 Nancy Lieberman, an Olympic athlete, shared financial advice with students at Tuesday's Playbook for Life program.
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Nancy Lieberman had already distinguished herself as a world-class athlete by the time she enrolled at Old Dominion University. She had won an Olympic silver medal at the age of 18, the youngest basketball player ever to do so.
Though Lieberman became famous for her skills on the court, her presentation on Tuesday focused on the skills she honed in the professional world. Lieberman and her colleague Bill Poutre presented "Playbook for Life: The Student's Guide to Understanding and Planning Your Financial Future." The program was developed by the Hartford Financial Services Group in partnership with the NCAA. Poutre, an entrepreneur and professional golfer, is also an adjunct professor and Division I golf coach at the University of Hartford.
To a full lecture hall, Lieberman and Poutre presented the "Playbook," a pragmatic approach to financial preparedness. While at first a seemingly strange union, this marriage of sports and personal finance has appeal. Lieberman emphasized how the same goal-setting and planning skills that are important to success in athletics are exactly the skills a person needs to navigate the minefield of finance after graduation.
The discussion began with students calling out figures that seemed to be reasonable starting salaries, with the general consensus being a $50,000 mean. The chemical engineers in the room were undoubtedly pleased with themselves when Poutre said that this was indeed an average starting salary in their field; however, the majority of the room seemed disappointed by the average numbers for their respective professions. These numbers, along with what Lieberman described as a "spend-what-you-know-you-can-pay" approach to budgeting, constituted the theme of the lecture.
Not only will newly graduated college students receive lower initial salaries than they would like, but many will also be saddled with debts from student loans before they even begin working. The average student debt upon graduation is now approximately $20,000. As the cost of college is rising steadily, a degree no longer carries a guarantee of financial or career security. This is particularly true for the current generation of students. With a constantly growing pool of qualified graduates at employers' disposal, the job market has the potential to become exponentially more competitive.
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