When people hear that I went from making over $200,000 a year as a professional athlete to $12 an hour as a financial planning intern, they usually focus on the pay cut.
I understand why. It’s a dramatic contrast.
But I never saw this part of my story as a setback from success or a cautionary tale about what happens when an athlete’s career ends. For me the story is more important, what happened in between.
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I competed at the highest levels – including four Olympic Games – and earned six figures as a professional athlete with a Nike contract. From the outside it looked like I had made it.
But inside, I was still trying to understand my money.
Organize and understand my finances
I knew there were responsible things people with money should do, but I didn’t know what they were. I didn’t know how to organize my finances or fully understand what was coming in, what was going out, what I was invested in, or how my financial decisions would affect me post-exercise.
It’s uncomfortable to admit when you look successful from the outside, but making money and understanding money are two different skills.
Early in my career, I looked for help, but most of the advice I received started with investing rather than financial knowledge. Investing is important, but it should be done after you understand your expenses, cash flow, goals, taxes, and the reality of your long-term income.
At that point, I didn’t need anyone to just take over. I needed someone to help me become financially literate.
Find out what was going on
When my advisor told me, “We lost a lot of money today. Don’t panic,” I realized that the problem wasn’t just the loss. It was because I didn’t know what the loss meant.
I didn’t know what I was invested in or how the market worked. I didn’t know if the loss was normal, serious, or related to the plan I supposedly had. I trusted someone else to make my money grow, but I didn’t have enough knowledge to join the conversation myself.
This experience taught me something I still believe: you can’t completely outsource your understanding.
Learn the hard way
There were other lessons along the way. I have bought too much house more than once. The first time, I listened to advice from friends and family. The second time, an advisor encouraged me to buy a second home.
How was I going to pay for two houses for 30 years? How long would my income from sports last? No athlete has a 30-year playing career. I was fine, but how long would the window stay open?
This lesson doesn’t just apply to athletes. Many people make important decisions based on what they can afford now, without asking whether the choice will still work if income, health, career, or priorities change.
Can my future self live with this decision?
That’s why the first question shouldn’t always be: “Can I afford this today?” but rather: “Can I live with this decision in the future?”
When I began the transition from professional sports, I was 30 and trying to decide on a professional career for the first time. I had a finance degree, an MBA, and a real estate license, but I still didn’t fully understand what kind of work fit into the life I wanted to build.
The internship was part of this transition.
From the outside it may have seemed like a step backwards. But I had savings that gave me options. I was able to pay my bills in the short term while earning less so I could invest in myself for the long term.
This is the part that people often miss. The internship was a conscious decision, not a desperation. It gave me structure, responsibility and the chance to become a beginner again. I earned much less, but what I learned felt invaluable.
It was an investment in the type of career I wish I had when I was younger.
Not an easy transition
That doesn’t mean the transition was easy. Starting a new career was humiliating. The internship was part of the process of obtaining my CFP® certification, which was key to entering the financial planning profession.
I also had to take the CFP® certification exam. I failed the exam twice before passing on the third try, which reminded me that being smart wasn’t enough. I had to prepare differently, be persistent and keep going.
Sport helped me with that. Through athletics, I learned how to bounce back from disappointment and keep going when something is difficult.
When I started working with clients, financial planning almost immediately stopped feeling like a backup plan. Many of the people who came to me had basic questions, but these questions were important. They wanted to understand their money and feel more secure. They wanted someone to explain things without judgment.
The type of advisor I am
These early experiences shaped the type of consultant I wanted to become. I didn’t want people to feel belittled, confused by jargon, or left out of conversations about their own money. I wanted to help my clients understand their entire financial picture, not just their investments.
That became the foundation of my company, Worth Winning. I expected to follow a traditional individual planning model, but I saw that many people needed education, accountability, and a safe place to ask questions. That led me to courses, speaking engagements, corporate financial wellness programs, and retreats.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my career change, it’s that financial confidence comes from staying committed.
Make decisions with more confidence
You don’t have to be an expert in every investment strategy, tax rule or planning tool. But you have to understand enough to know when something doesn’t make sense, when a decision feels rushed, or when the advice you’re receiving doesn’t fit the life you want to build.
This starts with paying attention to your own numbers and being willing to stay in the conversation. Know what you earn, what you spend, what you owe, what you own and what trade-offs you make. These details may not feel exciting, but they give you the ability to make decisions with more confidence.
The $12 an hour internship may be the surprising part of the story, but it’s not the most important part. For me, the transition from athlete to financial planner was never really about starting over. It was about learning to take responsibility for my financial life and then building a career helping other people do the same.
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This article was written by and represents the views of our contributing consultant, not those of Kiplinger’s editorial team. You can check the consultant documents with the SEC or with FINRA.
https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/lauryn-williams-from-olympic-medalist-to-financial-planner
