Another money mismanagement story by a professional athlete

[grasshopper]

i see another victim here.

 

[Hermit]

Then you see a guy like Rob Gronkowski who's socking away all his pay and living off his endorsements. Family keeps him on a tight financial leash. He'll be set for life.

I think the basic problem is so few in this country are taught any financial literacy...it's almost deliberately avoided in the school system.

If this is so, how come I have a daughter that is very frugal and quite conservative with her money and a son that spends any money he has? They are a year apart and went to the same schools. BTW, he is very bright, outstanding at math, etc. Knowing something and doing something about it are not necessarily the same.

 

[Music Lover]

If this is so, how come I have a daughter that is very frugal and quite conservative with her money and a son that spends any money he has? They are a year apart and went to the same schools. BTW, he is very bright, outstanding at math, etc. Knowing something and doing something about it are not necessarily the same.

Some people just like to spend and don't give serious thought to the long term consequences. My friend was deep in debt and barely hanging on due to a mortgage he couldn't afford. Then, out of the blue he got an offer for his house for way more than it was worth. To his credit, he took the offer and went from deep in debt with no hope of getting out of it to living in an apartment with $150k in the bank.

That was one month ago...so far he's dropped $20k on golf clubs, new furniture, electronics, etc. He's also looking to replace a perfectly good 2009 Toyota RAV with only 90,000 kilometres on it with a newer and "better" vehicle, which will be another $45k - $50k (less trade in value). He only has to work 4 more years to avoid a penalty on his pension, but he's also planning on retiring early and, therefore, will take a big penalty on his pension.

I expect that in a year he'll be down to $50k or less and retired, but will need to continue to draw from what's left of his savings to supplement his day to day living. When that runs out, he'll be living cheque to cheque again.

 

[easysurfer]

Always shocks me how athletes (Portis, Shilling and others) who made so much money can end up in bankruptcy. I suppose not much different than the curse of the lottery winners .

 

[mpeirce]

Always shocks me how athletes (Portis, Shilling and others) who made so much money can end up in bankruptcy. I suppose not much different than the curse of the lottery winners .

In both of these cases, the skill or luck they exhibited doesn't correlate with financial know how at all. They are completely independent variables.

Actually, in the case of the lottery, possibly a negative correlation. Most financial savvy people don't buy lottery tickets.

 

[easysurfer]

In both of these cases, the skill or luck they exhibited doesn't correlate with financial know how at all. They are completely independent variables.

Actually, in the case of the lottery, possible a negative correlation. Most financial savvy people don't buy lottery tickets.

What each have in common is a riches to rags story. One way or another .

 

[ls99]

The pro's seem to go with Pul Simon's song, Kodachrome's first few lines

 

[potto0213]

I wonder how much was spent on drugs, alcohol and hookers... The article does show gambling was a major problem.

Yes. And the rest was probably just wasted.

 

[youbet]

I wonder how much was spent on drugs, alcohol and hookers... The article does show gambling was a major problem.

Most of it probably. At least it wasn't wasted.........

 

[Mulligan]

I bet he is really confused on who makes money off casinos....He lost big money gambling and lost money investing in them on the other side.. When you lose on both sides, gambling isn't your thing!
I am not in the this camp of "blaming others" "more education", etc... I have watched a symposium they give to newbies... They even bring in first hand accounts from players who blew their money... Some things don't have to be told but once. Also, how many times does it take to learn not to have protected sex.
Some people are hell bent on doing what they want to do. And the consequences come later.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Skyward1]

I read this earlier and was wondering about him owing a million dollars to his mother and a former sideline reporter turned Entertainment Tonight reporter. Hopefully, he isn't trying to shield some of his assets from the four ladies "domestic support obligations".

 

[aja8888]

Mike Tyson went through over $400 million before he was broke. Of course he had helpers along the way.

 

[brucethebroker]

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds [women] and fast cars – the rest I just squandered".
Former professional soccer player George Best who twice claimed bankruptcy after earning over $100 million from the 1960's through 1984.

At least he had a sense of humor....

 

[braumeister]

Conversely, I have a neighbor who is a professional athlete with a $multimillion salary. He lives in a modest home (obviously, since he's my neighbor), drives an old pickup, and lives a very modest lifestyle. So it would be wrong to assume most athletes have no money skills.

 

[marko]

I don't think it's limited to athletes.

We all know some people/neighbors who make good money but spend $2 for ever dollar they make. Or those who've gone down the drain having over-bought on their lifestyle.

We have one friend who makes close to $1MM a year but his cable/electricity/phone is always getting turned off; he runs around robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

[robnplunder]

Always shocks me how athletes (Portis, Shilling and others) who made so much money can end up in bankruptcy. I suppose not much different than the curse of the lottery winners .

Well, they often don't have good education, never around money before and can't handle sudden wealth, surrounded by sycophants who are after their money, (sometimes) generous enough to take care of families and relatives, have multiple affairs & marriages which end in alimony and child support, ....

I think NBA, NFL have programs to educate their players but not all of them are going to pay attention.

 

[marko]

Always shocks me how athletes (Portis, Shilling and others) who made so much money can end up in bankruptcy. I suppose not much different than the curse of the lottery winners .

In Shilling's case he was all set financially but unwisely went all-in on a video game project and ended up using a lot of his own assets to fund a slowly sinking ship.

He could've been ok had he just walked away from baseball and got into speaking/motivation/broadcasting gigs. He swung for the fences (pun intended) and struck out.

 

[JoeWras]

In Shilling's case he was all set financially but unwisely went all-in on a video game project and ended up using a lot of his own assets to fund a slowly sinking ship.

He could've been ok had he just walked away from baseball and got into speaking/motivation/broadcasting gigs. He swung for the fences (pun intended) and struck out.

Eggs. One Basket. Don't put them all together.

 

[easysurfer]

In Shilling's case he was all set financially but unwisely went all-in on a video game project and ended up using a lot of his own assets to fund a slowly sinking ship.

He could've been ok had he just walked away from baseball and got into speaking/motivation/broadcasting gigs. He swung for the fences (pun intended) and struck out.

His biggest mistake was mixing his own (good money) after bad money of the sinking ship. I remember him on the radio and on TV promoting his game company a few weeks before having to file bankruptcy. Wouldn't have known that at that time he was desperately trying to keep the company afloat.

 

[Corporateburnout]

In Shilling's case he was all set financially but unwisely went all-in on a video game project and ended up using a lot of his own assets to fund a slowly sinking ship.

It's called greed. He was all set financially but wanted more and ventured into areas that he doesn't know much about. Being a baseball pitcher and running your own gaming company are two different animals.

 

[CaliforniaMan]

It's called greed. He was all set financially but wanted more and ventured into areas that he doesn't know much about. Being a baseball pitcher and running your own gaming company are two different animals.

+1
Pure and simple. This thread made me look up the history of his company. Pure greed mixed in with generous amounts of hubris.

 

[ownyourfuture]

This thread reminded me of something one of the 'old-timers' at work told me years ago.

"I spent most of my money on wine, women, & song, the rest of it I just pissed away

 

[Badger]

I just can't get all worked up over high paid athletes going bust. I always chose to participate rather than be a spectator and pay to watch someone else have all the fun for big bucks. For that matter I don't have any sympathy nor will I make excuses for a high paid exec foolishly squandering their money or lottery winners either. Too bad.

Cheers!

 

[sanfanciscotreat]

We have a relative and husband who receive about $9000 in February from the Feds as earned income credit. Two months later, they have no idea where it went. Poor people have poor ways.

 

[ownyourfuture]

We have a relative and husband who receive about $9000 in February from the Feds as earned income credit. Two months later, they have no idea where it went. Poor people have poor ways.

earned income credit = welfare IMHO