are you that you would make the right decision?

Many factors should be considered when deciding to sign a professional contract; however, for the majority of players, it’s a question of money.

The question the industry is asking is, “What’s Your Number?”

The reality is: everyone has a different “number,” and there is a lot of work that should go into it.

This will be the most significant financial decision of your life. How much you sign for, the taxes you pay, and what you do with that money will have enormous consequences.

So how much is enough?

In episode two, we breakdown the process of what it takes to determine your number. We believe if you follow the process we layout, you can have a lot of confidence going into draft day. Regardless of where you end up being selected, you will have a definitive path to make the decision that is right for you.

It's hard to encapsulate the excitement surrounding the upcoming MLB Draft. Years of hard work, sacrifice, and dedication all point to this one day. Becoming a pro.

It's a rare opportunity to realize a childhood dream, but equally as important, it's an opportunity to change your financial future. With one announcement from the podium, players will move from asking their parents for lunch money to becoming one of America’s wealthiest.

In last year's draft:

• $316 million paid to draftees
• $128 million of that was on the first 34 picks
• 71 players signed for $1 million or more
• Only two players drafted in the top 10 rounds did not sign
• 73% of the first-round draft picks play in the major leagues according to Baseball America

Baseball is a game. Professional baseball is a business.

You are now responsible for thinking about your career from a business standpoint and you're going to be forced to make decisions, whether you make them well or not, they will have a significant impact on your current and your future life.

Episode one is the starting point for making the right decision.