Is All That “Bling-Bling” Really Worth It?

With the NFL Draft having just occurred, and the NBA draft fast approaching, I had an interesting epiphany:

I've heard Shaq on several occasions say that as a rookie he was advised to save/invest his NBA salary for post-NBA life.  He was counseled that he could live entirely off of his endorsement money.

Conservatively, Shaq has earned $270-300 million in total salary to date.  From his rookie year through the turn of the century, when the economy was doing exceptionally well for investors specifically, he earned about $50 million in salary alone!  Up until the economy started to tank last year, and insanely wealthy people started to see their wealth decline sharply, he had been saving/investing around $240 million!!

Think about that for a second.  Can you say compound interest/return on investments on $240 million over a 15 year period!!!

I wonder if he has any 50 Cent Vitamin Water stories (hopefully his eggs were not in the Bernie Madoff basket).  But I digress…

In spite of all this, he has still been living “balla'rific” (a synonym for “bling-bling” in case you were wondering) off of the estimated $250 million in endorsements he’s made in his career to date (that’s a reasonable estimate of around $15 million per year). 

Don’t believe the hype?  Go watch the episodes of MTV Cribs that feature him.

Now granted, Shaq has been unique: equally dominate on the court as he is a marketing force off it.  The vast majority of NBA players, or any professional athlete for that matter, will never see that kind of dough.  Regardless, whoever gave him that advice did a very good job. 

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