11 replies to this topic

[terryjohnson16]

When a professional player such as a football, basketball or baseball player retires, how do they survive off their salary so early? Like in MLB, a player can become useless to a team or teams, and nobody signs them after the player makes around ~200 million at the end of their contracts at age 35 to 45. Like how the pitchers get serious contracts. Can their so called millions hold them over til they turn 65 or so? I wonder if they get bored.

In regular jobs people retire between the ages of 45 to 70, and can barely make it.

[NittanyLion]

terryjohnson16, on Dec 12 2010, 06:08 PM, said:

When a professional player such as a football, basketball or baseball player retires, how do they survive off their salary so early? Like in MLB, a player can become useless to a team or teams, and nobody signs them after the player makes around ~200 million at the end of their contracts at age 35 to 45. Like how the pitchers get serious contracts. Can their so called millions hold them over til they turn 65 or so? I wonder if they get bored.

In regular jobs people retire between the ages of 45 to 70, and can barely make it.

Is this a joke? Give me $200 million and I could retire many times at the age of 21!

[icehater]

terryjohnson16, on Dec 12 2010, 06:08 PM, said:

When a professional player such as a football, basketball or baseball player retires, how do they survive off their salary so early? Like in MLB, a player can become useless to a team or teams, and nobody signs them after the player makes around ~200 million at the end of their contracts at age 35 to 45. Like how the pitchers get serious contracts. Can their so called millions hold them over til they turn 65 or so? I wonder if they get bored.

In regular jobs people retire between the ages of 45 to 70, and can barely make it.

Interest income Terry. Let's say they net $50mln after tax and spending by retirement. Even if you only get a safe 3% return that's $1.5mln a year in interest. Can you live on an annual income of $1.5mln?

[satellite_eyes]

The sad part is a lot of people making that crazy amount of money still live paycheck to paycheck. They have horrible money mgmt skills. In reality they should be set for life but they are either too busy living in the moment or too dumb to know better.

[rgwp96]

terryjohnson16, on Dec 12 2010, 06:08 PM, said:

When a professional player such as a football, basketball or baseball player retires, how do they survive off their salary so early? Like in MLB, a player can become useless to a team or teams, and nobody signs them after the player makes around ~200 million at the end of their contracts at age 35 to 45. Like how the pitchers get serious contracts. Can their so called millions hold them over til they turn 65 or so? I wonder if they get bored.

In regular jobs people retire between the ages of 45 to 70, and can barely make it.

come on think about what you wrote. These guys make more money in one year than 99% of us will make in our lifetime of working 40 years. And 2 million in 1 yr will go further than making that over say 40 yrs. I sure hope you dont feel sorry for the pro player that makes 2 mill a year for 5 years and than retires.

[jfar57]

its actually a fairly interesting question regarding human behavior if you think about a few scenarios. Anyone should be able to retire after having made a couple of million or so by age of 35. However....

1. Most pro athletes don't make that huge amount of money (and in the past very few did) While they make hundreds of thousands on average most wind up needing to work after their sports career.

2. Those that do really cash in while they play fall into a few buckets:

- Spend it as fast as they get it and wind up broke when they retire. Mike Tyson is a poster child for this one
- Get swindled out of most of it by corrupt agents and leaches that they call friends (and family) and they are too stupid to know it
- Actually manage it properly and can retire with no cares in the world
- Those that can retire, but choose to keep working anyway. Michael Strahan should have some money that his wife didn't take. Yet he still works.

I wonder how many really do wind up down and out. They all have some form of pension, but I doubt its much. I also wonder how many keep working to either keep up a high on the hog lifestyle vs. being just driven to do something with their time. Even if I had the cash, i don't think I could retire yet. I would go stir crazy without having some things to accomplish.

Having said all that, if I made $200M and couldn't afford to retire I would deserve to work until I took a dirt nap.

[devilsfan0405]

There was a major feature in Sports Illustrated a year or so ago that cited a statistic claiming that well over 50 percent of NFL and NBA players go bankrupt within five years of retiring from their respective sport.

[weatherbowl]

Maybe they have good athletic skills but are lacking in common sense or smarts. Some may be to immature to handle the money properly and yes there are always the low lifes trying to take them for everything they have. Give me Cliff Lees salary for just one year and I would easily be set for life. No how to handle it and no what you can afford.

[devilsfan0405]

weatherbowl, on Dec 14 2010, 07:59 PM, said:

Maybe they have good athletic skills but are lacking in common sense or smarts. Some may be to immature to handle the money properly and yes there are always the low lifes trying to take them for everything they have. Give me Cliff Lees salary for just one year and I would easily be set for life. No how to handle it and no what you can afford.

You see this with people who win the lottery also. I think 1/3 of those who have won big jackpots end up going bankrupt.

[vascudave]

weatherbowl, on Dec 14 2010, 08:59 PM, said:

Maybe they have good athletic skills but are lacking in common sense or smarts. Some may be to immature to handle the money properly and yes there are always the low lifes trying to take them for everything they have. Give me Cliff Lees salary for just one year and I would easily be set for life. No how to handle it and no what you can afford.

not sure the exact number, but many are "pushed" through the education system if they have skills.

[devilsfan0405]

vascudave, on Dec 15 2010, 09:49 AM, said:

not sure the exact number, but many are "pushed" through the education system if they have skills.

Another good point. You can tell that a lot of these guys are as dumb as dirt and wouldn't amount to anything without their athletic ability. To be fair, there are many intelligent athletes as well, but you can't deny that a lot of them probably got by their entire life because they could play a sport well. Anyone who's ever been to high school can tell you that jocks get away with a lot more than an average student does.

[Mike_The_Golfer]

vascudave, on Dec 15 2010, 09:49 AM, said:

not sure the exact number, but many are "pushed" through the education system if they have skills.

devilsfan0405, on Dec 15 2010, 12:45 PM, said:

Another good point. You can tell that a lot of these guys are as dumb as dirt and wouldn't amount to anything without their athletic ability. To be fair, there are many intelligent athletes as well, but you can't deny that a lot of them probably got by their entire life because they could play a sport well. Anyone who's ever been to high school can tell you that jocks get away with a lot more than an average student does.

Very true. I was in HS with someone who was drafted #2 overall in the NBA...and this definitely applied even though it was at a school that prided itself on its academics.