Seven costly pro athlete screw-ups (blew all their money)

sports.yahoo.com ^ | 2-2012 | Riddix

[doug from upland]

Almost 80 percent of National Football League players are flirting with bankruptcy two years after they retire, according to Sports Illustrated. NBA players aren’t faring much better. 60 percent of former National Basketball Association players end up broke within five years of retirement. Athletes squander millions of dollars due to bad decisions, lavish spending and poor financial planning. Here is a list of athletes that have lost their fortunes through some of the biggest financial blunders of all time.

(Read about Scottie Pippen, Evander Holyfield, Lenny Dykstra, Latrell Sprewell, John Daly, Jack Clark, Mike Tyson)

[Jonty30]

I know a guy, who knows Mike Tyson.

According to him, Mike Tyson isn’t broke, but just laying real low until the IRS loses interest in him.

According to my friend, Mike still has about $10 million.

[SeekAndFind]

This article failed to mention the latest casualty of poor use of money — multiple time NBA scoring champ — Alan Iverson. He blew away $154 Million in earnings and now can’t pay his bills.

SEE HERE:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31751_162-57377966-10391697/after-$154m-allen-iverson-may-be-broke/

Truly, wealth is wasted on the undeserving....

[Our man in washington]

If you always spend $3 for every $2 you make, it doesn’t matter how much money you make.

[LeonardFMason]

Add Alan Iverson to the list.

[GeronL]

Yup. Its far too common.

Many of these athletes were coddled all through school and college (some never cracked a book).

[lacrew]

Well, that would be...umm...fraud...filing false documents...perjury...and probably more.

Tyson filed for bankruptcy.

[ontap]

Give a thug millions of dollars and five years after retirement you will have a broke thug!!!No great surprise here.

[GeronL]

If its already been taxed, he shouldn’t have to worry

[Jonty30]

Yeah, so?

Why do you think he’s laying low? :)

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

At least they wasted their OWN money. Our Basketball / Golf Commander in Chief beats them all. Blowing Trillions of other peoples money.

[Will88]

Besides lavish spending, tales of large entourages of hangers-on and very bad ‘investment’ advice from shady advisers show up in most of these stories.

[OldSmaj]

...athletes that have lost their fortunes...

Well, gee...uh, wow...uh...well, you know what?

I just don't give a rat's ass.

Just like that Houston person...suck it into your lungs, blow it up your nose, shoot it into your veins or just plain throw it down the do-do hole...if you can't manage your money, then you don't deserve it.

Too bad...so sad.

[Jonty30]

Considering who he was managed by, I wouldn’t be confident that whatever assets he has remaining has been taxed properly.

[weiner56]

I do love seeing Latrell Sprewell on this list. At one time he was offered a 3 yr deal at 7 million per and said he could not feed his family on that amount. I’m not sure, by I do not recall seeing him in the NBA again after that.

[Mr. K]

Sad to see Evander Holyfield’s name on that list.

He always seemed to me like one of the good guys

[Lou L]

Many of these athletes were coddled all through school and college

Coddled? Perhaps.

I think that for many of these athletes, they did not come from families with money; they were not exposed to even reasonably sound financial management. They surrounded themselves with an entourage and handlers. Anyone with any financial skill, say an accountant, probably didn't have nearly as much influence as their closest circle. And those people may, or may not have had the athlete's best interest in mind.

They did not need a budget, they always had more money pouring in from the next contract or advertisement deal. The same is true for a "saving for the future" mindset--in their early 20's, they had all the money in the world, and fully expected to keep receiving it. There was no need to save, or plan for one day when you grew too old, or too injured for your sport.

[tgusa]

Iverson is simply a thug, a la Michael Vick. Once a thug, always a thug. OBTW you couldn’t PAY me to watch an NBA game. Soccer and golf are more stimulating.

[ßuddaßudd]

A fool and his money soon part.
Maybe Rodney King can produce a rap song about dat. . .

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Yup. Its far too common.

Many of these athletes were coddled all through school and college (some never cracked a book).

You can see the same thing in many lottery winners, most of whom were never coddled through anything. The real problem is that most people are never taught to manage the money they get from 9-5 jobs, let alone millions of dollars - what percentage of the population is over it's head in credit card debt? There are plenty of people willing to take advantage of the lack of that knowledge - agents, relatives and friends, people waving investment proposals.