From Olympic Gold to Financial Advisor: Lauryn Williams Trades $200K Nike Contract for $12-an-hour Internship to Follow Her Passion

After a 10-year profession in track, Olympic gold medalist Lauryn Williams, who was previously earning $200,000 a 12 months at Nike, transitioned to a $12-an-hour internship to pursue her current passion as a financial advisor and educator for junior athletes and professionals.

After a decade-long profession as an athlete, Lauryn Williams can have been financially secure at 30, but now, at 40, she realizes her athletic earnings won’t last her entire life. In an interview with CNBC Make It, the previous Olympian, who studied finance on the University of Miami, explained how she’s now focused on financial planning athletes and young professionals He operates through his firm Worth Winning and serves as an envoy for the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning.

After passing the CFP exam in 2017 after failing twice in 2013 and 2015, Williams sought an internship as a part of her classes and was hired by the owner of a CFP firm. “It was a perfect fit for me,” she said. In her CFP bio, she wrote: he stated“The CFP certification is a worthwhile journey… Helping people is the best part of the job.”

Williams, who can also be a motivational speaker, retired from track and field in 2013 due to injury and finished her entire Olympic profession after winning a silver medal in bobsleigh in 2014. Navigating the ups and downs of monetary management during her profession as an expert athlete fueled her desire to higher understand the intricacies of finance.

“People don’t realize that even if you make $200,000, your agent takes 20 percent of that. And then you have to pay taxes,” she said. “The money doesn’t go as far as people think.” Experiencing situations with financial advisors that weren’t right for her during her profession led her to dedicate herself to helping others make smarter financial decisions.

“Olympic sports in general are a bit like the world,” she said. “You have the 1 percent who are very, very well off and have more money than they’ll ever need, you have the vast majority of people who are getting by, and you have people who are struggling.” Olympic stars who earn good enough to survive after retirement need to get their funds so as in the event that they never want to work again. But for several of Williams’ gold-medal-winning clients, they weren’t even making $100,000 a 12 months.

Williams shared that spending all of her 20 years as a competitive athlete left her insecure, and she or he said she had no real skilled knowledge while her friends were already pursuing careers as doctors and lawyers. She advises everyone to put themselves first by automating their savings and opening a retirement account.

Read a 2022 interview with Williams where she talks about generating income for student-athletes.