After NerdWallet Deal, USC Women’s Basketball Star JuJu Watkins Plans For NIL Success

Whereas the USC Trojans’ bid for the Remaining 4 got here to an finish Monday evening with a loss to UConn, JuJu Watkins put up 29 factors in that sport to grow to be the all time main freshman scorer. This caps a season wherein Watkins set a USC file for scoring in a single sport with 51 factors towards Stanford and was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Yr.

Watkins broke San Diego State’s Tina Hutchinson’s 40-year outdated file with a three-point shot in the course of the second quarter of the Elite 8 sport. Watkins ended the sport with a freshman yr whole of 920 factors, properly previous Hutchinson’s 898 factors. For the match Watkins scored 110 factors, one level shy of tying Tamika Catchings’ 111 match factors for Tennessee in 1998.

NIL Earnings And Monetary Literacy

Watkins’ on-court skills have additionally earned her a $555,000 valuation by On3 and endorsement and sponsorship offers with firms like AT&T, Nike
NKE
, Mielle, SpringHill, Wells Fargo
WFC
, Ritz, Celsius, and Dove.

Not too long ago, Watkins signed a cope with NerdWallet, an organization that helps customers and small companies develop better monetary literacy. Due to latest guidelines that permit school athletes to profit financially from their Identify, Picture, & Likeness (NIL), many gamers discover themselves newly rich and with out a lot expertise managing funds. Analysis means that school college students usually have a reasonably low stage of economic literacy.

Watkins defined, “By partnering with NerdWallet, I am gaining precious information about monetary literacy and setting an instance for fellow student-athletes or any people making an revenue. Collectively, we’re altering the narrative and empowering others to take management of their monetary futures and spend money on themselves.”

NerdWallet NIL offers embrace a requirement that athletes take one of many following actions:

• seek the advice of with a brand new or present licensed monetary planner or advisor about use of the Charge
• put at the very least 20% of the Charge in a brand new or present financial savings
• create a price range to be used of the Charge

Watkins has chosen to create a price range with the assistance of NerdWallet which recommends a 50/30/20 rule: 50% of revenue for wants, together with debt minimums, 30% of revenue for desires, and 20% of revenue to financial savings and debt compensation past minimums.

5 % of Watkins’ whole advertising earnings are in fairness, and he or she dedicates a portion of her earnings to supporting charitable foundations.

Watkins is represented by Klutch Sports activities Group which represents quite a lot of excessive profile NBA gamers. She grew to become the primary girl to signal with the group as a highschool junior. From the start, Watkins was clear she wished to make use of her star energy and revenue to assist her residence group of Watts in Los Angeles. She comes from an extended line of Watts activists, and he or she sees herself as a task mannequin for ladies and younger ladies in her group. Accountable administration of her funds is among the methods she hopes to make a distinction.

Watkins mentioned of her NerdWallet deal, “I am grateful to NerdWallet for offering monetary steerage as part of the neatest NIL deal as a result of it is extra than simply securing my current; it is about setting a basis for monetary success. With NerdWallet’s experience, I really feel empowered to make knowledgeable selections about my funds, guaranteeing I can maintain myself that extends far past the sport.”

NIL Earnings And Taxes

Oregon State College enterprise professor and School Athletics Consultant Colleen Bee who teaches athletes easy methods to navigate NIL advised me that one other necessary side for college kids to think about is taxes on NIL and Alston award revenue (Alston awards permit universities to pay scholar athletes as much as almost $6,000 per yr for private and college bills).

“I believe it’s important for school athletes to hunt some kind of trusted and dependable help in managing their NIL revenue. Pupil-athletes want to think about that NIL revenue (and Alston awards) are taxable which is usually not one thing that they’ve needed to think about beforehand with scholarships or value of attendance as a result of it’s thought of monetary help which isn’t taxable. Not solely are NIL and Alson revenue taxable however usually taxes are NOT withheld or deducted from these revenue sources. That implies that student-athletes are chargeable for calculating, reporting, and paying taxes.

“Trusted and dependable help associated to revenue tax is necessary. For instance, answering primary questions earlier than even getting to really submitting a tax return… Do I must file a tax return? If sure, can student-athletes file as a dependent of a dad or mum(s) or have they got to file their very own tax return?”

At Oregon State, OSU Athletics partnered with the School of Enterprise to supply athletes with free tax help by means of the VITA program (Volunteer Earnings Tax Help). Based on Bee, VITA volunteers supplied a drop-in tax evening for Oregon State athletes the place they had been in a position to get recommendation, discover out what data they should file or easy methods to file, or, in the event that they introduced all their revenue and tax-related data, they had been in a position to get their taxes completed in the course of the session. VITA volunteers additionally supplied digital and in-person follow-up conferences.

Along with needing assist in managing their NIL revenue, school athletes headed to the professionals additionally want assist in planning their monetary futures. Klutch Sports activities Group supplies pre-draft workshops with its collegiate shoppers on monetary literacy to navigate their transition into the professionals. Klutch has facilitated advertising partnerships with different monetary establishments, most notably and just lately Robinhood, educating shoppers on the significance of investing.

With the rising recognition of NCAA ladies’s basketball specifically, extra ladies athletes will possible improve their NIL revenue and want monetary steerage from all kinds of sources. JuJu Watkins’ public dedication to monetary accountability supplies a strong instance of creating monetary literacy and committing to a safe monetary future.