Financial Literacy

GatorMade provides financial literacy education and resources with the ultimate goal of establishing financial security for the rest of each scholar-athletes’ life. Wealth is viewed as a behavior that is fortified through habits in money management, planning, and prioritizing. Group session on these behaviors are held throughout the year, including resources that are accessible anytime to address individual needs in finance.

Gators Connection

Kaiir Elam reconnected with his Gator brotherhood in a new, meaningful way – by coming back and sharing his experiences with finances in the NFL. Elam was accompanied by a Financial Advisor who was not only his biggest advocate throughout his draft process, but also, and more importantly, supports him every day as his mother. Shayla Davis continued by sharing money management principles and common financial mistakes of young professionals. The duo provided insight and strategies for the team to consider with their current earning potentials through NIL and at the next step of their careers.

Morgan Stanley

Adding to our stepwise approach for education, Morgan Stanley was able to provide professionals within the Global Sports and Entertainment sector starting in the Summer. Through former players and financial planners/advisors, this team shared insight and information on budgeting, compounding interests, taxes, and common financial pitfalls. This group will continue to provide education in topics of interest and engage with our scholar-athletes as resources for creating generational wealth.

Advus Financial Partners

Lead by two gator alum, Mitchell Lamoriello and Jeff Lee, Advus Financial Partners provided the building blocks for financial literacy to the team in early Spring. Starting with each player learning their “Money Mind”, our young men were equipped with understanding their behavior around financial decisions and equating their personal values into those actions. Following up from self-reflection, our team competed offense vs defense in a series of case studies for professional athletes and various financial topics. While offense came out on top, every team member was able to engage and understand the financial behaviors that today’s athlete may face.

Wells Fargo

A corporate partner for the University of Florida, Wells Fargo not only provides banking services on campus but also supports financial growth through educational resources. In the Spring of 2022, the entire Gators football team learned the basics of budgeting, complete with stipend and spending breakdowns for immediate implementation.

Team Altemus

Going beyond current spending habits, Team Altemus provided an opportunity for our young men to make financial choices based on various NFL incomes. With a random selection of draft rounds and corresponding contracts, each scholar-athlete had to make decisions on housing, food, transportation, savings, and general lifestyle purchases. This real-world application also included discussion on costs of living, taxes, and spending habits of those in the NFL.