Current Events > 78% of NFL players go bankrupt within just two years of retirement

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/602725/how-nfl-draftees-can-avoid-going-broke


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Lies

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There was a good ESPN 30 for 30 on pro athletes going broke like 7 years ago. It is very common

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How can you be that bad with money? Once the money stops coming in ya gotta slowdown on the spending...

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NFL is the only sport of the big 4 to not have guaranteed contracts so not hard to believe.

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I could say all these things about coming from poverty and it is hard to get out of that poverty mindset, but let's be real if I had that kind of money id be breeding all the sexy ass chicks throwing themselves at me too. That combined with the people whose profession is to steal massive amounts of money from you id go broke too.

Oh well

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MorbidFaithless posted...

How can you be that bad with money? Once the money stops coming in ya gotta slowdown on the spending...

Never having any money and then all of a sudden you have a ton. Let me help out my family, my buddies, my girls, anyone that pays me attention, etc.

And then add in nobody learns about saving money in school, they think its never going to stop or its going to last forever and then bam, welcome to reality.

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There is also the fact they have to compete even with your teammates to show off what you have to save your reputation.

Say you some young up and coming player on his rookie contract and you see old ass washed up player that you used to idolize like Desean Jackson roll through the locker room fully blinged out. You hit up the jewelery store and drop a million there to show off on stuff that will hold zero value once you leave the store. Can't have some old ass busta showing you up. You are the man now.

Then next game your leg bends the wrong way and your career is over.

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not all of them make millions per year. minimum is what, 600k?

so guys who bust after a few years probably blow everything right away

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MorbidFaithless posted...

How can you be that bad with money? Once the money stops coming in ya gotta slowdown on the spending...

There are a lot of factors:
-Lack if financial education. A lot of players come from a really shitty home/neighborhood, and never learned anything about money. They are poor their entire life through college, and then they get a multi million dollar check all of a sudden, and they have no clue what to do.
-Moochers. Everyone that has any connection w/ the athlete comes out of the woodwork for a handout, and it snowballs. I remember some interviews where athletes had like 5 mortgages they were paying for their family, 30+ cell phone bills, cars, etc.
-Scams. Lots of financial advisors go to every athlete claiming they know exactly what to do, plus tons of fake or terrible investments come forth that scammers promise will make a profit.
-Moochers. Every person you have ever met or are connected with will be coming out of the woodwork for a handout.
-They dont stop spending when the paychecks stop. Making a million a year, they live very lavish lifestyles, and a year out of the league if they try to keep that up they will go broke.

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AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

There are a lot of factors:
-Lack if financial education. A lot of players come from a really shitty home/neighborhood, and never learned anything about money. They are poor their entire life through college, and then they get a multi million dollar check all of a sudden, and they have no clue what to do.
-Moochers. Everyone that has any connection w/ the athlete comes out of the woodwork for a handout, and it snowballs. I remember some interviews where athletes had like 5 mortgages they were paying for their family, 30+ cell phone bills, cars, etc.
-Scams. Lots of financial advisors go to every athlete claiming they know exactly what to do, plus tons of fake or terrible investments come forth that scammers promise will make a profit.
-Moochers. Every person you have ever met or are connected with will be coming out of the woodwork for a handout.
-They dont stop spending when the paychecks stop. Making a million a year, they live very lavish lifestyles, and a year out of the league if they try to keep that up they will go broke.

it's not lack of education. football players have notoriously low IQs and additional brain damage caused by concussion. executive functioning is what is primarily damaged, which controls self-control, organizational skills, etc

not to mention football players live incredibly sheltered lives where coaches and team control most of their day. they dont develop independent skills

Winrawr posted...

it's not lack of education. football players have notoriously low IQs and additional brain damage caused by concussion. executive is what is primarily damaged, which controls self-control, organizational skills, etc

Going broke is very common in every professional sport

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AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

Going broke is very common in every professional sport

i'd be curious to see how tennis players and golf players fair. non contact sports

Winrawr posted...

it's not lack of education. football players have notoriously low IQs and additional brain damage caused by concussion. executive functioning is what is primarily damaged, which controls self-control, organizational skills, etc

not to mention football players live incredibly sheltered lives where coaches and team control most of their day. they dont develop independent skills

it's both

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Not too surprising. Most NFL players also don't make that much money as you'd think they do.. According to Google the median yearly salary is around 800k and the average career length 3.3 years.

3 or 4 million dollars isn't a whole lot if you don't plan on working again. It's absolutely enough to retire on, but you need to live like an average person. A lot of them get the big lump sums right away and struggle to maintain the lifestyle.... then once they're out, it just dries up.

I'd like to know the statistics of the higher paid players.

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Marshawn Lynch was one player that didnt go bankrupt, actually he goes around the league teaching rookies how to save for retirement. He says he only spends endorsement money and money earned from interest

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They can easily go into a security type job for a celebrity like Lady Gaga and make millions, they have endless options.

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Winrawr posted...

i'd be curious to see how tennis players and golf players fair. non contact sports

Look at actors, musicians, anyone who had a brief time of fame and fortune then lost it. Or lottery winners. Its common in all parts of life where someone goes suddenly from nothing to super rich.

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ncsonic posted...

Marshawn Lynch was one player that didnt go bankrupt, actually he goes around the league teaching rookies how to save for retirement. He says he only spends endorsement money and money earned from interest

marshawn lynch also went to uc berkeley and majored in social welfare....so...not your average football player

Houston posted...

Not too surprising. Most NFL players also don't make that much money as you'd think they do.. According to Google the median yearly salary is around 800k and the average career length 3.3 years.

3 or 4 million dollars isn't a whole lot if you don't plan on working again. It's absolutely enough to retire on, but you need to live like an average person. A lot of them get the big lump sums right away and struggle to maintain the lifestyle.... then once they're out, it just dries up.

I'd like to know the statistics of the higher paid players.

Only 3 years? Wow that's a short career.

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Winrawr posted...

it's not lack of education. football players have notoriously low IQs and additional brain damage caused by concussion. executive functioning is what is primarily damaged, which controls self-control, organizational skills, etc

not to mention football players live incredibly sheltered lives where coaches and team control most of their day. they dont develop independent skills

2021 and you still use IQ like its a science? LOL

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Winrawr posted...

it's not lack of education. football players have notoriously low IQs and additional brain damage caused by concussion. executive functioning is what is primarily damaged, which controls self-control, organizational skills, etc

not to mention football players live incredibly sheltered lives where coaches and team control most of their day. they dont develop independent skills

Bullshit, every NFL rookie takes a test and NFL player IQ is right along average as everyone else in the world. Some players are extremely smart, others not so much, but there's no disparity between football or anything else as far as IQ goes. Not to mention this happens across the board in sports where athletes get paid big at young ages.

The problems have already been pointed out and it's a tale as old as televised sports. Players are extremely young, get handed tons of money and blow it all in some fashion, being from helping family, big luxury, bad investments, getting scammed, you name it.
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And surely a huge chunk of that 78% are players who only lasted for a year or two at minimum salaries (if that - I'm not well-versed on NFL contracts, but I'd imagine that practice squad players have a lower salary than the actual rostered players' minimums, for example, not to mention the non-guaranteed contracts in general). And how many are dealing with the fallout of concussions and/or other injuries that make it difficult to function normally and/or causes medical bills to pile up?

I think the way this normally gets painted as "uneducated guys squandering away millions" is at least partially off-base in many cases.
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ColdOne666 posted...

Only 3 years? Wow that's a short career.

The linemen kind of skew the stats, skill positions usually last longer than that. There's also the drafted college athletes who just can't make it to a squad and drop out after a few years.
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Yeah, they all morons who squander their huge wealth on status symbols like cars and vip trips to the club.
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Just gonna leave this here

https://youtu.be/CqV1pE1nLwI

DBI
KIS
CYM

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MorbidFaithless posted...

How can you be that bad with money? Once the money stops coming in ya gotta slowdown on the spending...

image is everything to these people, they dont want to look poor

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ncsonic posted...

Marshawn Lynch was one player that didnt go bankrupt, actually he goes around the league teaching rookies how to save for retirement. He says he only spends endorsement money and money earned from interest

shaq ftw

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But he was nba

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Mizznox posted...

I think the way this normally gets painted as "uneducated guys squandering away millions" is at least partially off-base in many cases.

Pretty much

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You only hear about star players with longevity as far as making headlines in terms of contract money. But, average-wise, its only a lot compared to regular shmucks. And rookie NFL players are peer pressured heavy to spend money on older vets/team BS.

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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

Never having any money and then all of a sudden you have a ton. Let me help out my family, my buddies, my girls, anyone that pays me attention, etc.

And then add in nobody learns about saving money in school, they think its never going to stop or its going to last forever and then bam, welcome to reality.

This.

It's easy to say, "Geez how hard is it to save your money!"

But a lot of football players who have gone broke in 2 years after

1. Might not have learned good money management. Especially if they didn't grow up middle class and nobody taught them. This is common for people who live in poverty who win the lottery too and get hella money all of a sudden. They just usually spend a ton and don't save or invest. They don't know what to do with it

3. No back ups or passive income. If you are a famous player you are more likely to make money in the side with deals from other companies (athletic wears commercials, etc).

3. Football is a brutal sport and very volatile. An injury can put you out for good, especially if you aren't a top player. Don't know if there are contracts for most players.

4. if you aren't famous you aren't making a ton of money. I mean yeah, sure a couple Mill, but you can blow that off easily on a new house and cars.

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