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How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

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Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#111
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious as to how hockey is any more expensive than any other sport that has player equipment and a privileged background is more beneficial to making it to the professional level than any other sport. Could it be that black kids as a group just isn't that interested in playing hockey?

Skates are more expensive than cleats. Hockey sticks break or are grown out of, and decent ones are a few hundred bucks.

A quick look at Google shopping disagrees with shoes vs skates and hockey sticks. Although I'm not up to speed at what qualifies as a decent hockey stick and the required cost.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, look at it from their perspective. They haven't been around a lot of money before, they don't have a lot of friends who have been around a lot of money either, so they don't really know even what questions to ask to understand the people who are arguing to be their financial advisors. Perhaps major league sports would do well to help train their athletes in the basics of financial management in order to help…

It's not their responsibility though. The player could take a course on their own initiative.

Its true they could. I think of it like auto repair shops. Here is something really valuable to your daily life, and you want it taken care of properly, but how do you verify that the person you are talking to is honest and trustworthy? You could buy the factory service manual for your car and read it cover to cover, with digressions into the parts which are assumed to be known by anyone servicing a vehicle, and then you could evaluate an auto mechanic's answers based on a ground truth of the service manual, but how many people actually do that? 1% ? 10% ?

In my experience in the Bay area with people who suddenly have more wealth than their friends and family ever did, there are two ways that people seem to split. Either they start splendiforus spending because they are "rich" or the start calculating what sort of 'burn rate' they can support drawing down at a rate of anywhere between 2% and 10% of their net worth. Using the 4% number (which used to be the standard before the great recession knocked it back to 2% for more conservative savers).

One of the things that people usually don't think about deeply is that money in the bank pays you, things that you own cost you. A car needs gas, a jet needs maintenance, a home needs gardening. And when you scale up the 'thing' you scale up the cost. As a result if you live what you perceive to be a 'rich' life you may find its sucking your wealth away. There are lots of studies on lottery winners which show this effect.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#113
So many of these athletes feel that they are role models and civic leaders, yet they can't so much as balance a budget. Our culture glorifies these guys so much when they are much more like lottery winners than anything else. It doesn't take intelligence to be 6-8 and jump out of a gym.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#114
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an unsupported conjecture that critical thinking skills and financial literacy aren’t taught in (US) schools more or less intentionally. Financial literacy would harm the business models of institutions offering many types of loans, mortgages, lines of credit, etc. Truly educated consumers are harder to fleece. Critical thinking dovetails with that, and would probably make it harder for ideological, religious,…

1. There is a national (or international) cabal of executives and power brokers at major institutions of banking and finance that have infiltrated the federal and state Departments of Education, local school boards, curriculum writing organizations, and more in order to subtly dumb down the American populace with the goal that they will be able to make money off these idiots decades later to the tune of a car loan an…

Are these long-term-thinking executives the same ones who can't see further into the future than the next quarter? You, know, the ones HN is always bitching about?

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Average people don’t lose everything, they live in debt, and increase their debt. Credit cards and student loans, medical bills and mortgages. People who make sound financial decisions don’t roll over debt on their cc’s, or allow for a housing bubble. They might be swayed by arguments that single-payer healthcare wouldn’t lower costs. They might even question the value of spending trillions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Myself and my sound financial decisions question nothing about Iraq/Afghanistan. HAL performed amazingly in that period.

Good investing, but arguably the harm to the overall economy would be difficult for you to compensate for over time. I’d also guess that you care about the wellbeing of others, in which case your personal enrichment is only part of the story.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In most of the US you can't even practice ice skating without paying money. Compare that to the number of basketball courts out there for pickup games, or fields where football could be played. It's not solely that the equipment costs more, it's that practice directly requires money, and practice time is the biggest overall driver of excellence. Professional race driving is another example of this. Tennis another not…

So the problem is lack of ice and not directly related to economic status? If one goes far enough north, or south, where ice is easily found for practice then the costs decline? So it's more where people choose to live versus the cost of the sport as a whole?

http://time.com/4913284/kids-sports-cost/

Organized youth sports are expensive (in the US at least), and hockey more so than others. You need a lot of equipment which your kid will keep growing out of, and then costs for ice time. Ice time is likely less expensive in big hockey regions (I have no idea), but it's always a cost. A competitive youth league team isn't practicing on a frozen lake.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#117
post #98

The stereotype is that many of these athletes go broke because they are foolhardy with money. I appreciate that this article highlighted that a lot of these guys go broke because of scamming financial advisors. The athlete attempts to do the responsible thing and hires someone they are led to trust with managing their assets only to be ripped off. I'm not sure how financial literacy prevents this from happening when…

I wonder how much shady side-betting these financial advisors do. It's easy to make a few hundred thousand, if you get to decide where your client invests a few million. Reminds me of the good old Goldman Sachs, who made a killing betting _against_ their clients. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/25/goldman-sachs-...

I've never understood this perspective.

If I buy something from Goldman then they think the price is too high and I think the price is too low. If I sell something to Goldman then they think the price is too low and I think it's too high.

If they're not willing to bet against me then they'll say something like "sorry trader was off the desk". Or if they're just less willing to bet against me then they'll say "sorry mate wide atm due to volatility".

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#118

This sounds a lot like how most people go broke. Even when you are talking about people who have been fortunate enough to make a lot of money (like lotto winners), the story sounds the similar. Maybe we need better financial education in the public school system?

Its not how most people go broke. Most people go broke because of health care costs.

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#119
post #13

In many situations, people who are identified as being at risk have somebody else placed in control of the finance, by court action. Brain injury patients for instance. Hmmm.. hang on.. whats the major risk factor in the football circuit again? Seriously: the recruitment of minors for major league with giant cash benefits should require them to sign a consent form for arms-length management of their capital for some…

> require them to sign a consent form for arms-length management of their capital for some time period

All 4 big professional leagues in the US have pension plans [0] that, while not making them rich, will at least provide enough money to survive in the event they blow all their earnings. It's not quite as extreme as what you propose, but there's definitely some deferred income.

[0] http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-nhl-nba-mlb-retirement-pe...

Re: How and Why Athletes Go Broke (2009)

#120
Let us not forget that even in 2018, your Financial Advisor (loosely defined) may not be obligated to act in your best interest [0]. The Financial Services industry has been fighting hard for the gravy train to continue unabated for years. Fortunately for them, Trump has been very receptive to their plight and doesn't want the party to end just yet.[1]

[0]http://time.com/money/4809060/fiduciary-rule-financial-advis...

[1]https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ebsa/ebsa20171127-0

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