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When the Steelers drafted me, they basically handed $5.5 million to a kid who had never even had a bank account. I came from the hood. I didn’t know anything about money or how it worked. I thought that when I got to the NFL, somebody would teach me about money and about business. After the symposium, I could put a condom on a banana, but I still didn’t know how to write a check. I’m not blaming the NFL. At the end of the day, it was my life and it was my money, and I should have taken the necessary steps to educate myself to protect what I had earned — and so should you. Because you’re going to be a target. I’ve been sued more times than I’d like to count. Sometimes, people sued me because I owed them money — which was a result of me being a bad businessman and not managing my finances well. |
Or wear sweatpants to the night club.
The athletic responsibilities of a D1 scholarship football player take up more hours in the week than a full time job And they still have to attend class to take advantage of that "free ride"
Are you literate? Plax said "I’m not blaming the NFL. At the end of the day, it was my life and it was my money, and I should have taken the necessary steps to educate myself to protect what I had earned." And you blast him for making excuses?
The expectation that 22 year old kids know what to do with $5 million is utterly absurd. I know 50 year olds pulling in 7 figures who have no idea what they're doing with money. Guys with 401ks sitting in cash for 15 years.
md (first off, good to see you), I think that's exactly what Plax is trying to say. This would be his advice to rookies.
In order to graduate high school children should all be taught how to balance a check book. How to make and follow a budget. The power of compounding and how even small amounts of regular saving/investing can grow to large amounts when time is factored into the equation.
On the other hand, I knew about all that stuff and I still did dumb things with my money in my early 20's.
Twenty year-olds are prone to do stupid shit. Nothing to do with "kids these days" or other crap like that. It's just part of being that age.
I can't imagine how much dumb shit I would have done when I was 20 if somebody handed me five million dollars.
In order to graduate high school children should all be taught how to balance a check book. How to make and follow a budget. The power of compounding and how even small amounts of regular saving/investing can grow to large amounts when time is factored into the equation.
I have never balanced a checkbook, and Im not sure how useful a skill it is in the era of smartphones. I never made and followed a budget -- though I've certainly made a list of my recurring expenses and thought about ways to bring them down. I think Im very good with money nevertheless. I should note an oddity on that though -- my first job out of school was as an associate attorney making 6 figures. Young, single, and had lots of disposable income. Also, I've always been a very aggressive saver (at times too aggressive) and Im naturally frugal.
Compounding is something everyone should be taught.
Example - offering to trade Feagles an outdoor kitchen for his number. Never paid up.
Example - drove around without insurance for a good, long time - all while receiving letters from the insurance company AND the state DMV indicating he was in violation. You don't need an MBA to figure out you're not supposed to drive uninsured.
He went around ignoring rules and not giving a shit for years. Immaturity, not ignorance. I hope that's finally resolved for him, but sadly for him he lost out on a lot of opportunity as a result of his indifference.
I remember college. It was pretty freaking hard. And it should be. Nobody was letting me slide so I put in the work because I had to. But if you told 18-21 year old immature me that I didn't have to do the work, just play sports, I doubt I'd have fought that. I'd have skated through too.
Make personal finance mandatory as a freshman. Take attendance. If it seems remedial, make it just mandatory for scholarshipped athletes or anyone that you accepted to the school for whatever reason even though they didn't have the normal scores of an accepted student.
Writing a check, balancing a checkbook (or using Quicken), all that stuff is life skills. College classes don't teach that.
Writing a check, balancing a checkbook (or using Quicken), all that stuff is life skills. College classes don't teach that.
I picked up Quicken on the streets. Which was fine, until I started experimenting with Turbotax. It was a short jump from there to freebasing Quickbooks with a tranny named "Wanda".
I say a bank because it takes away the fear that you've got a truly crooked money manager.
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is going to teach someone how to write a check.
Writing a check, balancing a checkbook (or using Quicken), all that stuff is life skills. College classes don't teach that.
I picked up Quicken on the streets. Which was fine, until I started experimenting with Turbotax. It was a short jump from there to freebasing Quickbooks with a tranny named "Wanda".
Sounds erotic
But if you didn't grow up in an environment like that you might have learned the opposite: don't trust banks.
I knew a writer who collaborated with a hip-hop artist on a book. When they got their advance, the artist was going to take his advance to the check cashing place, which are huge rip offs. The writer walked his collaborator through the steps of opening a checking account, getting a checkbook and an ATM card, etc. The artist had never had a bank account before and he was in his 30s.
Classroom learning isn't really the point. You have to learn financial responsibility by doing it. Plax can try to prepare younger players, but it's only a staring place. I can't image giving a kid some instruction and, based on that, to expect them to save and spend wisely.
Instead the vultures prey on them.
Well I certainly came out of school knowing not to take a concealed weapon to a crowded club.
That's an excellent article, and I wish him well.
We paid taxes. Had bank accounts. Leaned about a lot of the bits that make up financial life.
Thanks, Mr Brigham(RIP). You were the best.
I have. None involved endangering the public.
This
Anyway, most people aren't great at finance but those who grow up middle class tend to be somewhat better at knowing who to trust with their money and not getting totally ripped off.
Anyway, most people aren't great at finance but those who grow up middle class tend to be somewhat better at knowing who to trust with their money and not getting totally ripped off.
It's 40 years ago now, so my memory is pretty fuzzy.
We paid a tax rate based on our weekly income. I think we had to fill out a tax return every week. There was a salary based on what job you had and bonuses for attendance, homework, etc.
I remember one week I didn't take some bonus I has earned because it would have pushed me into a higher tax bracket and I would have ended up with less money after taxes.
Not sure if Mr. B understood that that's not how marginal tax rates work, but he was a great teacher nonetheless.
Doubling down on the ill-conceived hot take. I don't agree, but I admire your gumption.
He missed practices and was fined multiple times so let's not just focus on the gun thing...this is totally self serving in my opinion as it ignores so many other issues he had that year.
He basically ruined our year but the gun thing was the culmination of a year of stupidity.
Let her manage the money.
I'd bet cash money there is other shit that the Giants covered up for Plax that we don't know about.
Link - ( New Window )
Damn! You don't get it. The college football program doesn't give a shit about a young naive kid from "the hood" without good upbringing and no one to push him regarding education. All they care about are Ws in the win column. You probably never lived his life. If a college football program invests in a young kid, knowing where he came from, don't you think they should be obligated in getting him prepared? They really never gave him the tools and chance only to take advantage of his football talent. The NCAA should to a better job in preparing all their collegian athletes for the outside world. Yes, he is given the opportunity for free boat, but do you think they care about what happens after college? Instead of being told to study a football playbook most of the time, both he and the institution should create opportunity for life other than football.