If you dream of adding a professional sports figure to your client roster, Ellen Crowley, a CPA and vice president of the Raleigh, N.C., office of Captrust Financial Advisors, has hard-knocks experience and sobering stats for you to consider. Imagine planning a retirement portfolio for a client who stops working in his thirties, or after a three-and-a-half-year career (the NFL average). Or tax planning for a client who must file in all 50 states.

That's assuming you land a pro athlete client in the first place. Fewer than half of the 450 advisors registered with the NFL Players Association's Financial Advisors Program have sports clients on their roster. "Advisors must work hard just to get one or two pro clients," Crowley told advisors at the 2008 NFLPA Financial Advisors' Symposium. Crowley acquires such clients by reaching out to people in the community who are good referral sources, particularly sports agents, CPAs and estate attorneys. Sometimes existing clients also refer their teammates to her.

Crowley is an RIA in Captrust's Pro-Athlete Division, which handles financial affairs for more than 90 athletes in pro football, hockey, baseball and golf. Pro athletes pay Captrust 0.5% of their earned income while under contract plus a percentage of AUM (1% for the first $2 million, after which there are breakpoints). Her average account size—for athletes and "normal" clients—is $4.8 million.

Getting in the Game

Crowley began her career as a tax accountant for athletes and entertainers at KPMG in St. Louis in 1987. Her "home office" duties (family-office services) included everything from paying bills to handling client fan mail. During her three-year tenure at KPMG, she taught budgeting, income tax and principles of investing to the St. Louis Rams.

After 17 years working with pro athletes at various firms, Crowley landed her current position at Captrust. Her model entails plenty of time on the road, as well as midnight phone calls from players whose workdays start at 3:00 p.m.

Tax Challenges

The financial challenges facing her clients are formidable. They have a brief window of opportunity to amass a 40- to 50-year retirement portfolio. Her first step is sophisticated projections of clients' tax obligations while under contract—projections complicated by the requirement to file returns in every city and state in which pro athletes live or play a game.

Taxes also vary by sport. Golf pros receive 1099 income for their services and bear their own travel expenses. Players in other sports report W-2 income, but may have 1099 income for broadcasting contracts and endorsements.

With after-tax income established, Crowley then creates a detailed household budget with all known expenses (starting with the sports agent's cut), as well as what-ifs—including what if the client doesn't make the team. Her final step is to challenge clients to set aside 25% to 40% of their income to meet their investment goal.

To pinpoint a number, she works backward. Players' paychecks are deposited to an investment account with an auto draft to their bill-paying account. They learn to live off their investment account from the start. Her goal is for the monthly draft to the bill-paying account not to change when clients retire, she says. Retired athletes rely heavily on savings, so she takes few risks in their portfolios, allocating roughly 40% to fixed income, 10% or more to alternatives and the rest to equities and commodities.

Life Challenges

One challenge pro players share: security and insurance. From screening nannies to protecting the kids of high-profile players, Crowley's hands are full with security issues. Players need large umbrella policies and attention to titling their assets. Disability policies are also a must, but often a nightmare to obtain. "Coverage for NFL players is difficult," she says. "There are few providers, and coverage is expensive and picky about preexisting conditions (injuries)."

The time Crowley spends educating clients separates her from competitors. Needing substantial time for financial education, insurance headaches and tax tangles, planning for pro athletes may not be as exotic as it sounds. But Crowley's reward is having a client embrace a savings and investment plan, knowing she's helped create a legacy to sustain generations.

Jim Grote, a writer in Louisville, Ky., contributes regularly to Financial Planning.