Hat tip to Niko Lillios and Hari for pointing out these articles that don’t adhere to the typical story of the spendthrift professional athlete (as we see in ESPN’s 30 for 30 Broke in the NGPF Video Library). We know young people look up to athletes, so how about changing showing some examples of successful athletes with good financial habits, including:

• Video: The Millionaire Pitcher that Lives in a Van (Vice Sports: 5:46)

• Hockey player shares the lessons he learned through his playing career and how he came up with the “Avery Rule” (Players Tribune):

“The New Avery Rule is based on two simple words: per diem. It’s the spending money the team gives you, and it’s about as free as money gets for a professional athlete. When I was in the NHL, we received $96 a day in per diem money during training camp (that’s 30 days, or $2,880) and for each day we were away for road games. The NHL schedule has 41 road games per team, and if you play out west, the travel schedule is brutal, so you could easily rack up 100 per diem days a season, plus training camp. That’s $12,480. All tax-free.”

• Football star Marshawn Lynch hasn’t spent a dime of his salary during his playing career (Business Insider): read the brief story to find out how.

“Seattle Seahawks star running back Marshawn Lynch has made $49.7 million in nine NFL seasons — and has saved all of it…” 

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Questions:

• Why do you think athletes often struggle with their finances?
• What is different about each of these athletes from the standard narrative about penniless athletes?
• What are the strategies they have used to succeed financially?
• Which of the three strategies do you think is easiest to implement? Most difficult?
• We often use the term “mental accounting” to describe how consumers can think about money differently based on where it exists (for example, I can spend money in my checking account but not my savings account). Do you see examples of mental accounting in any of the three cases above?

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.