“We weren’t taught about financial literacy… We weren’t taught this skill.”
NFL player Odell Beckham Jr. discussed the lack of financial literacy among young athletes in a recent episode. The Pivot.
The Beckham who won the Super Bowl with The Los Angeles Rams have made hundreds of millions in 2021 but have said they don’t have the tools to be financially solvent.
“I’ve always explained it to people, bro, you give somebody a 5-year contract, a $100 million contract, what’s that really like? That’s five years for 60 (million),” he said on the podcast. “You are taxed. Count that’s 12 a year that you have to spend, use, save, invest, display, whatever. I will buy a car, I will give my mother a house. Everything costs money. So if you’re spending $4 million a year, that’s really $40 million over five years, eight years.”
But, according to Beckham, after taxes, property purchases, investments and regular expenses, the money is not as much as it seems.
“Now you start breaking down the numbers and it looks like a five-year period where you get $8 million,” he explained. “Can you make it last forever, and you always hear people who aren’t us and aren’t in their position, like, ‘Oh, it’s going to last a lifetime.’ Yes, I sacrificed my whole life for this work, they give me that. I didn’t ask for a specific dollar amount or anything. But we haven’t been taught about financial literacy… We haven’t been taught this skill.”
Beckham is a free agent and currently not on the roster. However, according to The Root, he accepted a six-game ban after he tested positive for abnormal testosterone levels. If and when he signs with an NFL team, he will have to serve the sentence before he can play in a game.
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