The Chautauqua Chamber of Commerce building is pictured in downtown Jamestown as the chamber gets ready for Small Business Saturday this coming weekend.
Submitted photo
Small businesses across the county are gearing up for Small Business Saturday, a day meant for focusing on shopping local.
Dan Heitzenrater, Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, said this year it is vital for area residents to focus on supporting local businesses.
“Small Business Saturday is an annual tradition as a part of the holiday season overall, but especially the shopping season,” Heitzenrater said. “The idea is for consumers to support their local community and try to spend some of their dollars locally, as opposed to the traditional Black Friday holiday shopping that is heavily drawn more toward big-box retailers. It’s an opportunity for people to go out, explore their communities and support the local smaller shops.”
Heitzenrater said the efforts are a nationally coordinated initiative by American Express. He added that there are various reasons to do holiday shopping locally this year, including keeping funds local.
“It’s more important than ever this year especially to support small businesses and participate in Small Business Saturday because, first of all, it’s an opportunity to shop safe with the continued, ongoing pandemic,” Heitzenrater said. “It’s typically going to be a safer environment. But, also, there’s a lot of question marks and consumer worry about the supply chain issues. Certainly, some of our small businesses are also experiencing those, but it’s not going to be to the scale likely that larger retailers might experience.”
He said those circumstances, in addition to the large economic hit many small businesses have taken over the past 18 months, are all the more reasons for area residents to get out to local businesses this Saturday and support their local community.
“In a general sense, just like any other year, when you shop small, 67 cents is estimated out of every dollar that you spend stays in the local community. That’s again money that is supporting in your community and then being reinvested.”
However, the benefits aren’t all financial, Heitzenrater said.
“When you participate in Small Business Saturday, make it an experience,” he said. “Small Business Saturday is an opportunity to go out and explore your community. You may have a few specific places you want to stop, but get an experience along the way – take family and friends with you, stop and grab lunch and sit down to take some time to really be in the community and enjoy the experience rather than just making it about a transaction.”
For those who can’t make it out to shop local on Saturday, Heitzenrater invites the public to visit the local business online shopping portal at www.ShopLocalCHQ.com that features various local businesses.
Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said local businesses are vital to the city.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy and part of what makes Jamestown so special,” Sundquist said. “After the past few years, it is important to reflect on the challenges small businesses face and celebrate their resiliency and contributions to our community. I encourage everyone to celebrate and shop at our local, small businesses not only on Small Business Saturday but every day.”
Financial setbacks can happen to the best of us. Maybe you racked up debt that’s now leaving you with expensive monthly payments on your credit cards. Or maybe you had to deplete your savings account when an unexpected bill arose that couldn’t be put off.
These situations are often unavoidable, and they can be difficult to recover from. Here’s how to move forward following a financial setback and put yourself on a more positive path.
1. Figure out why it happened
In some cases, it’s easy to see why a financial setback occurred. If you got hurt or sick and racked up $15,000 in medical bills, that may have forced you to empty your bank account. That’s certainly not something you can be blamed for.
But sometimes, financial setbacks can occur through a series of more subtle events. Say you recently moved to a city a bunch of your friends live in, only they earn more money than you do. It could be that over the past number of months, you overspent in an effort to be social and keep up with their lifestyle, even though your income doesn’t support it. Now you could be sitting on an uncomfortably large credit card balance. You’ll need to work on adjusting your financial behavior in order to move forward.
To be clear, peer pressure is a tough thing to overcome, and you shouldn’t necessarily beat yourself up if that’s the reason for your setback. Rather, the key is to understand how you got to this place.
2. Put yourself on a budget
Whether you need to replenish your savings, dig out of debt, or boost your credit score following a massive hit, sticking to a budget is a good way to move forward from your financial setback. Take a look at your bank and credit card statements from the past six months to see what your various bills cost. Then, list them on a spreadsheet (or use a budgeting app) and compare them to your earnings.
Ideally, you should not be spending your entire paycheck month after month, especially if you’re trying to dig out of a financial hole. If that’s the case, you may need to rethink some expenses in an effort to cut back.
Learn more: The Complete Guide to Budgeting Methods
3. Boost your income with a side job
Chances are, an influx of money will help solve whatever financial setback you encountered. If you had to deplete your savings, an extra wave of cash could make your account whole again. If you’ve racked up debt, you’ll need funds to pay it off. And if your credit score took a hit, chances are, it’s because you were late with bills or started using too much of your available credit. And again, having more money could help ensure that you can pay your bills on time and chip away at your existing debt.
As for where that magic pile of money will come from, a good option is to get yourself a side hustle on top of your main job. These days, there are plenty of side gigs to choose from, so think about your personality and schedule to help you narrow down your options.
The sooner you move on from a financial setback, the better. These tips should help you stage your personal recovery, and they may also help alleviate a fair amount of stress to boot.
Yale School of Management released employment data for its MBA program this month
MBA job offers and acceptances were down across the board in 2020, and we don’t need to remind you why. However, while the jobs were harder to find, the ones that graduates did land paid well enough to allow B-schools to boast about the continued strong ROI of their programs.
That was the case at Yale School of Management. Last year, in the depths of the pandemic, the Yale Class of 2020 made news with a major increase in total compensation, fueled by a big boost in median base pay — even as both job offers an acceptances dipped at Yale, as they did elsewhere.
Now, with the release of the SOM’s 2021 numbers, we see a curious reversal: Salaries are up nominally and total compensation is flat overall, but placement rates have rebounded. After dropping from 92.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in 2019 to 90.2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} last year, offers at three months at Yale bounced way back to 95.7{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}; after slipping to 85.9{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} from 91.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, acceptances at 90 days roared back to 94.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. Both numbers represent school records.
MEDIAN PAY FOR 2021 YALE MBAs: $165,248
Yale SOM grads were paid well in 2020. Factoring in an overall median base salary of $140K, up from $130K in 2019, as well as a median signing bonus of $30K (unchanged) reported by 77.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of grads and a median “other” comp of more than $20K reported by just over 10{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, Yale MBAs’ median total comp was $165,333 last year, up from $155,170 the previous year — a 6.5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} jump in one year. For comparison, the overall compensation increase at Yale between 2018 and 2019 was 2.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}.
Now, even as the Ivy B-school’s job offers and acceptances three months after graduation increased 5.5 and 8.2 percentage points, respectively, pay for Yalies has stagnated. For the 256 of 312 students seeking employment (82.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), SOM saw only a very modest increase in median starting salary, to $140,400, while median bonuses were flat at $30K for a fourth straight year. Those receiving “other” compensation also dropped to a four-year low, at 8.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} — it was nearly 20{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in 2018 — though the amount ticked upward to $22,950 from $20,413.
The result is that total median compensation for Yale SOM MBAs in 2021 was $165,248, an $85 decline from 2020 — about 0.05{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. Statistically insignificant? Yes. But noteworthy in that it’s the first decline of any kind at Yale in several years, an acute contrast with the big jump in pay when the market was in turmoil in 2020.
COMPARISONS & CONTRASTS
Harvard Business School experienced a similar 2021 to Yale’s. HBS MBAs had plenty of jobs to choose from, with the school’s offers and acceptances bouncing back nicely from the 2020 trough. However, median compensation for Harvard MBAs slipped to $189,850 from $193,200, a decline of about 1.2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, and still lag 2019’s level.
It’s not a clear-cut case of every school suffering the same reversal. At Chicago Booth School of Business, coming off a 2020 in which bonuses were flat and total compensation grew only 1.2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} from 2019, Boothies reported a big jump in median salary, to $155,000, and in median bonuses, to $35,000, powering an overall compensation total of $178,450, up 4.9{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} from 2020. Likewise, at Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, 97.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of two-year MBA graduates in 2021 received offers by three months after graduation, up from 95{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} last year, and 96.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} accepted, up from 93{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. Pay also climbed, with median starting salaries up to $150,000 from $144,000, leading to a 2.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} uptick in total compensation, to $175,800 from $172,200. Bonuses, which 86{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of grads reported receiving, were the same at a median of $30,000.
And at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan — a school that once held Yale’s spot in the top 10 of the rankings — pay was up along with placement rates. Graduates of the Ross School’s full-time MBA program received the highest total median salary package in school history, $171,450, a 6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} increase over the Class of 2020. The class’s median salary was $144,000, 6.7{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} more than last year. Placement at Ross, meanwhile, rebounded big time, with 97.5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of MBAs receiving offers within three months of graduation (up from 90{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} last year), and 96.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} accepting; the latter is a 10-year-high and a nearly 9{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} year-over-year improvement.
CONSULTING REMAINS TOP INDUSTRY FOR YALIES; TECH TUMBLES
“Throughout their careers,” reads the Yale SOM MBA employment web page, “Yale MBAs take on a range of challenges across regions and sectors. Graduating students find positions in a variety of industries. The range of employers that hire Yale SOM students is remarkable, reflecting the initiative and creativity that our students bring to shaping their own careers. Alumni of the school excel in roles that span industries, sectors, and regions.”
Currently and historically, consulting is the sector that Yalies love the most. In 2021, more than 34{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of grads went into the industry, hired by such firms as McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, EY, Strategy&, and Accenture; since 2015 the share of each class that became consultants has grown 4.9 percentage points, or 16.7{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. Consulting peaked at 37.2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of Yale’s MBA class in 2019.
Finance, meanwhile, is steady-eddie, with 25.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of the Class of 2021, up from 23.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} last year and up 2.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in six years. Finance has crawled back from a low of 19.6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in 2016. Contrast that with tech, which dropped to 10{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} from 12.7{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} and which is on a three-year decline from a high of 14.9{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in 2018.
Regionally, Yale MBAs once again preferred to remain in the New York-Boston corridor, with 52.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of the class working there, up from 47{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} last year. Those MBAs also make the most, at a median of $150K (unchanged from last year). Next closest was the West, where 26.6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of the Class of 2021 went, down from 29.2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}; median salary for Silicon Valley-bound Yale MBAs was $135K, down from $140K. Once again, more Yale MBAs stayed stateside this year, another reflection of the reality of the pandemic, with 91.5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of full-time jobs reported inside the U.S. compared to 87{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} last year and just under 80{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in 2019. Yale MBAs working in the U.S. made a median base salary of $150K, up $15K in two years. Of the 8.5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} who did find work abroad, most went (or went back) to Asia (40{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), though at a considerable pay disadvantage: their median starting salary was $103,629, down from last year’s $106,610.
It took just one day before the first lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency temporary standard mandating COVID-19 vaccinations and testing by employers.
There are now more than 30 lawsuits filed across the 12 federal circuit courts challenging the authority of OSHA over states and the legality of the ETS. On Nov. 12, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans granted a motion to stay the ETS, temporarily halting its enforcement.
Since then, OSHA has suspended activities related to “the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation,” and the collection of challenges against the ETS have been assigned by lottery to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
Despite the uncertainty hanging over the mandate, employers should still be prepared to implement the ETS, which imposes significant administrative burdens on companies, legal experts say.
The long-awaited mandate was finally introduced on Nov. 4. It requires that employers with 100 or more workers enforce COVID-19 vaccinations or testing of their workforces by Jan. 4, 2022. Employees will have to submit proof that they have been vaccinated or comply with weekly COVID-19 testing.
With the flood of legal action that followed its introduction, the mandate’s fate is unclear.
The 6th Circuit is considered conservative, which may make it more likely to rule against the mandate, said Kelley Barnett, vice president of corporate counsel-labor & employment at AmTrust Financial Services Inc. in Cleveland.
Several challengers to the ETS have asked the court to bypass the initial panel process and put the cases to the full court via an en banc review, Ms. Barnett said.
“Requests for an initial en banc review are rarely granted, but given the unprecedented nature of the ETS, and the fact that the outcome of these challenges will impact tens of millions of workers and potentially their right to make personal decisions about their health, it should not be a surprise if the court grants the request for an en banc review,” she said.
An en banc review could also fast-track the cases to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Regardless of the legal process, attorneys say employers should prepare to implement the mandate.
“Employers don’t want to be caught in a position in which they’re not ready to implement the ETS if all or even part of it survives these legal challenges,” Ms. Barnett said.
“The ETS is a huge administrative burden,” said Gary Pearce, chief risk architect at Aclaimant Inc., a risk management consultancy based in Chicago. “It depends on the industry, but some employers are going to get crushed by this thing.”
There is a fair chance that if the ETS survives, the deadlines will be extended, he said, but it will take weeks, if not longer, for employers to prepare to implement the ETS, and they should take some steps now.
“Employers need to plan on the dates not being pushed back,” Mr. Pearce said, noting that there are many avenues for either parts of or a revised ETS to prevail.
“The emergency temporary standards serve as the basis for permanent rules,” he said. “I don’t think OSHA is really looking past the next few months, but they’ll make a determination later whether to withdraw this, issue a new rule, try to make it permanent with modifications.”
Asian shares were mixed Tuesday after a late drop left major Wall Street indexes mostly lower.
Tokyo was closed Tuesday for a holiday. Hong Kong and Seoul declined while Shanghai advanced.
Market players appeared to be relieved to learn that President Joe Biden will nominate Jerome Powell for a second four-year term at the helm of the Federal Reserve, a vote of confidence in Powell’s handling of central bank policies during the brutal disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 24,705.41 and the Kospi in Seoul lost 0.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 3,001.07. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 7,397.80 and the Shanghai Composite index added 0.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 3,592.07.
Political Cartoons
Investors are closely watching the Fed to see whether pressure from rising inflation prompts it to speed up its plans for trimming bond purchases and raising its benchmark interest rate.
“Powell getting the nod is a sign that Biden is staying the course on monetary policy and the Fed is steadily moving toward normalizing policy,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network. “On the whole, the Fed is going to continue to be a force for monetary stability.”
Still, a late-afternoon burst of selling derailed the market from another all-time high on Monday.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 4,682.94. The Dow gained less than 0.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 35,619.25. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gave up 1.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 15,854.76.
Small company stocks also fell. The Russell 2000 index dropped or 0.5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 2,331.35.
Bond yields moved solidly higher on heavy selling. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.63{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} from 1.54{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} late Friday.
Higher Treasury yields make the more expensive areas of the market, like technology stocks, less attractive, which may explain why there was more selling in stocks toward the end of the day as the bond market shifted.
With rising inflation hanging over the recovery from the pandemic, the Federal Reserve is starting to trim bond purchases that have helped keep interest rates low to support the economy and markets.
More than 55{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of the stocks in the S&P 500 rose Monday, but losses by big technology and communication companies outweighed gains elsewhere in the benchmark index. Chipmaker Nvidia slid 3.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} and Netflix fell 2.9{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}.
Energy companies got a bump as U.S. crude oil prices rose 0.9{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}.
On Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 50 cents to $76.25 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the standard for international pricing, gave up 35 cents to $79.35 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 115.08 Japanese yen from 114.88 yen late Monday. The euro edged up to $1.1239 from $1.1237.
Markets in the U.S. will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. They will also close early on Friday.
AP Business Writers Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga contributed.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
For former NFL player Adewale Ogunleye, seeing anyone, let alone athletes, struggle to manage money boils him to his core.
So, he is doing something about it.
Knowing that the average playing career in the NFL is less than four years, Ogunleye’s “light bulb” moment came in his second year in the league. That’s when he said a teammate who was a high selection in that year’s draft asked him for a loan.
“I’m looking at this guy thinking, ‘I’m undrafted.’ I only had a rookie minimum salary and you’re asking me for a loan? And I was actually in a position where I could give them a loan. And so that’s where I realized there’s a problem,” Ogunleye, who played 11 NFL seasons, told USA TODAY Sports.
Walter Stith, a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley’s Global Sports and Entertainment division, says there is a simple reason to see how wealth grows, and it’s based on the average time an athlete has to produce income in a chosen sport.
The average career length of athletes in each of the four North American major sports is less than four years.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s a temptation when it comes to wealth disappearing. I would say it’s more about obligation,” Stith, a former NFL and CFL player said. “Most of these athletes feel that they are obligated to help friends and family and it creates an issue. Financial literacy as a whole needs to be put as a priority in our educational system, especially in dealing with Black wealth and Black entrepreneurship.”
That’s one of the reasons why Ogunleye teamed with UBS and its athletes and entertainers segment, which helps their peers and underserved communities become financially literate.
Its partnerships, for instance with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, can help educate enrolled students at the 14 league schools.
UBS and SIAC have announced a virtual series, “ELEVATE! Creating and Preserving Black Wealth,” designed to introduce Black people to job opportunities in the financial industry while providing tools to become more proficient in managing money.
In those sessions, which will be led by Ogunleye, students who are enrolled at SIAC institutions can discuss with leading experts and ex-athletes ways of building wealth and passing it on to future generations.
Former NBA player Allan Houston and SIAC Commissioner Greg Moore are part of the discussions, which have three more sessions set for the spring semester.
Among the skills that will be taught include creating a strong financial base by developing smart habits, learning to build, maintain, and protect your credit score and preparing for life after college with courses on taxes, homeownership and investing in 401(k) plans.
Managing NFL wealth to a new career
Ogunleye, the son of Nigerians, grew up in the projects on Staten Island, New York, which he said provided the fuel for his NFL career.
In 2004, after totaling a career-high 15 sacks, he was traded from the Miami Dolphins to the Chicago Bears. Ogunleye signed a six-deal deal worth $34 million, and he pocketed $15 million in signing bonuses.
Taking lessons he learned from managing his NFL millions propelled him to a second career in the financial world, and now he is the head of sports and entertainment at UBS.
One of his first orders of business was to reach out to SIAC Commissioner Moore.
The SIAC, headquartered in Atlanta, is made up primarily of historically Black colleges and universities that compete in NCAA Division II, with campuses stretching from Ohio to Georgia.
“I personally believe that income inequality is an existential threat,” Moore said. “Some of our HBCUs are located in some of the most economically underserved, disconnected communities in the country.”
Some communities where those schools are based have poverty rates well above the national average, which is 11.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. Tuskegee, Alabama (Tuskegee University) has a poverty rate of 28{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}; Albany, Georgia (Albany State University) is at 31{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, while Fort Valley, Georgia (Fort Valley State University) is among the worst, where 42{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} of the population lives in poverty.
‘Tomorrow’s Talent’
One way SIAC is moving forward in financial literacy is through a program called Tomorrow’s Talent, aimed at helping students eventually gain summer internship opportunities and careers with UBS.
Moore also reached out to Houston, who retired in 2005 after playing 12 seasons, to gauge his interest in “ELEVATE,” which is the virtual event series aimed at delivering financial wellness literacy.
Moore thought it would be crucial to have Houston, now in a leadership role as the special assistant to the general manager of the New York Knicks, share his story and perspective on his career. He also wanted Houston to discuss his mindset as an entrepreneur and as someone making a social impact with his organization FISLL. (Faith, Integrity, Sacrifice, Leadership, & Legacy).
Houston said the idea of preparing for the next step financially was important to him as he learned about managing money from his father, who was an assistant coach at Louisville (and later the first Black head basketball coach at Tennessee), and his mother, a financial aid director at Louisville while simultaneously running a logistics and transportation company.
“When you can share these stories and let the students know, and can give them the right information, access and opportunity, they can really create a lot more than we can imagine,” said Houston, who signed nearly $120 million in NBA contracts. “It’s just they have to have the tools and the vision and the execution strategy.”
Ogunleye, Moore and Houston agree that there is a misconception around the term “financial literacy,” as they say having a lot of money is not a prerequisite of managing money.
Changing the face of the financial services industry, not only by greater diversity of those working in the field but creating and maintaining a talent pipeline, is one of the main goals of the partnership.
“You don’t just budget your money, you budget your lifestyle,” Houston said. “Fundamental financial literacy is just understanding and watching what you have versus what you actually need, in which you can save and start building a lifestyle habit.”
