Meet Chad Smith
With over two decades of hands on experience as a former financial advisor, Chad built a career helping individuals and families navigate the full arc of wealth management — from planning for college to celebrating graduations, from preparing for retirement to living a secure and fulfilling retirement.
Chad achieved success at respected firms such as Edward Jones and later as a Senior Vice President of Wealth Management at UBS, working closely with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families. He became known for delivering strategic, practical advice, and for helping his clients achieve and protect their goals — even through turbulent markets and uncertain times.
Through this journey, Chad gained deep insight into the traditional financial advisory world. He saw where the system can break down, especially for athletes:
Conflicts of interest hidden behind complicated products
Firms profiting more from client control than from client clarity
Pressure to "trust the system" without full transparency
Loyalty being exploited instead of honored
Careers with short earning windows made athletes vulnerable
Recognizing these risks, Chad expanded his expertise beyond traditional financial advice. He developed skills in family governance — the structures, habits, and values that help successful families sustain their wealth, relationships, and purpose across generations.
While "family governance" may sound complex, at its core it's about something every athlete can understand: Protecting what you've earned, building a strong team around you, and making decisions that keep your future in your own hands — not someone else's.
Today, Chad focuses solely on financial education to empower athletes. Talking to athletes, their families and the institutions that support them about the tools and knowledge needed to make confident and informed decisions on the money they have earned.
Chad no longer offers any individual investment advice, nor does he give tax or legal advice.
His work is educational in nature and intended to support financial literacy and personal understanding
Chad brings that same full-cycle, independent approach to helping athletes understand how to protect their own wealth. His goal:
Confidence that what you earn is protected.
Clarity about who’s on your team and why.
Control over your financial future — for life, not just for now.
Education
Chad holds a degree in American Ethnic Studies from the University of Washington and holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Washington - Center for Leadership in Athletics. His academic experience, coupled with years of hands-on experience in wealth management, has equipped him with the knowledge and insight crucial for navigating the financial intricacies of the sports industry.
The Foundation Behind APG
Chad Smith has built two professional careers—one as a basketball coach and youth athletic director, and the other as an accomplished former wealth management advisor—and is uniquely positioned with an uncommon ability to meet athletes where they are in the field of financial literacy.
Chad understands the culture, the mindset, and the pressure today's athletes face. Chad's background allows him to communicate financial concepts in a way that feels relevant, relatable, and immediately useful to an athlete.
A former coach, he began the original AAU program at Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club, located at the time in the Rainier Vista housing project.
He also served as Co-Head of Social Development through Sports at the Central Area Youth Association (CAYA), during a period when CAYA had three nationally ranked boys’ basketball teams across different age groups. He has been an assistant coach for 2 different WIAA Hall of Fame and State Championship coaches and was a volunteer assistant coach for Joe Callero at Seattle University.
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