Professional athletes sign multi-million-dollar contracts when they enter their respective leagues. The hardest part about signing these deals is maintaining everything that comes with it. Finding that balance to stretch the money to last longer than their careers is a struggle.
Trusting the money with the wrong people, living expensive lifestyles, poor investments, more liabilities than assets and many more factors play a huge role in financial failure in an athlete’s career.
60% of NBA players go broke within five years of departing the league. 78% of former NFL players and 60% of NBA players go through financial issues two years after retirement according to Chris Dudley, CNBC.
“Former NBA player, Antoine Walker, 38, earned over $110 million throughout his NBA career, more than four times the average player in the league. All that money, though, didn’t stop this All Star from going broke,” said Jeanie Ahn from Yahoo Finance.
Athletes like Antoine Walker aren’t the first and won’t be the last when discussing players and their finances. Walker was 19 years old when he signed his first NBA contract with the Boston Celtics in 1996.
Sports leagues today provide financial classes and programs that are fit for their athletes to give them tools and equip them with financial literacy knowledge. Many professional athletes are being more vocal about the importance of saving and taking care of money.
Players are seeing the value of their money and being more prepared for their future than ever.
