[TexasFreeper2009]

Even if he actually owed 1 million on the home (unlikely since he probably put down more than $0) his payment would only be $4,774 or so a month.

How could he have blown so much of what he earned to not be able to afford that tiny amount?

Even if he earned ZERO interest, and managed to save only 3 Million of the 11 million.. he could of made that payment + taxes for over 50 YEARS!

There is something missing from this story, it must involve drugs or something

[spetznaz]

There was a very interesting ESPN documentary delving into how and why so many athletes end up being broke within years of leaving their respective sports careers. While the documentary broke the reasons up, for instance bad investment deals, bad management deals (primarily by family), lack of savings/conservative money decisions, divorce (big), child support (with the payments not being adjusted when the person stops making the big bucks), fraud, gambling, etc etc - all these reasons can be largely summed up into a life style that does not take into consideration that the earnings are no longer there. Someone like Michael Jordan (even though he is 50 and long retired) can spend (almost) as much as he wants and not worry, since he still has a lot of income coming in.

However, most athletes, like the chap in this article, simply go from huge earnings to very little once they leave. Yet, their lifestyles are still largely the same! For the vast majority of athletes within 2 years they are in big trouble - now, assuming they are married (and like many, married for looks) that's around when divorces are touching down. Some also have child support payments that they never took the time to have adjusted downwards once they left sports. With bad financial management (with most investing in risky 'sexy' investments like PE rather than 'boring' bonds) and bad managers (mostly friends and family) these guys really have nothing left.

As someone in the documentary said, it's living a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget. It is hard to notice the funding gap when the big money is coming in, but once the spigot is turned off it becomes quickly apparent (hmmm ...I just realized this could apply to the US economy).

Finally, considering that a lot of them started getting crazy money in their late teens/early twenties, with no personal financial skills (for pizza money let alone multi million dollar deals), it is easy to see how they end up blowing their futures. Many of them, like college students who think credit cards are 'free money,' forget (or don't realize) that their earnings are to last a lifetime (unless like Jordan or Lebron they don't have to). Thus, rather than limiting spending to 'only' 300,000 per year, they spend 3 million. Three to five years later, especially after adding bad investments, they money is depleted, if not gone.

The only athletes who are fortunate not to fall into this trap are those who have financial management skills, good financial planners (that invest in conservative avenues and not restaurants or cutting edge tech PE), and limit spending to 'rich' rather than 'opulent mogul.' Otherwise, the athlete better be making Lebron/Jordan money (although those two do manage their money VERY well - I am only using them as examples of people who make enough that they really don't need to be that meticulous). Anyone else ...if you don't have Lebron money, and you don't manage your investments well, in three years (after retirement) the money will be gone.