Hello again everyone,

We’ve recently expanded our Newsletter to reach some new (and familiar) faces in our network so we thought it would be a great time to reintroduce ourselves and remind you why you’re receiving this email:

VP Sports & Entertainment provides specialized wealth management advice to professional athletes and entertainers. We aim to educate and empower them, enabling our clients to make sound financial decisions for their long-term success and security.

Every day more of you are facing important financial decisions that will significantly impact the rest of your lives (or maybe you are a family member, friend, coach, agent, strength trainer, etc. to someone in that position you care about). Our team of professionals have successfully guided hundreds of families through these big decisions; we are a sounding board to provide you with options and explain the financial implications of those decisions because ultimately..

The more knowledgeable you are, the more confident and successful you will be !

In this issue:

• The best assist of the year !
• Another step forward
• Behind the scenes of an NHL contract negotiation with agent JP Barry
• How our clients made 24% this year by owning businesses like Visa and Microsoft
• Movie Review / Lessons in risk management: “Dumb Money” the GameStop story

Highlights

Ty Hurley

Most of us who have been lucky enough to lace up the skates have been referred to as “the Hero”, usually when scoring the overtime goal, blocking a shot from the opponent’s top player in the slot, or flashing the leather to take away the top corner on a breakaway.

But how many of us can say we SAVED SOMEBODY’S LIFE? Click the link below and read the incredible story about how Ty Hurley pulled a man from a pool and performed live-saving CPR.

Ethan Buenaventura

Coming off a strong first half of the season, Ethan put in an exceptionally stellar performance turning aside 50 shots against the rival Oil Kings. He’s been a work horse this year proving his status as a starter in the league, among the top three for games played. If you’re facing off against Ethan don’t be afraid to give him a little pad tap, it can get lonely back there…

Keep Kickin’ Ethan !

Ray Ferraro

For those of you who haven’t tuned in yet, our valued teammate and mentor Ray Ferraro hosts a very successful podcast with colleague Darren Dreger – sharing insights on players, teams, the league, and other hockey-related topics. We found this one particularly interesting – an interview with CAA Agent J.P. Barry (who represents some of the game’s biggest stars in Barzal, Malkin, Patrnak, etc.) discussing NHL contract negotiations and details behind the scenes (beginning at the 23:33 mark)

Insights

How to Turn $1M into $8.5M (without taking on MASSIVE risk!)

The top three ingredients to achieve this kind of sustainable success are: Time, Patience and a Proven Investment Philosophy (along with money to invest, you’re still saving right?). But it’s a lot easier said than done and these returns have been far above and beyond what other investors have to show for over the same time period.

Click the image below for an update on our Dividend Growth pool which invests in US companies that our Portfolio Manager expects to grow their profits and in the meantime will grow their dividend over the next year (not that crazy of an idea is it?)



How the Trolls Beat Wallstreet – The GameStop story

The business (stock) returned a whopping 8,000% over six months. Yes, you are reading that correctly, eight thousand percent.

Do you know this wildly fascinating story?!? Recently Hollywood released the movie Dumb Money telling the GameStop story (available on AppleTV), I highly recommend watching it as it does a pretty good job of explaining how a group of anti-Wall Street people manipulated the markets in a big way!

Quick Summary:

• GameStop is a video game retailer, selling its product in person which struggled financially and was under immense pressure during COVID.

• GameStop was the subject of what’s called short selling, in which professional investors borrow shares of stock to sell and then buy back later so they can return them, which lets them pocket the profit if the stock price goes down. They’re basically bets that the company will fail.

• For the most part, investors follow the “buy low, sell high” format when it comes to stocks. Short sellers do the opposite — they borrow and sell a stock when it’s high and bet that it will continue to fall. If that doesn’t happen and the stock price rises, short sellers are forced to cover their positions or buy more stocks — to minimize their losses.

• Analysis found that short sellers had lost $23.6 billion on GameStop.

How did this happen?

• Long story short, message boards of DIY investors through the popular app Reddit blew up with interest as millions of people invested heavily in GameStop stock (driving the price up), knowing that Wallstreet had significant short positions in the stock, making the anonymous online investors millions in returns, and cost the short sellers over $23.6 billion!

Why does this matter?

• Never before have amateur investors taken down entire Investment Firms (Hedge Funds); a true David vs. Goliath story with HUGE market implications.

• It helps investors understand how the market works, and most importantly the inefficiencies and volatility of the market – the rise and collapse of the GameStop stock had absolutely nothing to do with the underlying GameStop business itself (selling video games to customers through their stores).

• We know you’re not going to be “shorting” stock anytime soon, however, if you invested in something like GameStop at the wrong time (while the price is extremely high and overinflated due to the troll excitement), when that stock falls back to normal levels, the money you invested will fall with it. The price you pay for a business matters!

Let’s Chat!

If you are curious or concerned at all about protecting and growing your wealth, let’s chat. We’re available for virtual meetings, just click the button below so we can get your questions answered.