Why so many athletes go broke
You’ve probably all heard about how athletes go from rags to riches overnight when they sign their huge multi million dollar contract. But you probably haven’t heard is how a lot of them blow the money very quickly after retirement. 78% of NFL players face bankruptcy or serious financial stress, just 2 years after leaving the game and 60% of NBA players face the same injustice 5 years after retiring.
First of all, many of these athletes go broke because of lack of education. In order to become a professional athlete you have to make many sacrifices, and one of them is your education. While most people are in class learning how to manage their money and make good financial decisions, they are out on the field …show more content…
The majority of professional athletes weren’t used to seeing large amounts of money in front of them before their career. When they get the money, they go crazy and make unnecessary purchases like; multiple houses, cars, jewelry, boats and liquor. The main reason athletes make these unnecessary purchases is to impress their peers and woman. They see fellow athletes making these obscene purchases, and try to compete with them by buying more. This is also known as “keeping up with the Joneses.” It seems like there is more competition off the playing field than on. One great example of this is Mike Tyson. During his 20 year career boxing, he earned 400 million dollars. In 2003 Mike Tyson declared for bankruptcy and was in 30 million dollars of debt. This was mainly of legal problems, unhealthy relationships and ridiculous purchases. According to EarlyTorise.com, Some of the things he bought were: 2 Bengal tigers ($140,000 + $120,000 a year for a trainer), cars and motorcycles ($4,500,000), clothes and jewelry ($3,400,000), personal expenses ($7,800,000), a bathtub ($2,000,000) a birthday party ($410,000) and cell phones and pagers ($230,000). Eventually all these purchases, plus all of his legal problems caused him to file for bankruptcy and now he’s only worth 1 million dollars after going bankrupt in
You’ve probably all heard about how athletes go from rags to riches overnight when they sign their huge multi million dollar contract. But you probably haven’t heard is how a lot of them blow the money very quickly after retirement. 78% of NFL players face bankruptcy or serious financial stress, just 2 years after leaving the game and 60% of NBA players face the same injustice 5 years after retiring.
First of all, many of these athletes go broke because of lack of education. In order to become a professional athlete you have to make many sacrifices, and one of them is your education. While most people are in class learning how to manage their money and make good financial decisions, they are out on the field …show more content…
The majority of professional athletes weren’t used to seeing large amounts of money in front of them before their career. When they get the money, they go crazy and make unnecessary purchases like; multiple houses, cars, jewelry, boats and liquor. The main reason athletes make these unnecessary purchases is to impress their peers and woman. They see fellow athletes making these obscene purchases, and try to compete with them by buying more. This is also known as “keeping up with the Joneses.” It seems like there is more competition off the playing field than on. One great example of this is Mike Tyson. During his 20 year career boxing, he earned 400 million dollars. In 2003 Mike Tyson declared for bankruptcy and was in 30 million dollars of debt. This was mainly of legal problems, unhealthy relationships and ridiculous purchases. According to EarlyTorise.com, Some of the things he bought were: 2 Bengal tigers ($140,000 + $120,000 a year for a trainer), cars and motorcycles ($4,500,000), clothes and jewelry ($3,400,000), personal expenses ($7,800,000), a bathtub ($2,000,000) a birthday party ($410,000) and cell phones and pagers ($230,000). Eventually all these purchases, plus all of his legal problems caused him to file for bankruptcy and now he’s only worth 1 million dollars after going bankrupt in