STUDENT ATHLETESCAREERBUDGETING

Life After Sports and Your Finances

We have many life experiences that shape our identities, and we can have numerous identities throughout our lives, such as parent, child, sibling, cousin, artist, musician, co-worker or athlete. However, a shift in identity can cause emotional distress that can impact personal finances. This article will look at the identity shift that occurs when someone leaves their athletic career and how this can potentially impact their finances.

Emotional Impact After Sports

In her article “The Athlete Identity in Retirement,” Emily Klueh shared that she struggled to set boundaries and take care of herself after she stopped swimming competitively because nothing ever felt “good enough.” She was constantly looking for approval, something to measure success, and looking for everything in her life to feel like what she knew in her sports. It isn’t the same — he had to learn that.

When there is a significant change in a person’s identity, it can lead to heightened emotions and shift the way a person may handle their finances. Sometimes positive financial habits could be replaced with negative habits that are unrecognizable as a means of coping. For example, if you traditionally plan for expenses, hit your savings goals each month and spend minimally, you may find the change of your athletic identity and the emotions that come along with it — the loss of competition, missing the team comradery and clearly defined success — may change your financial habits.

Emotions and Finances

Feeling emotional may lead to financial behaviors you would not otherwise do. Experian defines emotional spending as impulsive spending fueled by big emotions, such as stress, anxiety or sadness. Research suggests that consumers who are stressed may spend more on products they consider necessities. The theory is that it provides a sense of control when other areas of their life feel uncontrollable.

This may mean the loss of your sport or the celebration of growing into a working professional may result in excessive spending. Often, our emotions can lead to irrational decisions or financial avoidance which can create or exacerbate negative financial habits creating a negative financial cycle. This may show up through impulsive spending when you would traditionally plan for larger purchases, loaning money to friends or family when it could be more of a detriment to your own financial wellness, regretting purchases, or taking on new debt.

Tips to Manage the Transition

While transitionary periods can be exciting and positive, they can also be stressful, emotional and difficult. To maintain financial wellness during the transitionary period of life after sports, here are some tips:

1. Knowledge is power. Knowing and understanding there may be a period of high or negative emotions can empower you to seek helpful resources if needed.
2. Seek permission and resources. Give yourself permission and space to experience your emotions or seek the help of a professional if you don’t want to go through it alone.
3. Find alternatives. Find healthy ways to cope with and process your emotions, which may include exercise, speaking with friends or family, or finding a new hobby.
4. Perform financial check-ins. Reviewing and sticking to your budget will help minimize emotional spending. If you still find you’re overspending, changing your budgeting style or spending plan may be helpful.
5. Curate your environment. Take a moment to self-monitor to better understand if your environment is activating a negative or unwanted financial habit. This may look like deleting shopping apps from your phone, unsubscribing from text and email alerts from retailers, and avoiding specific stores and shops until you regain balance in your finances.

While many people understand that finances are about numbers, numbers are not the only factor that impacts our finances. Emotions have a significant impact on how we manage money — especially during life transitions, such as after retiring from a sport. The most important thing to remember is it’s OK to experience an emotional response due to a major change and that may lead to a shift in your finances due to emotional spending. If this occurs, there is help and resources available to guide you through as you embark on your next chapter.

Sources:

https://athletesconnected.umich.edu/the-athlete-identity-in-retirement/

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-emotional-spending/#:~:text=It's%20characterized%20by%20impulsive%20spending,of%20their%20life%20feel%20uncontrollable