Beating the Financial Odds After Basketball
Few jobs pay like professional sports, and few sports pay as well as the National Basketball Association. In the last few years, many stars have signed contracts that are worth well over $100 million for just a few years work. Sadly, great numbers of these players did not come from money and lacked the financial management skills to handle these huge paychecks. The results were, and still are, often tragic.
In short, big salaries often lead to over-the-top lifestyles that cannot be sustained. From mega-mansions and yachts, rare car collections, and gold-digging entourages to all-night parties and even drugs, players set themselves up for failure once their paychecks cease. This is not the rare exception, either. According to Celebrity Net Worth, 60 percent of star athletes are broke within five …show more content…
Perhaps the poster child of sports to business success would be the billion dollar man, Michael Jordan, but there are others out there as well. Hall of Fame basketball player David Robinson is one example. Robinson, who is a graduate of the Naval Academy, was an NBA superstar like Jordan. While playing, he was a perennial All-Star and won the NBA MVP in 1995. He also won NBA titles in 1999 and 2003. One record he has all to himself: Robinson is the only player who's ever both scored 70 points in a game and recorded a quadruple-double. Unlike Jordan, Robinson never made more than $14.8 million in a season.
One he retired, "The Admiral" did not waste his time or money. Since leaving the court, Robinson has been very successful overseeing a private-equity fund he started in 2007. Admiral Capital focuses on real estate and operates in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Based on the success of Admiral Capital, Robinson recently opened a second private-equity fund with the same Goldman Sachs partner who helped him on the first
Few jobs pay like professional sports, and few sports pay as well as the National Basketball Association. In the last few years, many stars have signed contracts that are worth well over $100 million for just a few years work. Sadly, great numbers of these players did not come from money and lacked the financial management skills to handle these huge paychecks. The results were, and still are, often tragic.
In short, big salaries often lead to over-the-top lifestyles that cannot be sustained. From mega-mansions and yachts, rare car collections, and gold-digging entourages to all-night parties and even drugs, players set themselves up for failure once their paychecks cease. This is not the rare exception, either. According to Celebrity Net Worth, 60 percent of star athletes are broke within five …show more content…
Perhaps the poster child of sports to business success would be the billion dollar man, Michael Jordan, but there are others out there as well. Hall of Fame basketball player David Robinson is one example. Robinson, who is a graduate of the Naval Academy, was an NBA superstar like Jordan. While playing, he was a perennial All-Star and won the NBA MVP in 1995. He also won NBA titles in 1999 and 2003. One record he has all to himself: Robinson is the only player who's ever both scored 70 points in a game and recorded a quadruple-double. Unlike Jordan, Robinson never made more than $14.8 million in a season.
One he retired, "The Admiral" did not waste his time or money. Since leaving the court, Robinson has been very successful overseeing a private-equity fund he started in 2007. Admiral Capital focuses on real estate and operates in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Based on the success of Admiral Capital, Robinson recently opened a second private-equity fund with the same Goldman Sachs partner who helped him on the first