Summary – Merrill Wealth Management and IMG Academy’s Relationship
• Aims to enhance financial literacy among student-athletes and their families.
• Specialized personal financial education provided by Merrill Advisors.
• Curriculum covers fundamentals of saving and spending, credit introduction, and investment information.
• Incorporates Bank of America’s Better Money Habits.
A special three-year relationship between Merrill Wealth Management and IMG Academy aims to raise student-athletes’ and their families’ financial literacy. Unlike any other effort, this one aims to give IMG Academy student-athletes practical financial knowledge that will help them not only now, but in the future as well.
Through this relationship, IMG Academy student-athletes and their families will receive specialized personal financial education from Merrill Advisors, who are well-known for their financial acumen.
The curriculum covers a variety of topics, including the fundamentals of saving and spending, an introduction to credit, and general investment information from Merrill. It also incorporates Bank of America’s Better Money Habits.
Merrill is the official name of the American investment management and wealth management branch of Bank of America. Prior to being renamed Merrill Lynch, it was known as Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated. Both companies are involved in broker-dealer and prime brokerage operations, in addition to BofA Securities, the investment banking division.
IMG Academy was founded in 1978 with the innovative idea of the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, and it has since expanded to become a worldwide phenomenon. IMG Academy is currently the top sports education brand in the world, giving student-athletes access to a cutting-edge array of online and on-campus programming.
IMG Academy facilitates the complete developmental path of student-athletes, from discovery to specialization to graduation, by means of:
Camps and boarding school on its state-of-the-art facility in Bradenton, Florida
Online coaching from IMG Academy+ that emphasizes personal growth via the perspectives of performance and sport NCSA College offers access to a network of 40,000 college coaches and 78% of all college programs, as well as recruiting, coaching, and tools.
Every year, IMG Academy is the only education brand that is directly in charge of filling 25% of the available slots on college rosters. IMG Academy assisted 30,000 children in getting into colleges just in 2021.
Greg McGauley, Head of Merrill Private Wealth Management, International and Institutional Groups, discussed the partnership as follows:
Today’s athletes must navigate a financial environment that is becoming more complicated, and they must make decisions early in life that will affect their careers significantly. This is why the collaboration with IMG Academy is so crucial and appropriate at this moment.
It provides parents and children with the knowledge and tools necessary to support them in making wise financial decisions both now and in the future.
IMG Academy stands apart from all other education brands and institutions globally due to its deliberate and unmatched focus on complete human development.
It is the only prep school in the world with over 100 professionals working exclusively on purposeful personal development in the areas of sports science, leadership, mental performance, nutrition, and communication.
Every year, the boarding school and digital resources NCSA College Recruiting and IMG Academy+ help place more than 30,000 student-athletes on college sports teams.
The CEO of IMG Academy, Brent Richard, continued:
A growing amount of emphasis is being placed on the importance of early financial literacy development given the current high school and collegiate student-athlete milieu.
Creating a relationship that offers our student-athletes and their families information and financial support is another important component to our curriculum for holistic education and only serves to enhance the value of an education from IMG Academy.
Students and their families can access the financial education program at IMG Academy’s on-site boarding school in Bradenton, Florida, as well as through its online course, IMG Academy+.
The curriculum, which will be introduced in the 2024–2025 academic year, consists of instructional sessions, assemblies for the entire campus, materials for independent study, and one-on-one meetings between students and Merrill advisors for families.
CONCLUSION : Merrill Wealth Management and IMG Academy are partnering for three years to enhance financial literacy among student-athletes and their families. The partnership provides specialized financial education from Merrill Advisors, covering topics like saving, spending, credit, investment information, and Bank of America’s Better Money Habits.