As just two examples, in June Maryland-based Kelly Wealth Management, part of HighTower, launched a division to target professional athletes, coaches and entertainers while former NFL linebacker Bart Scott and former NBA forward Antoine Walker also joined Morgan Stanley Global Sports & Entertainment as consultants. The pages of Family Wealth Report are not short of news stories relating to firms making similar moves across the world. This publication carried a feature in July examining what is being done at one UK firm to educate soccer players about how to prepare for a secure financial life when the final whistle blows.

The financial needs and characteristics of professional athletes are in many ways unique compared to the average entrepreneur or business executive. They tend to generate a lifetime of earnings over a much shorter timeframe – at typically a much younger age – meaning their assets must provide security for longer after their careers come to an end. The level of compensation these individuals receive has also risen substantially in recent years, with many becoming brands in their own right and being involved in corporate advertising.

“It's a really unique segment of the market,” Cynthia Gavenda of Kendall Gray told Family Wealth Report. These individuals often experience “sudden wealth” and are catapulted into a life that is very new, Gavenda explained. Gavenda founded Kendall Gray earlier this year to offer life management services to families with highly complex lives and serve as their "personal CEO."

“With professional athletes in particular there are a couple of things that are important. First is helping them realize that the money they're making can be very short-lived,” she said. “One major injury, for example, can bring their lucrative career to an abrupt and unexpected end. They need to have a long-term plan in place so that they know how long their money is going to, or should, last them. It is also important to realize that most, if not all, of these athletes do not have the time or the financial background to be able to manage their new-found wealth on their own.”

While many athletes have professional agents to help them with issues relating to their contracts and the like, these agents typically aren't proficient in areas such as wealth advisory, taxes and estate planning, Gavenda said. “It’s common for a player’s agent to be asked to step in and provide advice on a whole host of life management issues which could quite possibly include financial matters, so having someone that is skilled at managing a variety of issues, financial and otherwise, is imperative.”

Relying on an agent to manage tasks that are outside their core business is also risky, particularly in light of the fact that those agent relationships are likely limited to the life of their athletic career, she added. “Without the right independent advisors in place you may find these athletes surrounded by friends and family who want to help and mean well but cannot ultimately fill these critical voids.”

“And the financial management issues can be quite challenging,” she said. “Many athletes maintain multiple residences, earn income in multiple states creating complicated tax issues, and make complex and often questionable lifestyle choices, for example.”

Another challenge associated with working with clients in the fields of sport and entertainment is the public and fast-paced nature of their lifestyles. Bankruptcy is also reportedly high among these types of wealthy individuals, as has been documented in the media. But in ensuring proper oversight and financial awareness – key pillars of Gavenda's strategy – the risks commonly associated with being a typically young, highly paid sports star should be greatly reduced.

Indeed, many of the aforementioned issues come with just being a sports player alone. But add to the mix the fact that they are making a lot of money – and often in unpredictable patterns – and things become more complicated.

“As their careers unfold their need for more sophisticated and coordinated advice grows rapidly,” Gavenda said. “Without having a skilled coordinator to steer them to the most appropriate and experienced advisors, the coordination can be a very overwhelming task.”

A lot of times they don't realize they may have outgrown their current advisors who may not be equipped or have the right team within their office to handle all the complex tax and estate issues they may now face in a higher income bracket, she said. An equally important area to tackle is what do these players do after they've had to, or have chosen to, throw in the towel? They may need help when thinking about transitioning into another career, and assessing how their current financial situation can help them get to where they want to be.

“Ultimately what brings clients to Kendall Gray is their lack of time and in many cases, expertise,” Gavenda said. “They are looking for help in organizing and managing a significant amount of complex information that they don't have the time to do themselves. But with just a few months of coordinated effort and assistance from their advisors, we find ourselves in a position to provide consolidated and complete information, identify issues and develop a plan for managing their affairs going forward that is a great first step to developing the control they are so often lacking,” she said.