Going Pro

Answer: Congratulations on your success. It can be thrilling and overwhelming all at the same time. Decisions you make today will influence your future.

Since you didn’t indicate the nature of your career, we’ll discuss non-traditional vocations that now allow many to experience fame and fortune at early ages. These include athletic careers, like Cristiano Ronaldo, who was just 16 when he signed his first professional soccer contract, or someone like social media star Charli D’Amelio, who was 15 when her TikTok dances turned into a multimillion-dollar empire. Fame can turn into fortune quickly, paving unconventional paths to success.

With the growth in digital content platforms and the increase in NIL for college athletics (name, image, and likeness) deals, having money at a young age is more common and empowering. Yet, prosperity early in life can be complicated and present unique pressures. People see your success, and with that, your wealth invites possibility. While opportunity is everywhere, understanding risks and rewards may help you build and maintain the life you want.

Who to Trust?

It makes sense to trust family and close friends more than anyone else and feel a sense of loyalty or gratitude to those who played a role in achieving success. Beyond this, a good question to ask yourself is: “Who has the experience to guide me toward good decisions and away from mistakes others have made?”

Partnering with a team of seasoned financial professionals brings structure and an outside perspective. You don’t want to replace those who’ve been with you since the start: it’s about building a strong foundation for long-term success.

The Bad Guy

Financial success can blur boundaries, change dynamics, and increase pressure to say “yes” to opportunities friends and acquaintances may want you to fund. Saying “no” and turning down family and friends isn’t easy. Having your own private wealth team, to include a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ® Professional, provides checks and balances to help you navigate opportunities objectively. A professional can help you decide what’s worth pursuing and, when needed, be the “bad guy” saying “no” on your behalf, allowing you to preserve important relationships.

Risks and Rewards

There may be exciting opportunities depending on the nature of your career, including endorsements, partnerships, and ventures that can enhance your success. But with every opportunity comes risk; some are harder to spot than others. The real advantage is having the clarity to recognize potential risks before they cost you.

Signing unfavorable deals, investing in ventures that don’t perform as expected, or locking too much money up in illiquid assets like real estate or businesses could work against your success. Don’t overlook the big, bold opportunities; just make sure there’s a solid, legitimate strategy behind each decision.

Those ‘too good to be true’ opportunities can easily go wrong, and the damage can be hard to measure. If taxes are mishandled, you’ve invested in a business you don’t fully understand, or with people you barely know, you could be personally liable for problems you never saw coming. Treat your personal wealth and your professional career as two separate worlds. That way, if something goes wrong in one, the other can be protected.

Over-relying on someone you trust instead of experts can also bring risk. People may mean well, but depending too heavily on someone who lacks experience can expose you to serious tax, compliance, and budgeting risks with substantial implications for your future. It’s not just your financial future at stake; you need to protect your brand as well. Working with a trusted team who have experience knowing what’s worked and what hasn’t for people in similar situations to yours may help you move forward with fewer missteps.

Your Career is a Business

Thinking about your career as a business makes it easier to have the challenging or difficult conversations with those around you. In many respects, everything is essentially a business decision not to be taken personally. Strengthening your professional team allows you to take a step back, shift from a ‘do-it-all’ mindset, offload certain pressures, and focus on growing the talent that led to your success.

Establishing relationships with professionals who have your best interests in mind is setting yourself up for success.

Protect what you stand for and who you associate with. Most career damage occurs when someone is poorly advised. Mistakes made early in your career are difficult to overcome. These include overspending on luxury cars, housing, and paying for other people’s dreams. Income can drop suddenly, and not all early careers last forever. Stay focused and plan accordingly.