Athletes today earn salaries that should, theoretically, make them financially secure for the rest of their lives. That’s not always the case.
According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated article, 78 percent of NFL players file for bankruptcy or face financial hardships within two years of retirement. NBA players face a similar fate, with 60 percent of players going broke within five years of retirement. How is it possible that so much money disappears so quickly? More importantly, what can athletes do to make sure they don’t become another statistic?
More like lottery winners than corporate executives, athletes come into large amounts of wealth at a time when they are young and inexperienced and have careers where the earning potential is short. Couple these facts with overly generous hearts and a desire to live the “good life,” and it isn’t surprising that the money fails to last a lifetime.
By encouraging professional athlete clients to take the following pieces of financial advice to heart, advisors can help them attain the same success in their financial lives that they enjoy on the field.
Justin Bass is a Managing Director at True Capital Management where he oversees the financial and business affairs for professional athletes and high net worth individuals. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Justin_H_Bass