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Paris 2024 Olympic headlines<\/a> may suggest all medalists are set for life, but Olympic fame can be fleeting\u2014just ask Lauryn Williams.<\/p>\n The Olympic track and bobsled champion earned $200,000 a year at age 20, yet by 30, she was interning for $12 an hour.<\/p>\n Despite being the first American woman to medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympics<\/a>, her post-Olympic opportunities were scarce.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s this misconception that because I\u2019m the first to do this thing\u2014and still no one else has done it\u2014that I\u2019m booked all year long for speaking engagements,\u201d she told CNBC Make It<\/a><\/em>. \u201cI get things here or there, but I can\u2019t make a living from it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe news coverage came, but the sponsors didn\u2019t. I made $80,000 the year I became the first American woman to medal in the Summer and Winter Olympics.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s why, despite making sporting history, she was forced to start from scratch. In 2013, Williams joined the world of white-collar work as an intern at Briaud Financial Advisors, as per her LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was behind the ball because I was 30 years old and just starting, whereas I had friends who were already doctors and lawyers and well into their careers,\u201d she added. \u201cI spent all of my 20s competing, so I felt kind of insecure that I didn\u2019t have any real work knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n Though she had initially been turned down for work at the firm, she said that the owner decided to bring her onboard after hearing about her impressive background.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even when Williams was earning $200,000 in sponsorship from Nike<\/a>, she highlighted that her agent took a 20% cut, and then there were taxes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe money doesn\u2019t go quite as far as people think it does, even though it was a pretty good living for a 20-year-old,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a 10-year career, so it set me up better than the average person by the time I was 30. But it also didn\u2019t give me the income to kick my feet up forever and never have to do anything again.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps that could have been a different story if she had good financial advice\u2014and that\u2019s precisely what inspired her second act.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI did a Google<\/a> search after having a second financial advisor that didn\u2019t work out and found CFP coursework,\u201d she said. \u201cI enrolled in it blindly, simply because I wanted to better understand finances for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n After two unsuccessful attempts at passing the CFP exam while interning, Williams finally passed in 2017. <\/p>\n Now 40, she is a CFP Board Ambassador helping athletes make smart decisions with their money through her firm Worth Winning.\u00a0<\/p>\n Having now advised various sports stars, Williams knows her experience is very much the norm.<\/p>\n Philippines\u2019 first male Olympic gold medalist in history, Carlos Yulo may be set with a fully furnished $555,000 condo<\/a>, over $200,000 in cash and a lifetime supply of ramen to go with his medals.<\/p>\n However, for most athletes, a plan B is essential.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a sponsorship standpoint, I\u2019ve had multiple gold medal-winning athletes as clients who didn\u2019t compete in \u201cpremiere\u201d sports and weren\u2019t clearing $100,000 a year after all was said and done,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere are the people that you would call the headliners of the Olympic games that are in commercials and those sorts of things, who are going to be able to retire and never work again after if they organize their finances accordingly,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n \u201cBut the vast majority of people are going to need to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nPoor financial advice inspired her second act<\/h2>\n
\u201cGold medal-winning athletes not clearing $100,000 a year\u201d<\/h2>\n
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