Mikael Lemieux travels to universities and teams as a wealth advisor at JPMorgan.
JPMorgan
Like others in wealth management, Mikael Lemieux is used to talking about taxes and investing— he's just sometimes doing it from inside a locker room.Lemieux works in JPMorgan's Athlete Center of Excellence, which launched in March as an educational resource for athletes. Part of Lemieux's remit includes educating athletes about managing their money and quite literally meeting them where they're at, whether they're still in school or playing pro."I've been on 30 airplanes in the last two months or so, and all across the country," Lemieux told Business Insider about his trips to teams and universities in July.Lemieux feels right at home in a locker room, since he played major junior hockey in the Canadian Hockey League before transitioning to finance. Not to mention he comes from a sports dynasty: his uncle is Mario Lemieux, a hockey legend and part-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and his father also played in the NHL. Financial literacy wasn't part of his conversations as a young player.The center is an educational tool, not a tool for courting clients, Lemieux said. It's part of JPMorgan Wealth Management's broader infrastructure to serve athletes throughout their careers. Wealth advisors at JPMorgan can come to Lemieux for advice on their athlete clients, too. Athletes are not the typical private wealth client. Their careers are short, they make money younger, and when they're less likely to plan for the future, and there's an overarching "theme of unknowns," Lemiuex said.One of those unknowns for banks is which players will become the next handsomely paid stars, with likely complex banking needs. By getting to know athletes early on, banks might be firming up relationships with important future clients or even current high earners. Opendorse, a technology company that tracks the Name, Image, Likeness industry, estimated that the amount college athletes can bring in from merchandise or endorsements will reach $4.5 billion in the upcoming academic year, up 50% from previous estimations.Wall Street firms are trying to cash in on the sports entertainment boom and celebrity status of many young athletes, especially after the NCAA started allowing college players to monetize their name, image, and likeness in 2021. Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley also have dedicated sports and entertainment teams and partner directly with teams and universities.
