Ryan Broyles: Detroit Lions Wide Receiver Says He and His Wife Live on Roughly $60,000 Each Year

[Rock Strongo]

seriously...why cant every NFL player do this with their first contract, rather than piss it all away on 42 cars and 3 houses for mamma...and be working at starbucks after a knee blowout at 24?

Ryan Broyles: Detroit Lions Wide Receiver Says He and His Wife Live on Roughly $60,000 Each Year
Broyles, who signed a four-year contract worth more than $3.6 million in 2012, told ESPN that he and his wife set the budget to ensure that he will have enough money for after his career ends.

 

[cdumler7]

seriously...why cant every NFL player do this with their first contract, rather than piss it all away on 42 cars and 3 houses for mamma...and be working at starbucks after a knee blowout at 24?

Ryan Broyles: Detroit Lions Wide Receiver Says He and His Wife Live on Roughly $60,000 Each Year
Broyles, who signed a four-year contract worth more than $3.6 million in 2012, told ESPN that he and his wife set the budget to ensure that he will have enough money for after his career ends.

You have to remember that many of these guys coming into the league have 1) Come from bad economic situations. 2) Are that 21-24 age range. 3) Have had nobody teach them about money management. Then with all of that in mind they come into the league and many of them are handed millions of dollars all of a sudden. They have at their fingertips the ability to go out and buy all the things that they were denied as kids. They then have the chance to give all those that they grew up with all the things that they never had. They also then have family and "friends" that they haven't spoken to in years calling them up asking for money. Unfortunately they are put in a very bad situation with very little skills in how to handle such a situation. The NFL definitely tries to help them out giving them opportunities to speak with people educated in handling money the right way but at 21-24 you think you know how to do it all. I remember that age.

 

[Thruthefog]

You have to remember that many of these guys coming into the league have 1) Come from bad economic situations. 2) Are that 21-24 age range. 3) Have had nobody teach them about money management. Then with all of that in mind they come into the league and many of them are handed millions of dollars all of a sudden. They have at their fingertips the ability to go out and buy all the things that they were denied as kids. They then have the chance to give all those that they grew up with all the things that they never had. They also then have family and "friends" that they haven't spoken to in years calling them up asking for money. Unfortunately they are put in a very bad situation with very little skills in how to handle such a situation. The NFL definitely tries to help them out giving them opportunities to speak with people educated in handling money the right way but at 21-24 you think you know how to do it all. I remember that age.

Not only that, but it's fun to point, laugh, and act superior. Kudos to Broyles.

 

[Smart]

You have to remember that many of these guys coming into the league have 1) Come from bad economic situations. 2) Are that 21-24 age range. 3) Have had nobody teach them about money management. Then with all of that in mind they come into the league and many of them are handed millions of dollars all of a sudden. They have at their fingertips the ability to go out and buy all the things that they were denied as kids. They then have the chance to give all those that they grew up with all the things that they never had. They also then have family and "friends" that they haven't spoken to in years calling them up asking for money. Unfortunately they are put in a very bad situation with very little skills in how to handle such a situation. The NFL definitely tries to help them out giving them opportunities to speak with people educated in handling money the right way but at 21-24 you think you know how to do it all. I remember that age.

At the NFL rookie summit thing, there is a ton of talk on how to save money and find good financial advisers. People are educated about saving money. They'd just rather live in the limelight.

 

[cdumler7]

At the NFL rookie summit thing, there is a ton of talk on how to save money and find good financial advisers. People are educated about saving money. They'd just rather live in the limelight.

I said the NFL does try to help these guys out. The problem is they have many more whispering in their ear to do the exact opposite of what those guys recommend. Heck there are plenty of money investors that know these guys are vulnerable and come offering them crazy deals on how they can double or triple their money and they buy into it. So yes they are given some information but you also have to remember that rookie symposium is what a week long? They have those other people talking to them the other 51 weeks of the year telling them how to spend their money. Family can be the worst as they know these guys feel an obligation to help their families. I just helped counsel a guy not too long ago that his parents were putting this huge guilt trip on him about how they had raised him and that he now owed them. He was/is already in debt and they are wanting him to take on the problems that they have caused because of their lack of money control. Many of these guys are given that same guilt trip from what I have read and these people end up bleeding them dry.

 

[Texas Jefe]

Smart young man, good for him (even if he is a Sooner)

 

[Breed]

You have to remember that many of these guys coming into the league have 1) Come from bad economic situations. 2) Are that 21-24 age range. 3) Have had nobody teach them about money management. Then with all of that in mind they come into the league and many of them are handed millions of dollars all of a sudden. They have at their fingertips the ability to go out and buy all the things that they were denied as kids. They then have the chance to give all those that they grew up with all the things that they never had. They also then have family and "friends" that they haven't spoken to in years calling them up asking for money. Unfortunately they are put in a very bad situation with very little skills in how to handle such a situation. The NFL definitely tries to help them out giving them opportunities to speak with people educated in handling money the right way but at 21-24 you think you know how to do it all. I remember that age.

Good post. And while I agree there is help in and from the NFL. I also think its a the horse has been let out the barn kinda deal so to speak. I'd like see some type of money management program started in college. Of course that would mean that a lot of these colleges would have to actually start treating their players like students instead of revenue generating streams.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Having worked in wealth management for several years I can't tell you how important it is to never live a lifestyle based on your highest earning years. Those paychecks are not infinite so you have to average it out and live modestly. Especially for athletes who don't have the luxury of receiving royalties.

 

[broncosmitty]

Too bad Broyles never gets to play.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

Yeah, by the time they get to that rookie symposium dealie, it's too late for most of them. We learn about managing our money from our parents; we watch them for 18 years

 

[Sgt Brutus]

The wife just wants money post football when she leaves his ass and takes half

 

[jarntt]

It's one thing to be smart with your money, but he just sounds like a cheap bastard...

 

[blstoker]

It's one thing to be smart with your money, but he just sounds like a cheap bastard...

IDK, you can have a very comfortable life at $60,000. At this rate (even without putting the money in a savings account to get a minnimum amount of interest) he has 60 years before his current money runs out, and this doesn't include any pension he will receive from the NFL (which he qualifies for at age 55 and will be paid around $1400 a month, though that'll go up to $1900 if he plays 3 games this season).

 

[jarntt]

IDK, you can have a very comfortable life at $60,000. At this rate (even without putting the money in a savings account to get a minnimum amount of interest) he has 60 years before his current money runs out, and this doesn't include any pension he will receive from the NFL (which he qualifies for at age 55 and will be paid around $1400 a month, though that'll go up to $1900 if he plays 3 games this season).

I guess it depends where you live...

 

[blstoker]

I guess it depends where you live...

That is true, but I very much doubt he's moved himself to a place with that high of a cost of living like New York City (though it is possible). If he maintains his home in Oklahoma, the cost of living there is so low that he should easily be able to provide for himself and his family at $60,000.

 

[cdumler7]

It might sound cheap but honestly I would much rather see guys doing this than buying every person they grew up with a brand new house and car. He is showing he knows that his career could end today with one bad hit and has prepared himself for the future if that were to happen. If not and say he finishes his career here in 5-10 years and has a lot more money well then he can start living it up a bit more in his 30's and beyond. This is where so many if they were smart in their 20's about how they used their money they would realize how much more they could truly have down the road. Many unfortunately though don't worry about putting themselves into a ridiculous hole of debt thinking eventually some day it will get paid off.

 

[tometom]

i have no problem with guys spending some of that money, just be smart enough to set aside a part of it too. I mean, it's $3.6M over 4 years, that's $900k a year. if he wants some money to buy people stuff, fine, but if you can put say $500k of that each year into stocks/bonds then you'd be financially set for the rest of your life (yes at a much lower income per year, but still a good one compared to a lot of people in the US).

 

[cdumler7]

i have no problem with guys spending some of that money, just be smart enough to set aside a part of it too. I mean, it's $3.6M over 4 years, that's $900k a year. if he wants some money to buy people stuff, fine, but if you can put say $500k of that each year into stocks/bonds then you'd be financially set for the rest of your life (yes at a much lower income per year, but still a good one compared to a lot of people in the US).

What you are asking then if pretty much for him to live off of what he is living off of. $900k a year minus taxes, money paid to agent, and other expenses that come out of that pretty much he would end up with around $500k in actual take home pay. While $3.6 million sounds great on paper it is not what he actually takes home at the end of the day. That is part of what gets these guys in trouble is they act like they are getting the full amount of the money but don't understand how the whole expenses that come out of that type of money plays into this whole thing. So again him only spending about $60k a year is about equal to him putting $500k away a year. Throw in that is 4-years worth so really around $2 million in actual money. No guarantee he gets anymore than that in his career. So essentially that type of money living at the same wage would put him into his early 60's. Obviously he can find another job in that time but again that money doesn't go as far as a lot of these players think.

 

[jarntt]

It might sound cheap but honestly I would much rather see guys doing this than buying every person they grew up with a brand new house and car.

Yeah, but it's not like those are the only two options. He can spend $80K per year, or $100K, etc. Let's not go right to the extreme and say if he spends more than he is then we go right to recklessly spending every last penny day one.

I have no problem with a guy only spending $60K per year and it's not my place to tell him what to spend his money on. My only point was he does sound a little tight. I'm not saying that is a horrible thing.

 

[cdumler7]

Yeah, but it's not like those are the only two options. He can spend $80K per year, or $100K, etc. Let's not go right to the extreme and say if he spends more than he is then we go right to recklessly spending every last penny day one.

I have no problem with a guy only spending $60K per year and it's not my place to tell him what to spend his money on. My only point was he does sound a little tight. I'm not saying that is a horrible thing.

I guess I was more responding to the poster calling him "Cheap." While yes Broyles has taken things to the extreme opposite of many of these players I would still rather see more players lean this way than what we have seen. Too many stories have been told of these guys broke and almost living on the streets even within say 5 years after their career. So I guess to me this type of guy is one I would rather lift up for what he is doing than criticizing his decisions as what he is doing is at least setting him up to have a roof over his head for the next say 30 years or so. Like you said it is extreme and if I was making the kind of money he was (as it is still a nice take home pay) I would probably spend a little more than he is but I also commend him for his decision to let his money work for him instead of just blowing it on the first cute girl that gives him the time of day like many of these guys do.