Thought this was a neat interview with Rob Gronkowski, an American football star who plays for the New England Patriots:
https://www.uninterrupted.com/watch/mvl498Cp/kneading-dough-rob-gronkowski
Gronk's got a reputation as a bit of a meathead, but he's actually a pretty good role model for financial responsibility. I thought this interview he did recently highlighted some interesting issues that pop up for people in his situation. Remember, even though these guys make tons of money, a large percentage of them have financial issues, especially after their playing career ends.
Gronk talks about the fact that he saves all of his NFL salary and lives off endorsement money (still probably a very large amount of money), and a recent splurge on his first piece of pricey jewelry. But this story was particularly interesting to me because it shows that old adage of "penny wise, pound foolish:"
I had this one guy this year, actually, he came up to me, he's like, "hey Rob, you got a Hummer, I see it, I want to get a Hummer, but my agent's telling me I shouldn't get a Hummer. Costs too much, it's like 22 grand," he's like, "what do you think? You've got a Hummer, how much gas does it take and everything?"
And I was like, "dude, if you want a Hummer, you played one year, you can get a Hummer. It's $22,000, it's not like you're buying a $120,000 luxury. You can pay for the gas or whatever." And I was like, "what are you doing right now? What's your car?"
He's like, "oh I got a rental." I'm like, "how much are you paying for the rental a week?" And he's like "$400."
I was like, "dog, hurry up and buy that damn Hummer!" That was crazy, that was mind-blowing to me. He's paying $400 a week for the last 6 weeks, I'm like, "dude, hurry up and go put the down payment on the Hummer."
The guy was paying the equivalent of $20,800/year, AKA pretty much the same cost as the Hummer, and worrying about gas and upkeep. Yeah, he's probably better off getting a used Toyota or something for even less money, but that rental situation is ridiculous, and a $22,000 car is well within reach of a guy who's playing at least a couple years in the NFL.
I know that I can obsess sometimes over buying nice things, because I feel like it's a big splurge for something that could be a luxury. But if the alternative is costing you more, you might as well just buy the damn Hummer...
Submitted August 15, 2018 at 07:02AM by DGBD https://ift.tt/2KU0inm
