This article is part of the Know Your Niche series on how advisors choose and build specific client bases. The rest of the
Osiris St. Brown grew up in a sports family — his father a bodybuilder, his brothers NFL wide receivers and he, himself, a talented receiver at Stanford.
Having made peace with injuries that played a role in ending his athletic career, Osiris was looking for a new calling when his younger brother, Amon-Ra, saw his NFL career take off. After three epic seasons with the Detroit Lions, including two Pro Bowl nods, Amon-Ra signed a four-year, $120 million contract and started looking for a financial advisor.
Osiris had grown up hearing stories about athletes who squandered millions of dollars or entrusted their money to thieves or even well-intentioned friends and family whose lack of financial literacy led to investment losses.
"I felt like I understood, as a former athlete myself and being around so many athletes in my life, that I could do a good job of this, and that's kind of how I got into the business," Osiris said of his conversations with Amon-Ra. "I was like, 'Hey, you know what? I think I can get licenses to do a good job with this.' He's like, 'Hell yeah, that'd be a good idea.'"
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Osiris signed on at RBC Wealth Management with two clients — Amon-Ra and his older brother, Equanimeous, who has spent time as a wide receiver on four NFL teams. Despite his access to professional players, Osiris went a different direction.
He hasn't shied away from taking on other professionals, but his passion lies with college students who have recently come into
Osiris talked to Financial Planning about how he's building a niche in the NIL athlete space, the challenges his clients face and how he'd advise others to build their own niches.
The interview below has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Financial Planning: How did you get started building up athlete clients, besides signing your brothers?
Osiris St. Brown: Yeah, my brothers were my first couple clients as I was getting licensed. From there, I had a lot of success working with NIL kids, just because it's a new market. There's freshmen getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, and realistically, I put myself in those shoes. I'm like, "If I'm a freshman, I probably would have made some bad financial decisions as well." So, it's created a market where you can go in and
FP: You have obvious connections that could lead to NFL players who are making more money. Have you considered that route?
OSB: I do still go after those clients as well. I would say the main difference is I find it more challenging going after NFL players just because they — I would say 95% of the time — already have an advisor by the time you talk to them. So unless there's really something wrong with the advisor, it's kind of hard to get in there and get someone to leave and move all his assets over.
So with that, I've just been more so having conversations with guys and really just being a guy that can kind of look over portfolios. I never even asked them to move over with me, but kind of just looking over their portfolios. I'm still open to working with those guys. But I've just found that these younger guys in college haven't built a team yet. They need the help a little bit more than the NFL. They just don't have all the pieces in place, and it's been a little bit easier to get in there and work with them.
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FP: Where do you find these athletes? How do you narrow that down? Are you looking at places where you have connections, like Stanford?
OSB: I would say nationwide, especially with social media and how fast you can reach anyone at this point, I'm really looking at anybody anywhere in the States that is open to hearing me out or just looking for advice.
A big motivator for me is growing up, you hear all these stories of athletes making millions of dollars and then having nothing to show for it when they retire. I was like, "That never happened in my family," and I just realized as I got older and actually started seeing money coming in, money coming out, the movement and how it all happens, I've realized this could happen to anyone.
So I'm really just trying to help as many guys as I can. Some of my college guys I have conversations with where it's like, "Realistically, 1% of you guys are going to make it to the next level. That's just the stats. It's hard to make it. We only have so many spots, but you guys have a great opportunity where you're on scholarship. You have no student debt. You make $100,000. You could invest and save a good amount of this."
FP: I'd imagine there are a lot of people vying for the attention of young athletes with money in their pockets — some of them without the best of intentions. How do you build trust with these athletes?
OSB: Honestly, it's something I'm still tackling myself. Trust is something that's hard to build. It's not something you can just do quickly.
It helps when people introduce you. So if you have a mutual connection — it's a coach, trainer or somebody that introduces a prospect — then
But to your point, there are a lot of bad actors in this industry and in general around athletes, whether it be jewelers, car salesmen — they all try to take advantage of these young guys. And the younger they are, they don't know anything. But building the trust aspect of it is a long game.
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FP: What kind of challenges do you have working with this niche?
OSB: Maybe it's because they're so young and maybe it's just the generation, but sometimes it's [difficult to] get a hold of them or get them to check emails.
[There are] family problems. Maybe you're the kid that made all the money, and now you have friends and family that are asking for money, so that can be a challenge. But at the same time, I get it. I've seen it. I have brothers that are pro, and I understand where it comes from.
FP: What planning challenges do these athletes have that are somewhat unique to them?
OSB: The biggest difference is just the timeline on their careers. The athlete career lifespan is so front-loaded, where you might retire at 30 or your early 30s but you will have maybe made millions and millions of dollars.
A working professional can work until they're 60 or whatever it may be. There's a little bit more consistent income. My business partner and I joke about seeing these guys signing $100 million contracts, and we wish they paid it like a million dollars every year. That way, we know that they can't spend it all.
But that's the biggest difference — understanding that it could end at any given moment. There's no real timeline on it, and you just always have to be aware to only take into account what's guaranteed. People sign contracts, maybe $100 million on paper, but it's not all guaranteed. You don't know if you're going to get hurt.
FP: What do you plan to do with clients who don't make it to huge pro contracts? If you signed an athlete with a six-figure NIL contract, and they get injured or don't get drafted, would you keep them as a client?
OSB: Granted, I haven't really experienced it fully yet. Most of my guys are still in college, hoping to make it to the next level. So I haven't had too many scenarios yet where the person doesn't make it. I'd continue the relationship and still work with them. It'd be a lot more advisory, getting involved with clients and their lives to have conversations about their next steps.
I have in my network some people that I can introduce them to if they're trying to find a new job or if they're trying to start a new career. It's really just going to be a lot about life coaching at that point, life advice, seeing where I can help them and what I can do to help them transition from sports to the regular world, because I know that's also a challenge for some athletes.
I was lucky enough to feel like I was done with football by the time I stopped. But a lot of people, I feel like in their hearts, they're probably not really done with it, but maybe the game makes them stop. A lot of people need help from the mental standpoint, understanding how to transition from sports to the outside world.
FP: What advice would you give to someone looking to start a niche, whether it be with athletes or some other client segment?
OSB: I look at it like poker, where you look at the hand you're dealt. By the time I was getting into this industry, I already had put 20-plus years of hard work and built a natural network in football and sports through me, my brothers, my family. So I knew whatever it was that I was going to do, it had to be around that, around this football sports world.
So my advice would be really just to take a step back and look at what it is that you've done over your life. Where have you built the most connections? Where's your natural network? And what are you passionate about?
For me, that big "why" of helping these athletes is so that they do not become part of that statistic of not having anything. I see these athletes that have made $100 million in earnings, and then I see them on a podcast saying that they don't have anything. I don't know who was in their corner, but those kinds of stories shouldn't be happening. So find your "why," and from there work backwards. It will naturally happen. It might not happen immediately.
