Less than an hour after signing his first professional contract, 20-year-old Shaquille O'Neal had already spent his first million.
"The first thing I wanted to do was relieve my parents of their jobs," O'Neal told CNN ahead of the new 2015-2016 NBA season in Oakland, California. "I (spent) a million dollars in about 45 minutes, but it was well worth it."
The most dominant player in the league during his prime, O'Neal would go on to make a further $291 million in NBA salary alone, according to basketball-reference.com, while earning four titles before settling into life as an studio analyst for TNT's "Inside the NBA."
"My momma is happy, her house is paid for; she had the car that she knows she would never get in her dreams, a Mercedes-Benz. My father (had) one, I had one. I was good," O'Neal says, reflecting on the overnight lifestyle upgrade that affects young professionals in the world's best paying league.
"But now you have to educate yourself on how to maintain that, and a lot of people don't do that."
Truer words were never spoken.
Off the court, O'Neal was also a prolific earner as he starred in movies and released rap albums, while endorsing a bevy of products including Reebok, Burger King and Pepsi.
Going for broke
But not every pro has Shaq's career longevity or earning power off the court.
In fact -- in a statistic which has become infamous to detractors of professional sports -- 60% of NBA players go broke within five years of retirement, according to a 2009 Sports Illustrated article (more alarming is the assertion that 78% of NFL players fall under financial duress within two years of exiting the league).
The NBA average salary stands at $4.7 million -- already the highest among team sports globally -- and is set to jump dramatically once the collective bargaining agreement between the players' union and the league is renegotiated in 2017.
Annual TV money flowing into the NBA will nearly triple next season to $2.7 billion,according to the Wall Street Journal. That's due to the immediate nature of watching live sports -- one of the only remaining bits of programming that advertisers are willing to pony up for.
Currently, NBA players are guaranteed to reap about half of the league's revenue in salary, and will push for a bigger slice of an exponentially growing pie in two years. That's precisely why LeBron James, the NBA's biggest star, would not sign a contract with the Cavaliers beyond 2017.
With the bank accounts of the fortunate 450 members of the league set to swell, grasping the basics of financial planning is key, say the pros.
"Advice number one: learn what annuities are," said O'Neal, as he advocated a strategy of investing in securities that offer revenue streams year after year, rather than spending on luxury items that depreciate the moment they leave the showroom.
Another option, says O'Neal, is to manage money the old-fashioned way: put most of it in the bank for retirement, which he says he did with 75% of his income.
"You want cars, you want diamond earrings, you want jewelery?" he asks. "Do whatever you want (with the other 25%)."
"But it's hard," he confesses. "Guys got families, girlfriends, stuff like that. But, a guy taught me that in 1995 and it worked, it worked for me."
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