GOAL! The Financial Physician's Ultimate Survival Guide for the Professional Athlete. Mitch Ph.D. Levin
to deal with coaches good and bad. You had to deal with all the other responsibilities that everybody else has. You had to deal with all the difficulties every adolescent has growing up. You have what it takes. You're the fortunate few who have the skills and the talents and the work ethic to get where you are.
After high school, you then had to deal with the same thing in college and the odds were against you. To get a varsity scholarship in college is a fraction of those really great athletes who existed in high school. Then you had all the concerns about injuries and abilities and mental stabilities.
Then you get to the pro's, and by the time you get to the pro's the competition is even more fierce. The odds of getting into the pro's are extremely small. The odds of staying in the pro's are extremely small. But, when you get there and you get that golden ring, it is our job, it is our goal - it's what we wrote this book for - to help you keep as much of that golden ring as you've deservedly earned.
Keeping making great decisions. Enjoy this book.
Most people will spend a lot of their time on lifestyle management issues. Yes, those are important, but it's not the focus of this book. Once you get those things taken care of, and you should, we need to be talking about second career planning, lowering the divorce rate, reducing gambling, and impulse spending, becoming a bank to family and friends, complex tax and estate issues. Those are the things that are probably outside the scope of this book and our expertise.
But let's talk a little bit about coaches too, because veteran coaches who have been retired and collect their lump sum pension often go back and re-coach because they have a lot of concerns if they'd be able to go back and collect their lump sums in the future.
Because athletes don't know industry standards, virtually every one of you is at risk of being robbed. Brokers will encourage you to buy bonds with longer maturities because the commissions on them are larger. Or, they'll overcharge on portfolios 2-3% instead of the customary 1 1/2 %.
Do you think it's any accident that divorce occurs soon after retirement? There's a huge change in lifestyle. You and your wife are settling at home bugging each other and before you'd always say, "I've got to go to practice." Now you don't have to go to practice. You have to finish the conversations. And if the money starts to decrease the relationship starts to get stressed.
More specifics: Brooks Robinson, 23 baseball seasons. Highest paid salary, $125,000. Yet he lost $100,000, which was a huge sum for a ball player back then, on a restaurant and sporting goods store.
John Unitas, 18 seasons with the NFL, highest salary $250,000. In the early '90's he had debts over $3.5 million dollars, filing for personal bankruptcy.
Raleigh Fingers, 17 years with the major league baseball, highest salary $1.1 million dollars. Before filing for bankruptcy in 1989, he listed assets of only $50,000, yet owed more than $4.2 million dollars.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar, 20 seasons with the NBA. His highest salary was $3 million dollars and he was involved in a lawsuit to recover $59 million dollars from allegedly mishandled income tax returns.
Tony Gwynn, 20 years with major league baseball. His highest salary, $6.3 million dollars. In 1987, he filed for bankruptcy.
It's not just Americans and it's not just major sports. Australian tennis star, Mark Philippoussis was in the midst of his own financial crisis and reportedly broke and was thinking he could earn $200,000 from selling the rights to cover his engagement and wedding ceremony to an actress.
I could go on, but I don't want to depress you. The purpose of this book is to help you get where you need to go.
How about ex-BYU quarterback sued in the fraud case, Ty Detmer? He and his brother were sued for their involvement in a Texas investment firm, Triton Financial in Austin.
Contact:
Mitch Levin, MD, CWPP, CAPP
(407)-922-4689
Intro
By Catherine Hicks
As an ex-college athlete, I have experienced the amount of discipline and drive athletes of tremendous caliber must have to accomplish their goals. When I played on the 2006 Rollins College Division II National Championship Women’s golf team, each member had her own individual goals along with our team goals. I have friends on the journey to succeed in their respected sports, and I have friends that have risen to the top of their sport. And like the NCAA commercials, I also have many friends including myself who have chosen to go professional in something other than sports. However, what I have learned that no matter what you are willing to achieve in life, you must set goals. And achieving the greatest things in life will be a marathon, not a sprint.
So what about those sports figures like Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Lenny Dykstra, John Daly, John Clark? They are extremely accomplished in their respected sports, but somewhere along the way, they messed up. They purposefully didn’t squander their earnings, plan to get divorced, or even plan to spend jail time.
Why else would you pursue something that has such great odds of you failing. But we all have that dream. And you are the select few who have made it or soon will make it to the finish line.
They are similar to many other people who fail to properly plan.
Now, that we know you can accomplish extraordinary things, it’s time to set some other types of goals. Here’s the good news. In order to succeed in keeping that golden ring you’ve worked so hard to achieve in your sport and over your lifetime, it’s time for you to make sure you continue to reap the benefits from working so hard to achieve your goals. This time you must achieve other goals in life. This time you may not have a passion for knowing the markets, managing wealth, worrying about property and personal security. Wouldn’t you rather enjoy your life with little worries because you deserve this?
Often media, people, and culture honor the small percentage of athletes who ‘make it’.
The good news is you don’t have to be an expert or professional to achieve these goals. And 85% of the time, getting started is all of the work. No one purposely becomes Mike Tyson. It boils down to proper planning.
What will be the difference between you and Mike Tyson. Well yes, I hope you are as successful as him in your respected sport, but did Mike ever take the time to think about…
So when should I start? You should start now. Because want to spend things on
We all aspire to be that sexy sports star on the cover of ESPN magazine or to be the one with the top sponsorships and contracts. But often, we misconstrued having the newest Mercedes as being wealthy, but that’s only the surface.
Being Sexy vs. Rich
It isn’t always about you. What about when all of the sudden, your long lost cousin is your new best friend. What does she really want?
You have the potential to earn a substantial amount of money. However, you and millions of movie stars, attorneys, physicians and corporate gurus are at risk when it comes to managing wealth. You are not immune to financial burdens and life management pitfalls. In fact, professional athletes often experience more financial instability due to the limited lifespan of earning potential.
Athletes are frequently in the national news for failing financially. Mike Tyson, who earned over $300 million during his boxing career, filed for bankruptcy in 2003 for being $27 million in debt and owing $17 million worth of taxes to the United States and British governments.
Example: Joe Louis, Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali - does that sound familiar? They all had financial problems. In fact, Mike Tyson lost almost $400 million dollars. Louis spent his final years running from the IRS. (Maybe it was Mike Tyson squandered $100 million dollars.) So if you're