Shades of Jovan Belcher…
Think back to late last year and the chaotic end of the former Kansas City Chief‘s life. Belcher drove a $175,000 car, owned a small arsenal and was taking down $1.9 million a year. Not exactly chump change, but far from nosebleed levels where NFL stars are concerned. And remember how friends said Belcher argued about “normal stuff” like money with the girlfriend and mother of his child that he blew away?
Aside from the tragedy and the horror did it escape anybody’s attention that Belcher was living a ridiculously indulgent, over-the-top lifestyle? Like former Chiefs star Neil Smith who is reportedly, essentially broke.
It’s the age old story, right?
Dude excels in sports, gets rich quick, blows it, goes broke.
Now check out this headline in London’s Daily Mail Online:
“NFL star who blew $5 million in just two years tells how he has traded bling and BMWs for Prius and a frugal lifestyle.”
“After blowing more than $5 million in his first two seasons in the NFL on things like multiple BMWs and suped-up Dodge Chargers, New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie has turned over a new leaf – he’s traded the fancy Beemers for a fuel-efficient Toyota Prius and has recommitted himself to financial discipline,” the story begins. “In an interview with Newsday, Cromartie tells reporter Bob Glauber that his days of reckless spending have come to an end and that he is ‘all about saving money.’ ”
Seems at one point Cromartie had something like nine rides – two Dodge Chargers, a pair of Bimmers, two Radillacs and a ’65 Chevy Caprice. Add to that two cribs, a ton of jewelry and a penchant for handing out cash to friends and family.
But unlike Belcher, Cromartie got a handle on his weaknesses.
The 29 year-old New York Jets cornerback has throttled back, hooked up with a financial adviser (we’ll see how that works out) and settled down with his wife and two children.
Is Cromartie a model citizen? Hardly.
He’s still packing 12 children with eight women in six states, but hey, the longest journey begins with the first step.
And would you believe, it’s a Prius?
Read MC Hammer’s autobiography. As a 20something, he went from a net worth of $33 million to $13 million in debt. As he said, you don’t give a $20 million dollars to a 24 year old kid from the hood. He ended up adding a 2 million dollar swimming pool to the McMansion he was building because his “friends” thought it would be “cool”. When the downward spiral started, the home sold for a fraction of its build cost. Imagine that, shocking.
Same story with these athletes, most come from nothing, the new found wealth and “friends” become a giant suction on the net worth, not to mention the irresponsible spending. And like Hammer, they find themselves with a large “staff” that travels everywhere they go, until your manager comes to you one day and informs you there isn’t money to pay for the utilities this month.
I know they are adults, but in the predatory sports world, you’d think maybe the franchise would look out for them. (tongue firmly planted in cheek)
“He’s still packing 12 children with eight women in six states”
Wow, I think that breaks Derrick Thomas’ record.
Dude had oates to soil and babymamas to give paychecks to.
The nflpa should hang their heads. They have failed the players on this.
Cromartie has made a minimum of 15 mil from football of guaranteed money.
That means he could just literally go to a mid level finance firm like Vanguard and buy a diversified nj muni bond fund and return on the 10 year 4.5 percent, tax free as he is likely a resident of nj.
That means he could live on 675k a year and never touch his principal. No excuse for the top tier earners to be broke. None.
You’re dead on, Balbonious, but some financial discipline and mentoring would have to come in play along with what you correctly suggested; you can’t buy the requisite amount of Cristal bubbly and bling required on $675K a year, using current mentalities.
Like Eddie Murphy’s bit on why blacks may be rich but will never be WEALTHY, I think was his term, he boiled it down to making decisions to buy RIMS… instead of investing.
And its not just a black, inner city issue. I have a friend in high end financial planning. He recently told me, in a survey of people in their 30-50’s who had not yet properly planned for retirement, over 40% listed “winng the lottery” as the method/tool they planned on using to catch up and be able to retire!
Thats not comedy, thats real responses on how they were going to achieve retirement.
Nah, it’s just a stupid issue.
There are plenty of black people out there that manage their money properly and are not flat broke but well off.
You do realize that a large % of everything published by The Daily Mail is completely fabricated, right?
Chris Rock even observed that black people “spend money like it’s rotten.” The behavior is even reinforced in the latest “Fast and Furious” as well.