Allen Iverson a once successful NBA player who made 200 million dollars plus in his career is reportedly now broke. In no way is this shocking to me, I have read the stories and heard the reports that many professional athletes end up broke after retirement.
Allfinancialmatters.com states that 60% of NBA players go broke after retirement, 60%! I think about the lock out and how some NBA players were looking for jobs, I believe one was working at Menards, Home Depot something. The players that weren’t as popular, known and didn’t have endorsements were crying broke/poor and saying that the Kobe and LeBron’s of the NBA didn’t care about their financial problems because they were rich.
So I went on-line to Google, my favorite, and I researched how much a bench player in the NBA makes in year 1. The starting salary was $400K+. Four hundred thousand dollars…now $400K isn’t millions but it isn’t pennies either. I no longer felt sorry for the bench players. They are making more money in a year than some people will make in 30 and they were crying no one cares about us we need money! Really? Are you serious? I think the problem was they didn’t think about themselves and didn’t plan properly.
Let me tell you right now neither their nor our problem is ever money. It is our mentality towards money. Imagine if everyone lived within their means, no one bought anything on credit, everyone made sure all their bills were paid first, every lived even below their means. What would happen? We would all be prepared in some way for financial surprises. Not to say that you can plan 100% and ensure that you don’t come into financial difficulties but when you complain that your $40K/year salary is not enough go talk to a family that is surviving and living with $10K/year. Go and speak to the person who makes minimum wage but still manages to save money for a rainy day.
Just because you make it and amass wealth doesn’t mean you are supposed to take care of your entire family, friends, and have an entourage either. Empower people, help them to amass their own wealth. Start businesses and employ your family and friends whom are competent, trustworthy, reliable and dependable and show them while learning yourself how to become a boss.
A poor man in mind will always be poor. As a man thinketh, so is he. I don’t care how many millions you give some people, with a poor mentality, they will end up poor again. Think about all the people who win the lottery and then go broke again. Why? They never changed their mindsets. They didn’t take the time to reach out to a financial planner or advisor or if they did they fully trusted the person that handled their money and never took the time to check on it themselves. A lot of celebrities have fallen into the latter trap. There was an episode of the Oprah show where Oprah was talking to Serena Williams and she told her to sign her own checks!
Always be in control of what’s yours and more importantly know your limitations and seek the help, guidance, mentorship, and wisdom of someone whom can help you. Take for instance Donald Trump, he’s filed bankruptcy more than once if I’m not mistaken yet he turns around and remakes millions. Why? His mindset. He knows that he’s made a million before and he can do it again, he knows the right people and has the right contacts to make it happen.
So what is the moral of this story? Teach your children about finances and money early. While you are teaching them educate yourself. More importantly we as African Americans need to educate ourselves and our own children. When your child is old enough to say mommy buy me, they are old enough to know where money comes from, what currency is, the difference between being a boss and an employee, earning a paycheck and signing paychecks!
Need help? Start off with the game Rich Dad Poor Dad for Kids by Robert Kiyosaki, there are others out there as well.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
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