Blog
Financial planning for the players who need it most.
No jargon. No generic advice. Just practical insights built for professional hockey players.
September 10, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
Disability Insurance for Professional Hockey Players
Your body is the asset. Standard policies pay when you cannot work any job, which is useless to a player who can still sit at a desk.
Read more →September 10, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
Financial Planning for Hockey Retirement: A Real Playbook
Your career can end years before your pension starts. The plan has to cover the gap between post-career earnings and the life you want.
Read more →September 10, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
Financial Planning for Your First NHL Contract: A Guide
The contract number is not the number that reaches you. Escrow, multi-jurisdiction tax, agent fees and dues all come out first.
Read more →September 10, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
How to Build Wealth on a Short Hockey Career
Save a much higher percentage than feels normal, freeze your lifestyle below your income, and build the boring base before the exciting bets.
Read more →September 10, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
Jock Tax Explained for Hockey Players
Most states and every province where you skate take a cut of what you earned there. Here is how duty-day allocation works, and which parts of it you can actually control.
Read more →September 10, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
NHL Pension Planning Guide: What Players Need to Know
The NHL pension is real money and a floor, not a finish line. It pays a flat dollar amount, not a share of your salary, and it does nothing for the decade right after your last shift.
Read more →September 10, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
Post-Career Identity and Finances for Hockey Players
The day you stop being a hockey player, your income and your identity collapse together. Most plans only account for one of them.
Read more →September 10, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
Sudden Wealth Financial Planning for Young Athletes
The first 90 days after the money lands decide the next 30 years. A structure to build before the check clears, not after.
Read more →April 17, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
Your Agent Protects Your Contract. Who's Protecting Your Money?
The gap between contract negotiation and financial planning — what agents do, what financial advisors do, and why players need both specialists on their team.
Read more →April 17, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
The Compressed Earning Window: Why Hockey Math Is Different
Hockey players have a short window to earn what most people earn over 40. That math changes everything about tax strategy, savings rate, and investment allocation.
Read more →April 17, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
The Jock Tax Is the Most Expensive Thing Nobody Talks to Hockey Players About
What the jock tax is, how it works, state-by-state basics for NHL cities, what it costs players who don't address it, and what addressing it actually looks like.
Read more →April 17, 2026 · Joshua St. Laurent
Welcome to Top Shelf
Why Top Shelf Private Wealth exists, who it's built for, and what we believe about managing money for professional hockey players.
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