Former Professional Baseball Player, Richard Giannotti, Joins Fort Lauderdale- Based Global Wealth Management as President of the Firm’s Athlete Asset Management Division
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL (February 9, 2015) – South Florida investment advisors C. Grant Conness and Andrew M. Costa—co-founders and managing directors of Global Wealth Management (GWM) in Fort Lauderdale—today announced the hiring of former professional Baseball player Richard Giannotti as President of the firm’s Athlete Asset Management Division. In this role, Giannotti will be responsible for overseeing the recently launched division, which provides personalized, coordinated financial planning and asset protection strategies tailored to meet the long-term transitional needs of professional athletes.
“For many successful professional athletes, preserving and protecting their hard-earned wealth is critical, and yet sometimes overlooked or underserved,” said Conness. “In addition to Richard’s business background and education in finance, he brings first-hand experience as a former professional athlete, knowing many of the concerns this unique group faces on a day-to-day basis. We could not think of a better-suited individual to take on this role, and we are excited to welcome Richard to our team.”
A homegrown professional athlete, Giannotti began his career playing baseball at the national powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he was a 1st team All-State Outfielder. Following high school, he earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Miami where he started as a freshman, eventually helping lead the Hurricanes to two College World Series appearances, and received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
In 2004, Giannotti was drafted by the Anaheim Angels, which sparked a nine year professional baseball career with the Los Angeles Angels, St. Louis Cardinals and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the Atlantic League. Throughout his professional baseball career, Giannotti established a reputation as a leader and team player of high integrity, building a vast network as a colleague, mentor and friend.
“The most important thing to me is maintaining my good name that I built by continuing to be a man of high-integrity who is straight-forward and hard-working—both on the field and in the office,” said Giannotti. “Trust is an extremely important characteristic to have when dealing with athletes and their financial goals and privacy. If there is no trust, there is no business.”
Under Giannotti’s leadership in coordination with Conness and Costa, the Athlete Asset Management Division of Global Wealth Management provides personalized, coordinated financial planning and asset protection strategies for professional athletes, addressing their tax, investment, insurance, estate and overall wealth management needs. By dissecting the top three areas of most concern—Traditional Asset Protection, Transparent Institutional-Based Investment Management, and Seamless Generational Wealth Transfer—GWM’s experienced team of professional financial advisors guides athletes through the various transitional phases of their life, from amateur to professional, to potential career transition and ultimately, retirement—and puts a plan in place that allows professional athletes to convert their career earnings into a legacy of financial stability.
Giannotti and the Athlete Asset Management Division may be new to Global Wealth Management, but providing financial planning and advisory services to professional athletes is not. After years working with a variety of high-profile professional athlete clientele, Conness and Costa quickly realized how uniquely tailored the nature of the various client services and needs could be—and at times, just how much guidance these athletes truly needed to protect their financial stability and future legacy.
“A vast number of players never think about putting money away while they’re playing and in certain cases, it can seem almost impossible and far too late to play catch up,” said Costa. “Through the years, we’ve heard countless players come to us and express concern the day the lucrative checks stop coming. Our goal in launching this new division is to educate and inform athletes of the importance and critical nature of enlisting a trustworthy financial advisor to protect and grow their assets now, and to ensure their financial stability later through proper planning”
Adds Giannotti, “By creating an investment protection and retirement income strategy, we can effectively bridge the gap between the last days of playing and when it comes time to pull from their well-deserved pension fund. I was fortunate enough to have a college degree and career interests outside of professional baseball, but this is not always the case for pro athletes. It’s exciting for me to be able to combine my passion for professional sports with my financial training and experience to help other professional athletes protect their legacy and structure their financial game plan for the future.”
About Global Wealth Management (GWM)
Global Wealth Management (GWM) is an independent Fort Lauderdale-based investment management firm that specializes in retirement income and estate planning strategies for individuals and families planning for and living in retirement. Led by financial co-authors, radio talk show hosts and investment advisors Andrew M. Costa and C. Grant Conness, the firm caters to a wide array of clients in South Florida and throughout the nation. Services provided by GWM include private asset management investments, retirement income planning, asset protection, income tax minimization strategies, risk management, guaranteed income solutions and alternative investments. GWM’s main office is located at 2810 East Oakland Park Boulevard, Suite 101, in Fort Lauderdale, FL, with convenient meeting locations by appointment only in Boca Raton, FL and Coral Gables, FL. For more information, call (954) 533-7144 or visit www.askglobalwealth.com.
About Global Financial Private Capital
Global Financial Private Capital, LLC, has been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the top 50 fastest growing independent financial firms in America, as well as by The Wall Street Journal as one of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services’ top advisory firms in the nation. Global Financial Private Capital currently manages about $4 billion for both institutions and individuals.
Any comments regarding safe and secure investments, and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not refer, in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed Insurance and Annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims‐paying ability of the issuing company and are not offered by Global Financial Private Capital or GF Investment Services. Securities offered through GF Investment Services, LLC; Member FINRA/SIPC. The company is headquartered at 2080 Ringling Blvd., Third Floor, in Sarasota, FL. For more information call (941) 441-1902. Investment advisory services offered on a fee basis through Global Financial Private Capital, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor.
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