The synchronized swimming Olympic medallist and ambassador of CECA Obra y Acción Social (Social Action and Welfare Project), Ona Carbonell, has participated this Tuesday in Malaga in a talk about financial literacy and sports. In her speech, she has stressed the importance of financial education for athletes.
This talk has been organized by Unicaja’s Edufinet Project, within the framework of its initiative EdufiSport, on financial education and sports. CECA and Club Unicaja Baloncesto have also collaborated in the event.
The event has been held at the premises of Club Unicaja Baloncesto at Los Guindos, and Ona Carbonell has replied to questions related to sports and financial education, followed by a discussion.
More specifically, the participants have discussed about financial literacy and its importance for professional athletes, whose careers show distinctive features, such as a limited duration.
Professional athletes usually receive remuneration during a relatively short period, what can lead, in some cases, to difficult economic situations after the end of their career, and even during it.
Although athletes often use specialized advisory services, there is a growing awareness that they need to have a minimum capacity to address basic economic, financial and tax decisions.
Ona Carbonell agrees with that view. That is why she considers initiatives such as those launched by Edufinet and EdufiSport to be so necessary, recalling, in addition, a project recently promoted by CECA's member institutions aimed at athletes and which is based on the basic idea that financial literacy is a key competence to manage finances properly on a daily basis, and also to know how to get economic yield in view of their retirement from the professional world.
For the swimmer, it is necessary to have the knowledge required to manage finances and be well advised to know how to make the best financial decisions. As in sports, this situation is a long-distance race, and it is necessary to look at the medium and long term and know what decisions should be made today that will have a positive impact at the time of retirement.
EdufiSport
EdufiSport is a microsite on Edufinet’s website, which includes information to meet the needs and concerns of athletes regarding financial literacy.
The Edufinet Project, promoted by Unicaja Banco and Fundación Unicaja has more than 15 years of history, and currently 16 universities and more than ten business organizations and institutions collaborate with the project.
It has received several awards. For instance, it was awarded recently the first position in the Financial Literacy Area, in the category of adults, at the CECA Awards of Welfare Project and Financial Literacy 2019-2020.
