Steve Smith Isn’T Surprised Some Players Are Broke

[jtnc]

Plenty of NFL players burn through plenty of money, plenty of times in a given year. Panthers receiver Steve Smith isn’t surprised by this dynamic, and he has a few ideas as to why it happens.

“Mismanagement of money doesn’t change because you have a lot of money, there are a lot of guys out there that make a lot of money and that make a little money and still live paycheck to paycheck,” Smith told WFNZ in Charlotte on Wednesday. “You know, ignorance of how the financial game works or managing money doesn’t exclude you because you have a lot of it, it just enables you to make bigger and dumber mistakes because you have a lot of money.”

Smith also explained that players “sometimes mismanage and mistrust people that they shouldn’t have [trusted],” and that efforts to educate players only go so far, given the nature of how they are paid. “Just because you are in the NFL doesn’t mean there is a different standard, a lot of people work paycheck to paycheck,” Smith said. “I’ll tell you why so many players are broke, 17 weeks out of the year you get paid, and the rest, you have to manage.”

When players can’t manage, trouble can happen. “Some people get dangerous, get desperate, and that’s how you get these guys that do drug runs and start driving down highways with kilos of marijuana just so they can get that fast cash.”

These are great points, and the NFL and NFLPA would be wise to come up with strategies for working against these realities, assuming that NFL and NFLPA are capable of working together in any capacity at the present time. Maybe it’s as simple as converting base salaries to monthly or bi-weekly payments that are made throughout the course of the entire year.

Regardless, there has to be a better way to keep players from going broke, and it makes sense to rely on players who have lived the experience of getting a lot of money in a four-month period and little or no money for the other eight months when coming up with ways to help guys better handle their financial situations.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/23/steve-smith-isnt-surprised-some-players-are-broke/

Steve has been teaching Cam how to manage his money as well.

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Call Steve Smith on the hurt line baby lol

[Kuech Da Sneak]

Looks like Smitty's putting all of his financial planning education to good use.

If there's one thing about him, it's that he'll never mismanage his money, if not only to make sure his wife & kids never want for anything.

[PantherPhann89]

Smith is a baller and educator!

[SIGCHI222]

Great call-in. He obviously listens to FNZ quite a bit (don't know how he had time during OTA's?). Whenever anything controversial comes up he calls Mac and Jim or the afternoon Bobsie twins. He's like us on the forum...when ever somebody lobs up a softball we/he all get lathered up to hit it out of the park. I know he's eventually moving back to Cali when it's all over but he is going to be missed is this market when he leaves. SS is a Queen City treasure. Hope they can get this guy a ring.

[longhorncat]

Smith didn't' learn this all by himself. I know he sat down with Richardson and his money managers several times (usually after a new contract) to discuss how and where he should invest.

[SN03]

The NFL & NFLPA shouldn't have to hold grown ass men's hands & show them how to invest. If you are stupid enough to waste millions you deserve to be broke like everyone else. It's common sense.

[The Special One]

Smith didn't' learn this all by himself. I know he sat down with Richardson and his money managers several times (usually after a new contract) to discuss how and where he should invest.

Yup

[PhillyB]

The NFL & NFLPA shouldn't have to hold grown ass men's hands & show them how to invest. If you are stupid enough to waste millions you deserve to be broke like everyone else. It's common sense.

it's not common sense. financial adroitness is something taught. many players come from poverty-stricken backgrounds where they are just another in a long line of uneducated ancestors who didn't know how to spend their money wisely and stayed poor and passed on those habits.

[Panthers128]

The NFL & NFLPA shouldn't have to hold grown ass men's hands & show them how to invest. If you are stupid enough to waste millions you deserve to be broke like everyone else. It's common sense.

I concur. Most of the players who are notorious for having blown all their wealth were stupid and/or greedy. Investing doesn't enter into it. When you have 20 million dollars you don't need to invest it. That's enough for several lifetimes. You just need to save it.

[SN03]

I concur. Most of the players who are notorious for having blown all their wealth were stupid and/or greedy. Investing doesn't enter into it. When you have 20 million dollars you don't need to invest it. That's enough for several lifetimes. You just need to save it.

I read somewhere Amare Stoudemire had a home in Phoenix, Florida, California, & 3 apartments in NYC. One being a $25k/month condo in Manhattan he's leased almost 2 years & not spent a single night in. Idiots.

[pantherclaw]

Smith didn't' learn this all by himself. I know he sat down with Richardson and his money managers several times (usually after a new contract) to discuss how and where he should invest.

Steve Smith had an internship with the office that mamages his money, cause he wanted to end up managing his own.

[csx]

The NFL & NFLPA shouldn't have to hold grown ass men's hands & show them how to invest. If you are stupid enough to waste millions you deserve to be broke like everyone else. It's common sense.

They don't have to do it. They should do it because it's the right thing to do.

[xerxes]

The NFL & NFLPA shouldn't have to hold grown ass men's hands & show them how to invest. If you are stupid enough to waste millions you deserve to be broke like everyone else. It's common sense.

Actually the NFL has a vested interest in getting players to manage their money better. Broke ex-players are more likely to look for reasons to sue the NFL and to demand additional benefits.

That said, shouldn't there be a role for the union in all this? It seems to me an organization run by peers would have more success convincing players to save their money than their employers.