Plaxico's open letter to rookies. Impressive.

[southparkcpa]

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/plaxico-burress-advice-for-nfl-draft-class/

I only Posted the 1st piece.  Its long, well written and impressive.

 

If you’re looking for somebody to feed you a bunch of bullsh*t about how great you are now that you’ve been drafted, or to give you the “don’t spend all your money” speech like they’re sharing some kind of secret with you, you can just X out this window now and move on, because you won’t get that here. You can go out into the real world and learn for yourself the hard way. Be my guest.

But if you want the juice — if you want to know how it really is — I won’t cut corners. I’ll give it to you straight.

I know you see my name, and you probably think, That’s the guy who shot himself.

Don’t lie … it’s O.K.

I am that guy.

That’s one of the reasons you should listen to me. Because I’m living proof that it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. You could have it all — you could be living the dream — and then one stupid decision can change everything.

 

[win4ever]

Thanks,  It's actually a pretty good read and logical.  

The weird part for me is how many of these athletes, from various sports. have no clue about money.  You don't even have to go to a class or school to understand it, there is so many resources available online that it's surprising to me that these guys have so little knowledge about handling money.  You see guys on rookie and bare minimum contracts out there leasing high end cars and you figure, how do they think they are going to survive in the future?  

You see guys making millions upon millions and then go bankrupt and it's confusing as to how they think about finances and how they don't understand how to manage money at all.  

[Villain The Foe]

 

[SAR I]

I feel bad for Plaxico, they made an example out of him and it wasn't necessary.

He was a good Jet, I was sad when we let him go.

SAR I

[Kevin L]

25 minutes ago, win4ever said:

Thanks,  It's actually a pretty good read and logical.  

The weird part for me is how many of these athletes, from various sports. have no clue about money.  You don't even have to go to a class or school to understand it, there is so many resources available online that it's surprising to me that these guys have so little knowledge about handling money.  You see guys on rookie and bare minimum contracts out there leasing high end cars and you figure, how do they think they are going to survive in the future?  

You see guys making millions upon millions and then go bankrupt and it's confusing as to how they think about finances and how they don't understand how to manage money at all.  

Personally, I don't find it strange at all.

My nephew recently enlisted in the Marines. They had to teach him how to write a check, fill out a deposit slip, all of it. He never was taught that in school, and nobody showed him how until he was 18.

He knows how to figure out the circumference of a circle, though.

[win4ever]

Just now, Kevin L said:

Personally, I don't find it strange at all.

My nephew recently enlisted in the Marines. They had to teach him how to write a check, fill out a deposit slip, all of it. He never was taught that in school, and nobody showed him how until he was 18.

He knows how to figure out the circumference of a circle, though.

Maybe the school system went in the trash since I was in HS say 10 years ago.  I had to learn how to write out checks in HS, even though I didn't have a bank account at the time.  Heck, in middle school, we had a whole class on investing money, stock market, and entrepreneurship.  And it wasn't one of those high end prep schools or anything, just a regular school.  

I could even understand not knowing the technical details, but how do you assume you are going to live the high life earning say $10 million over a career?  It's 6 by the time you are done with taxes, and then you are retired at age 35 or so, with limited income options afterwards.  How do these guys assume living spending say even $500,000 a year?  Where does the common sense kick in and say, well I can only have so much fun without going broke?

I see stories about Vince Young and how he would borrow money during the lockout to throw himself a lavish birthday party like he was Jordan, when he was going broke.  At some point these guys have to look at the bank account and say it's not sustainable, right? 

Partially, I do think there is too much peer pressure from family and friends to be the financial savior like Plaxico mentions, but some of the extravagant lifestyles are really confusing.  I remember watching some rookie symposium video once, with Herm on there and he mentions how you only need one luxury car and one luxury home to live in.  Otherwise, it's a waste of investment for most people, and couldn't figure out why most of these guys don't follow through.  

 

[CanadaSteve]

The Ryan Leaf article is pretty good too.

[Kevin L]

4 minutes ago, win4ever said:

Maybe the school system went in the trash since I was in HS say 10 years ago.  I had to learn how to write out checks in HS, even though I didn't have a bank account at the time.  Heck, in middle school, we had a whole class on investing money, stock market, and entrepreneurship.  And it wasn't one of those high end prep schools or anything, just a regular school.  

I could even understand not knowing the technical details, but how do you assume you are going to live the high life earning say $10 million over a career?  It's 6 by the time you are done with taxes, and then you are retired at age 35 or so, with limited income options afterwards.  How do these guys assume living spending say even $500,000 a year?  Where does the common sense kick in and say, well I can only have so much fun without going broke?

I see stories about Vince Young and how he would borrow money during the lockout to throw himself a lavish birthday party like he was Jordan, when he was going broke.  At some point these guys have to look at the bank account and say it's not sustainable, right? 

Partially, I do think there is too much peer pressure from family and friends to be the financial savior like Plaxico mentions, but some of the extravagant lifestyles are really confusing.  I remember watching some rookie symposium video once, with Herm on there and he mentions how you only need one luxury car and one luxury home to live in.  Otherwise, it's a waste of investment for most people, and couldn't figure out why most of these guys don't follow through.  

 

I agree that these guys need to be more careful with their money. If they don't have the knowledge or willingness to do it, then literally the first thing they should do is hire a money manger.

As far as the school system, I have no idea what they're teaching the kids now. For example, my nephew can't read or write in cursive.  He can't even sign a check. Just scribble. He can't read the Constitution or Declaration of Independence. It's crazy.

[win4ever]

1 minute ago, Kevin L said:

I agree that these guys need to be more careful with their money. If they don't have the knowledge or willingness to do it, then literally the first thing they should do is hire a money manger.

As far as the school system, I have no idea what they're teaching the kids now. For example, my nephew can't read or write in cursive.  He can't even sign a check. Just scribble. He can't read the Constitution or Declaration of Independence. It's crazy.

Yeah, it doesn't even have to be crazy investments or anything, but just someone that can look at their bank account and figure out how much to save to be comfortable.  Although certain people just don't have the ability to actually save money.  I remember having a conversation with a cousin of mine a few years ago, while driving, about the lottery when it was somewhere near 200 million.  And in my mind, I'm going, well, you really only get about 70 million or so after all the taxes (assuming you take the money upfront) and this guy already had a plan to spend all 200 million of it.  He would have houses in like 5 countries, a private jet service, vacations everywhere, car collection, boats, etc.  He couldn't understand at all about saving money.  Obviously, didn't matter since we didn't win, but I thought it was weird that at no point did he actually think of putting some money in solid investments.  Even a CD at 10 million returns enough investment to live comfortably each year, but nope.  

Yeah, that's one of those things that's lost completely now.  I'm surprised kids even have decent hand writing because almost everything is done on a computer past 3rd grade.  I have a cousin in 5th grade, and she has her own laptop because she needs to do her work on computers.  I had to wait until college to get a laptop.  I know people that can't even read a map.  If there is no GPS reception, they are driving around in circles because everything revolves around technology now.  

 

[Edgy]

Uphill.  Both Ways.   In the Snow.

[The Crusher]

5 hours ago, Kevin L said:

Personally, I don't find it strange at all.

My nephew recently enlisted in the Marines. They had to teach him how to write a check, fill out a deposit slip, all of it. He never was taught that in school, and nobody showed him how until he was 18.

He knows how to figure out the circumference of a circle, though.

Here the high schools have a personal finance class.,Pretty sure it's mandatory.. Both my boys picked a fair amount of info from it. Pretty solid life skill class. Though they like to make fun of me because I hate direct deposit and love cashy cash cash. They strive on the debit cards, daily credit checks and check their balances eleven times a day. I'm too busy eating. Glad someone taught them. Punks. 

[joewilly12]

Sign this beast #1 WR problem solved. 

[Kevin L]

2 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

Here the high schools have a personal finance class.,Pretty sure it's mandatory.. Both my boys picked a fair amount of info from it. Pretty solid life skill class. Though they like to make fun of me because I hate direct deposit and love cashy cash cash. They strive on the debit cards, daily credit checks and check their balances eleven times a day. I'm too busy eating. Glad someone taught them. Punks. 

Yeah, it probably depends on the school. I remember having a class like that in the 5th grade or so. My lady friend lived 2 towns over and never had one.

[Be_a_Jet]

Good read. Quality post

[Tinstar]

It's hard to teach something if you have never been through anything . Well done Plax, well done.

Great read and thanks .

[ZachEY]

10 hours ago, The Crusher said:

Here the high schools have a personal finance class.,Pretty sure it's mandatory.. Both my boys picked a fair amount of info from it. Pretty solid life skill class. Though they like to make fun of me because I hate direct deposit and love cashy cash cash. They strive on the debit cards, daily credit checks and check their balances eleven times a day. I'm too busy eating. Glad someone taught them. Punks. 

That's great.  I had nothing like that growing up.  Should be mandatory.  Basic life-skills class.  Banking, Taxes, Insurance, Credit, Law... There's plenty more... It'd be valuable even if it didn't teach much, but rather just showed you where to go to learn/get more info on certain things.

[greenwave81]

Personally, I don't find it strange at all.
My nephew recently enlisted in the Marines. They had to teach him how to write a check, fill out a deposit slip, all of it. He never was taught that in school, and nobody showed him how until he was 18.
He knows how to figure out the circumference of a circle, though.

Sad part is what did the parents teach them? Nobody in school taught me how to specifically write a check or balance a checkbook...basic life skills should be covered at home. Some rely entirely too much on 'school' to assume when a kid graduates they're ready to meet life Head on.

[southparkcpa]

10 hours ago, The Crusher said:

Here the high schools have a personal finance class.,Pretty sure it's mandatory.. Both my boys picked a fair amount of info from it. Pretty solid life skill class. Though they like to make fun of me because I hate direct deposit and love cashy cash cash. They strive on the debit cards, daily credit checks and check their balances eleven times a day. I'm too busy eating. Glad someone taught them. Punks. 

 

14 minutes ago, gEYno said:

That's great.  I had nothing like that growing up.  Should be mandatory.  Basic life-skills class.  Banking, Taxes, Insurance, Credit, Law... There's plenty more... It'd be valuable even if it didn't teach much, but rather just showed you where to go to learn/get more info on certain things.

Anything is better than nothing but my experience in HS classes like this is most kids wont take it at all. (it will be an elective im sure) and even most teachers are naive to a lot of this stuff.

I vision a  60 page paperback workbook, a 3 week class, guided through in a lecture forum would be a good start. Talk about basic banking, how a mortgage works,  how saving $100 a month for 40 years will make you a millionaire etc.  

Even highly educated people do stupid things. You should see what I see.   A client just got divorded, he makes $1 mil a year , she makes $100K.   She demanded the beach house as she enjoys it.  She has NO CLUE she can't afford it.  I spoke firmly and directly to her that this house would absolutely be the financial ruin to her.  She is blinded by the emotion of it.

We all have buddies who have a boat and deep down cant afford it.  time comes for kids to go to college and they dont have the money, as they literally spent $500-$1,000 a month on the boat (gas, insurance, docking, etc)

Some people can't be helped.

 

[Kevin L]

16 minutes ago, greenwave81 said:

Sad part is what did the parents teach them? Nobody in school taught me how to specifically write a check or balance a checkbook...basic life skills should be covered at home. Some rely entirely too much on 'school' to assume when a kid graduates they're ready to meet life Head on.

That's the thing, his parents never learned that stuff in school, either. They always stuck to online banking.

I have a buddy who recently graduated from law school. He had to Google how to write a resume because he never learned how. Guy can draft million dollar contracts, but can't write a resume. 

[The Crusher]

1 hour ago, gEYno said:

That's great.  I had nothing like that growing up.  Should be mandatory.  Basic life-skills class.  Banking, Taxes, Insurance, Credit, Law... There's plenty more... It'd be valuable even if it didn't teach much, but rather just showed you where to go to learn/get more info on certain things.

Here in Fairfax they got very good schools. The rub with this class was the varsity football coach taught it.  So my boys and rest of the ball players had little choice but take something away. Solid stuff from checking accounts and credit to cursory retirement stuff. They certainly brought home good questions. 

[The Crusher]

1 hour ago, southparkcpa said:

 

Anything is better than nothing but my experience in HS classes like this is most kids wont take it at all. (it will be an elective im sure) and even most teachers are naive to a lot of this stuff.

I vision a  60 page paperback workbook, a 3 week class, guided through in a lecture forum would be a good start. Talk about basic banking, how a mortgage works,  how saving $100 a month for 40 years will make you a millionaire etc.  

Even highly educated people do stupid things. You should see what I see.   A client just got divorded, he makes $1 mil a year , she makes $100K.   She demanded the beach house as she enjoys it.  She has NO CLUE she can't afford it.  I spoke firmly and directly to her that this house would absolutely be the financial ruin to her.  She is blinded by the emotion of it.

We all have buddies who have a boat and deep down cant afford it.  time comes for kids to go to college and they dont have the money, as they literally spent $500-$1,000 a month on the boat (gas, insurance, docking, etc)

Some people can't be helped.

 

So prevalent around here it's nauseating. Keeping up with the Jones with complete disregard for long term consequences. My grandparents wher Sicilian immigrants, they taught us never let anybody know what you have, because they might try to take it. Sounds simple but in reality it's excellent long term financial advice, especially if you have ever been divorced. LOL

[Sperm Edwards]

4 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

 

Anything is better than nothing but my experience in HS classes like this is most kids wont take it at all. (it will be an elective im sure) and even most teachers are naive to a lot of this stuff.

I vision a  60 page paperback workbook, a 3 week class, guided through in a lecture forum would be a good start. Talk about basic banking, how a mortgage works,  how saving $100 a month for 40 years will make you a millionaire etc.  

Even highly educated people do stupid things. You should see what I see.   A client just got divorded, he makes $1 mil a year , she makes $100K.   She demanded the beach house as she enjoys it.  She has NO CLUE she can't afford it.  I spoke firmly and directly to her that this house would absolutely be the financial ruin to her.  She is blinded by the emotion of it.

We all have buddies who have a boat and deep down cant afford it.  time comes for kids to go to college and they dont have the money, as they literally spent $500-$1,000 a month on the boat (gas, insurance, docking, etc)

Some people can't be helped.

 

That's undoubtedly true, but at least make the effort. Even if it is clouded by their own judgments, naiveté, or outright stupidity, it would at least make a good number of kids aware that there are important things of which they're so unaware. They can google plenty afterwards, if the seed is planted to search in the first place. Many won't, of course, but that's not a justification to keep those that will in the dark. 

I don't think you're suggesting that at all, but these types of classes (e.g. home ec) used to be mandatory when I was younger, and that was without anything close to a portable high speed internet device at kids' fingertips. 

[ZachEY]

2 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

Anything is better than nothing but my experience in HS classes like this is most kids wont take it at all. (it will be an elective im sure) and even most teachers are naive to a lot of this stuff.

I vision a  60 page paperback workbook, a 3 week class, guided through in a lecture forum would be a good start. Talk about basic banking, how a mortgage works,  how saving $100 a month for 40 years will make you a millionaire etc.  

Even highly educated people do stupid things. You should see what I see.   A client just got divorded, he makes $1 mil a year , she makes $100K.   She demanded the beach house as she enjoys it.  She has NO CLUE she can't afford it.  I spoke firmly and directly to her that this house would absolutely be the financial ruin to her.  She is blinded by the emotion of it.

We all have buddies who have a boat and deep down cant afford it.  time comes for kids to go to college and they dont have the money, as they literally spent $500-$1,000 a month on the boat (gas, insurance, docking, etc)

Some people can't be helped.

Some people can't be helped.  But a lot who can, aren't.

I wouldn't make it an elective.

[southparkcpa]

57 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

That's undoubtedly true, but at least make the effort. Even if it is clouded by their own judgments, naiveté, or outright stupidity, it would at least make a good number of kids aware that there are important things of which they're so unaware. They can google plenty afterwards, if the seed is planted to search in the first place. Many won't, of course, but that's not a justification to keep those that will in the dark. 

I don't think you're suggesting that at all, but these types of classes (e.g. home ec) used to be mandatory when I was younger, and that was without anything close to a portable high speed internet at kids' fingertips. 

 

11 minutes ago, gEYno said:

Some people can't be helped.  But a lot who can, aren't.

I wouldn't make it an elective.

I agree with both of you.  Non elective...4-6 week class from a standard workbook. Banking, checking, basic contract law, liability law, insurance and basic index investing.

 

 

 

 

 

[southparkcpa]

1 hour ago, The Crusher said:

So prevalent around here it's nauseating. Keeping up with the Jones with complete disregard for long term consequences. My grandparents wher Sicilian immigrants, they taught us never let anybody know what you have, because they might try to take it. Sounds simple but in reality it's excellent long term financial advice, especially if you have ever been divorced. LOL

I can tell you stories that would blow you away.  I am trying to write a basic book on success, finance etc.  I have an example of 3 of us from NY.  We all moved to NC from NY in 1995 (true). We all met around 1996 or so.  Im the CPA for both of them.

1 is basically zero net worth, one has net worth about 1 million, 1 has net worth around 2.5 million. All moved here with nothing 22 years ago.

The behavioral and education make all the difference.  

 

[Il Mostro]

Check writing is much more akin to rocket science than I thought.  It requires specific instruction to figure out how to write a check and enter it into the checkbook ledger?  Jeez, this stuff is pretty self explanatory for anyone who is not blind and can rub a couple of brain cells together.

[ZachEY]

7 minutes ago, southparkcpa said:

I agree with both of you.  Non elective...4-6 week class from a standard workbook. Banking, checking, basic contract law, liability law, insurance and basic index investing.

I'd include some basic technical stuff.  Like, here's what you can do before calling an electrician, plumber, mechanic.  Super simple stuff, but stuff that can save you a lot of time and money and prevent you from being taken advantage of.

[southparkcpa]

Just now, Il Mostro said:

Check writing is much more akin to rocket science than I thought.  It requires specific instruction to figure out how to write a check and enter it into the checkbook ledger?  Jeez, this stuff is pretty self explanatory for anyone who is not blind and can rub a couple of brain cells together.

His point was I think he never wrote a check, not the complexity of banking.  Simply how naive most of these guys are.

The "salesman" of financial products who are in bank lobby's and plush offices can tear these guys apart under the cloud of "Im a financial Advisor".

 

My daughter, in college , worked at a restaurant. her check bounced. She called me and said..."Dad.. they took the money back". I laughed.

She is not stupid.  Smart actually.  She was 19 at the time. Great college and she now earns 6 figures..point being, until you experience it, its all "greek".

 

 

 

[HighPitch]

10 hours ago, greenwave81 said:

Sad part is what did the parents teach them? Nobody in school taught me how to specifically write a check or balance a checkbook...basic life skills should be covered at home. Some rely entirely too much on 'school' to assume when a kid graduates they're ready to meet life Head on.

Agreed.

anyone remember parents?

they have the biggest responsibility these days and the least accountability