Why Athletes Go Broke

[jeffrey]

Former Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is playing the real life game of Deal Or No Deal. It has been reported that his $10 million estate in suburban Atlanta is under foreclosure, the mother of one of his children is suing for unpaid child support, and a Utah consulting company has gone to court claiming the boxer failed to pay back more than a half million dollars for landscaping. Just one more high profile athlete having to scale back his lifestyle to the level to which you have I have been accustomed. Why is it that athletes who seem to have everything are often completely unable to control anything related to finances?

Why Athletes Go Broke | THE CUBAN REVOLUTION

[FrugalIII]

In my opinion, most of them try too hard to "live large" and keep up with their fellow atheletes. They must have the largest mansion, the most expensive cars (and the most of them), the gaudiest jewelry, etc. And up until recently didn't know enough to seek financial counseling once they went from making a reasonable income to making way too much. It's hard for most people to deal with making $50k a year one day to $10 million the next. Same reason that most huge lottery winners are more broke a year after they win the lotter than they were before they bought the ticket. Human nature!

[jIM_Ohio]

He must have used the same financial advisor as MC Hammer.

[cptacek]

I think it is because they make a lot of money for a short period of time, they don't invest it, people take advantage of them, they live a flashy lifestyle and the money simply doesn't last.

If I started making a million dollars a year next year for 5 years and then couldn't come close to making that much after that time period, I imagine it would be really hard to scale back after living life like that. And they probably have the same mindset as any other Americans...live up to their paycheck at the time and don't save/invest any of it.