The significance of monetary literacy hits significantly near residence for Michael Haddix Jr. Because the son of former NFL operating again Michael Haddix, he witnessed firsthand how skilled athletes can battle with out correct monetary steerage. The elder Haddix performed eight seasons within the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Inexperienced Bay Packers however got here from very humble—and, at instances, tragic—beginnings. Orphaned at age 9 by a drunk driver on Christmas Eve, he was raised by his grandmother together with 11 different youngsters. When these humble beginnings finally led to fame and fortune, the Mississippi State Corridor of Famer by no means forgot the place he got here from.
“When my dad turned a professional athlete, everybody received taken care of,” Haddix Jr. recollects. “As his profession wound down, he tried beginning companies. However he didn’t know learn how to do it the suitable method. In the future, my dad received reduce. My mom was crying on the sofa. Our lives began altering after that.”
Constructing a greater resolution
That have turned the catalyst for Scout, a fintech firm Haddix Jr. co-founded in 2020 that mixes monetary schooling, wealth administration and tax preparation particularly for faculty athletes. The platform comes at a vital second, as school athletes navigate the brand new frontier of NIL (identify, picture, likeness) offers and upcoming income sharing.
Haddix Jr. earned his MBA from Columbia Enterprise College and labored as an funding banker at Goldman Sachs. A powerful athlete in his personal proper, he additionally scored over 1,000 profession factors taking part in basketball whereas attending Siena Faculty. Earlier than launching Scout, he labored as a monetary adviser at Octagon, managing funds for sports activities superstars like Chris Paul, Steph Curry and Michael Phelps. However he needed to make a bigger impression.
“The most important lesson from all of that is the sacrifice that you just make advantages different folks,” Haddix Jr. says, reflecting on his father’s journey. “I received into this as a result of I feel all these gamers, it’s not nearly them. It’s about their households and their future youngsters and all people round them.
“Individuals [who] have cash discuss cash in another way than folks [who] don’t,” he continues. “I noticed the chance and what it does for future generations. I used to be going to unravel this athlete cash factor. Then, I noticed that ‘monetary literacy’ is form of this factor we are saying, however nobody ever does. So I used to be like, let’s go construct a tech platform to assist this actually distinctive subset of the inhabitants.”
Know-how meets monetary schooling
Scout’s platform does the whole lot from calculating and withholding taxes to facilitating investments and financial savings. The corporate’s method is already proving profitable with main athletic applications and presently works with 12 athletic departments, together with powerhouse franchises like UCLA, Tennessee and Auburn. Athletes obtain on-campus monetary coaching and year-round entry to Scout’s cellular app, the place they’ll design budgets, arrange recurring financial institution deposits and make investments—all underneath the steerage of licensed monetary advisers.
“You have a look at the faculties which have invested in us and the success they’ve had,” Haddix Jr. says. “One among our early purchasers was Auburn basketball. They’re the No. 1 staff within the nation, and people gamers have been with Scout for years. You see the recruits of Auburn soccer and the way profitable they’ve been. You see the success of Tennessee. These faculties are exhibiting that the participant expertise off the sphere or off the courtroom really actually does contribute to profitable.”
The corporate’s method is complete, extending past simply the athletes. “We offer schooling classes for Mother and Dad,” he says. “Lots of instances, they don’t know both. They’ve by no means seen a 1099. They’ve by no means made $700,000 as a 19-year-old.
“The whole lot is constructed for individuals who earn cash till they’re 60,” Haddix Jr. says of present monetary instruments. “That is utterly tailor-made for younger athletes on this distinctive monetary scenario they’re in.”
Past the sport
Scout’s mission transcends instant monetary administration. “Our mission is to supply the chance for each single athlete to leverage their present alternative for the remainder of their lives,” Haddix Jr. says. “Whether or not you go professional or don’t go professional, you’ve got a ton of assets and alternative. This present surroundings ought to profit you endlessly.
“Belief is essential to those gamers,” Haddix Jr. emphasizes. “Lots of people don’t get into their lives and their ecosystems. We have to guarantee that we’re genuine and actually centered on the mission and at all times conserving that in thoughts in each interplay that we have now.”
His recommendation to varsity athletes is simple: “Getting began early will profit you endlessly, and it doesn’t take quite a bit. All this stuff are actually intimidating—how do I do taxes? How do I do an LLC? Nevertheless it’s not that tough. The sooner you be taught that, the better it will get and just some small issues will equate to some big alternatives down the road.”
Scout’s impression is already seen. Haddix Jr. says some skilled athletes proceed to make use of the platform, investing cash month-to-month, nicely after they’ve moved on from school sports activities. Others who’ve transitioned to totally different careers proceed benefiting from Scout’s monetary schooling. For Haddix Jr., these proof factors validate Scout’s method to creating monetary well being as essential as psychological well being in school athletics.
Wanting forward, he sees potential to broaden Scout’s mannequin to different industries the place conventional monetary planning doesn’t fairly match—entertainers, influencers, even gig financial system staff. However for now, his focus stays on athletes, making certain they don’t face the identical monetary struggles his father did.
“We’ve seen athletes and cash and the way it hasn’t labored out for thus lengthy, and we haven’t actually performed something to alter it,” he displays. “Let’s create one thing the place we glance again at this in 10 years and say, ‘Bear in mind after we have been treating athletes and cash this manner? How loopy have been we?’”
This text initially appeared within the July/August 2025 problem of SUCCESS journal. Picture Courtesy of Michael Haddix Jr.
