Welcome back to Money Matters!
Did you know that 78% of former NFL players face financial trouble within two years of retirement? We’ve all heard a lot of cases where people get bankrupt because they don’t know how to properly finance and manage their money. You probably think that only people with low-income get bankrupt. However, that is not the case. Today, we will be looking at famous athletes who earned a fortune in their careers, but didn’t learn proper financing and ended up being bankrupt.
Mike Tyson
We all have heard of professional boxer Mike Tyson. He fought in more than 100 matches and earned over $400 million during his career. However, in 2003, he filed for bankruptcy along with having over $23 million in debt. And this was even before he retired from his boxing career.
Diego Maradona
Argentine soccer icon Diego Maradona is considered one of the best soccer players in history. He earned a lot of money during his playing days, which amounted to more than $3 million every year from soccer, not including sponsorships. However, after his career, he owed more than $50 million in taxes to the Italian government.
Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson was once the NBA’s MVP but now is in debt for more than $200,000. In the 2008-2009 season, he earned about $21 million more just from basketball! However, after splurging on new clothes and jewelry, he couldn’t even afford a cheeseburger!
We just want to add that we are in no way trying to downgrade these players, but only giving their names to provide real-world examples for why learning finance is so important for your future. The main goal of this article is to show that money is worthless if you don’t know how to properly manage it!
Thanks for reading and be sure to come back for more!
