Thanks to Aloe Blancc for a bit of theme music:

Click Here for your soundtrack!

 

Why is it that so many pro athlete’s delay creating some type of source of money other than from their salaries from being a pro athlete? Why is it that we don’t invest the money we get?


Mike Tyson, Latrell Sprewell, Michael Vick, Dorothy Hamill, Marion Jones, Scottie Pippen…. and so on. All are Americans that were paid a ton of money at some point and squandered all of their money. They lost it all at some point and some still have nothing to show but thankfully they are all high profile and have names they can sell to someone to make some cash.. or like Mike Tyson become an actor. I can’t believe I just wrote those two words..actor and Tyson in the same sentence… but it’s true.

How’d they lose it? Is it because Athlete’s are not intelligent? Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann was quoted saying “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.” It’s an argument but for sure doesn’t stand true for the majority…or at least I hope not. I don’t know the numbers.

More so I think it may be because when you are a pro athlete usually you are sheltered from the real world. You don’t live life like a normal person. This goes for pro’s making a few thousand for their job or a few hundred million only on a larger scale.

Is it an excuse? Yes and no.

Why does it happen? When I was at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Colorado Springs, CO USA back in 2005 when I made the 18-man roster for team USA I learned first hand how privileged athletes can be… We had our own little campus or part of the city blocked off and free food, free housing, wee got paid to eat, sleep and train…. But we were able to leave the complex. We would mingle with normal folk..ya know… day to day people that worked normal 9-5 jobs for 40+ hours a week. Who had mortgages and a lot more responsibility than most of us (especially the twenty-somethings)… Yet we had our issues… some serious but before we would have to face serious repercussions for our actions whether it be minuscule or bigger we has the people that ran the OTC. Then if it were serious enough maybe the police would get involved… but that’s when it hit me.

Being an athlete is so easy in terms of leading a sheltered and protected life. You don’t have all the normal responsibilities until you are older because so much is provided to you. But there is no one there saying how to handle your hard earned money. Why? Will this change? Could it be a good plan to make it mandatory for all collegiate athlete’s planning to be drafted into pro sports to take a seminar about it?

I, myself, am not rich and never have had super high salary but I have definitely earned enough money to be MUCH better off than where I am at now. I have also been trying to build a business and find another to start in order to be financially stable when I decide to stop playing sports. I don’t want to work for any Fortune 500 company’s dream or ANYONE else’s when I finish pro volley.

I want to work for myself and create jobs and build upon my and my families dream’s. But I realize that I am no different than these athletes that squandered their money because I should be saving much more and spending wiser. Life is much better lived with assets than liabilities.

I save roughly 30-40% of my earnings by not having to pay for a home or car and sometimes food for 7-10 months out of the year sometimes more! It’s time to be much better about how I use the money I do get from teams considering teams in volley do end up owing players I’d say an average of 20-30% of their salaries way too often.

So get smart guys and gals. Enjoy your time abroad but be smart with how you spend the money your actually receive and fight for the money you don’t.. it’ll be a nice bonus in the future when you can get it back. :)

A lesson has been learned the hardest way. Time to use what I’ve learned. Build assets, not liabilities.

RJO