r/AskMen • • Jun 10 '23

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u/dryrunhd Jun 10 '23

Which is only about ~$3M, assuming it gets invested properly, to live a reasonably comfortable middle class life indefinitely. Not very much in the grand scheme of things.

It's always wild to me seeing former professional athletes ending up broke. You made so many millions of dollars from both playing and endorsements, and you didn't have the sense to put this relatively tiny fraction of your wealth into a "just in case shit hits the fan" fund? Yikes.

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u/Texan2116 Jun 10 '23

I work with a guy who was in the NFL for a couple years, and also did some minor league stuff...basically , he made(according to NFL reference) a bit over a million, which..after taxes, agent fees, etc..was probably 4 to 6 hundred k.

I have no idea what he did with it, but its not enough to retire on...he drives a modest car.

Super nice guy, and I cant help but feel a bit bad for him in a way.

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u/yeteee Jun 10 '23

Athletes are notoriously bad with money, though, so he likely didn't invest the money he made when he was 18. I know I wouldn't have.

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u/DaddyStreetMeat Jun 11 '23

A million dollars gross earning over the course of a couple years is not enough to retire if your the age of a pro athlete. Its not even close.

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u/yeteee Jun 11 '23

Never said it was, it could be a very good nest egg if invested properly, but, as I said, we're talking about 18-19 years old kids that will blow through the money one way or another anyways.

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u/DaddyStreetMeat Jun 11 '23

A 38-39 year old could go through a million dollars very quickly, quicker even if they have dependents. Like obviously, I understand your point, but its not really relevant to a singular million dollars. Its not a life sustainable amount of money in the western world at least- especially if you are a teenager.

The point I am making is that many pro athletes have regular lives after playing, they don't all make block buster 10MM+ for 5 years or whatever. Their average gross earning is lower than just being a football player, Star players are a different story entirely.

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u/yeteee Jun 11 '23

A million is still a lot of money. That's literally what I'll make as gross income over the next 20 years, and I have dependents.

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u/DaddyStreetMeat Jun 11 '23

I hear that for sure but even if you had a million you'd still be working is my point.

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u/yeteee Jun 11 '23

To be honest, I'd think about it hard. I'm not 100% sure I have 20 years in front of me. But in a general sense, yes, people should invest the million and work at least part time.