NFL referee Shawn Hochuli doubles as LPL-affiliated financial advisor

Not many financial advisors can say they have a side job that puts them on television screens watched by millions of Americans each week. 

Shawn Hochuli can. 

The longtime NFL referee has spent more than two decades in financial services, helping build IWM Partners, an LPL Financial-affiliated wealth management practice in Irvine, California. On Sundays during football season, he trades his financial planning work for zebra stripes and a whistle, following in the footsteps of his dad, Ed Hochuli, who famously officiated NFL games for 27 years until retiring in 2018. 

Shawn Hochuli has been an NFL official since 2014 and became a referee in 2018. He has worked nearly 200 regular-season games and 10 playoff games, including the 2025 NFC Championship Game. Regulatory filings show Hochuli has been registered with LPL since 2005.

According to the website for IWM Partners, the firm services more than $500 million of AUM through LPL Financial, and its team spans six LPL financial advisors plus two support staff. IWM Partners was formed in 2004 by Michael Hernandez and Hochuli, who were previously both advisors at Morgan Stanley.  

Services promoted by IWM include investment management, financial planning, retirement and estate planning, insurance, tax strategies, cash-flow analysis, and investor psychology. 

“As I began my career as a financial advisor after college, I also began officiating the sport which has always been a passion of mine; football,” reads Hochuli’s IWM Partners bio. “My path in the officiating world has long been paralleled to that of my financial planning world, as so many of the same qualities of character, integrity, accountability, and work ethic are necessary to be successful at either.” 

The case for athlete advisors

Before getting into officiating, Shawn played college football at Pitzer College, and his dad was a linebacker at the University of Texas at El Paso from 1969–72. Louis Diamond, CEO of advisor recruiting firm Diamond Consultants, also notes the characteristics that make athletes a natural fit to become financial advisors. 

“We see a lot of former athletes come into the business, and they tend to be attractive candidates for firms,” Diamond told InvestmentNews. “They’re team-oriented, hardworking, self-motivated, and used to being coached. Business development usually comes a little easier too because people want to meet them.” 

NFL referees reportedly make $385,000 on average per season in compensation and benefits as part of the new seven-year collective bargaining agreement signed by the NFL and NFL Referees Association. Advisors could get a notoriety boost from a high-profile second job, but Diamond cautions that the visibility advantage is limited.

“Visibility isn’t a substitute for competence,” said Diamond. “Prospects may take the call out of curiosity, but they hire the advisor who understands their situation and can deliver. The ones who make it work treat the second career as an introduction, not the entire strategy.” 

Hochuli declined to comment for this story, citing NFL rules that limit his interview availability during the season. A spokesperson for LPL did not reply to outreach from InvestmentNews seeking comment. 

“The practical challenge is capacity. If you’re gone every fall weekend, the practice has to run without you, which means having a strong team behind you is essential,” added Diamond.  

Hochuli and Hernandez are joined at IWM by fellow advisors Barbara Stowell, Jim Jones, Clifford Neill, and Nicholas Lupo, according to the firm’s website. Lucy Sandoval serves as an administrative associate with Vienna Gusha as operations manager.  

IWM Partners is not the first LPL-affiliated firm with ties to the NFL. In 2023, former NFL player turned financial advisor Digger Bujnoch joined a firm affiliated with LPL.  

“It makes a lot of sense because it gives advisors access to the network that Shawn [Hochuli] has of professional players,” said financial marketing consultant April Rudin, founder of The Rudin Group. “They have a very short window where they're earning a lot of money, and then they have to make that money last over time.” 

Family business for Hochuli 

RIAs like Americana Partners and Factory Capital launched divisions this year focused on serving athletes, with similar practices also offered by UBS, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan. U.S. Bank announced a multi-year deal in April to become the NFL’s official bank and wealth management sponsor, with former NFL player Steven Israel hired by the bank as a wealth management consultant.  

Rudin says the cadence of being a financial advisor can often lend itself to balancing a second job or passion project. But it could also just be in Hochuli’s blood. Shawn’s dad Ed balanced being a founding partner of the law firm Jones, Skelton & Hochuli during his nearly three decades of being a part-time NFL official. 

“You can have what's called a portfolio career, so one or two careers at the same time,” said Rudin. “It's a very portable career. You can onboard as many clients as you want. You're able to kind of be your own boss, depending on the firm.”