Josh Smith: 'Harder' on family with lower salary

I just don't know how the higher class makes it.. I really dont.

I feel really badly for any poor NBA baby who's making less than $5 million a year.

Sam

Bob, relieved to read that your loyalty to the Celtics runs deep - even to the color of your green vomit.

Is five million middle class or upper middle class?

Because if he just keeps a budget he can live a tolerable existence on that.

But it's not the easiest life. I suspect.

I'm sure with a steady diet of Ramen noodles & government cheese, he should be able to squeak by.


Somewhat related, here is an interesting article on Walker and his loss of $108 mil.


http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/24/investing/antoine-walker-nba-bankruptcy/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom


Pete

j-Smooth may need to sell his sneaker collection.

dboss

Unfortunately, most of these guys crank up the spending so they are just as broke at the end of the month as the rest of us on less. They have their posses to pay, all the relatives that come to live with them and ask them for money, cars/houses to buy, etc.

There are countless stories and documentaries on how bankrupt players are after their professional sports career comes to an end.

They deserve the money they make because their skills are very unique and short lived with high risk. And most importantly the fan supporting public foots the bill. Supply meets demand. No demand, no supply.

They in essence win the lottery at age 18-21, not the most responsible age range for financial maturity. And that playing field is riddled with horrendous stories of failure.

I can't feel too sorry for them or what they say about their lack of money at the end of the month or having a family to feed. Shoot, I say the same thing about my condition.

They also feel this gravy train is going to go on forever. However the amount they are paid for most of them is actuarially calculated down to the penny over a normal earning life span. It's just everything is present valued for them given the short life span of a professional athlete's career and the risk that goes with it.

As for Josh Smith, he talks like he will be a statistic because it sounds like he hasn't figured it out yet. I don't know what Spree has done with his money. We'll hear soon enough, though.

db

Satch Sanders has been a guiding light for many NBA players helping them to organize their financial futures.

I got paid for the very first time (I guess it was actually a job although I thought that it bought baseball cards) when I was eight and one half years old. Yup, ten cents per basket of eggs picked up in the chicken coop on a farm next to my grandmother's house. Maybe three or four baskets per day.

Fifty six years later (36 of them teaching in various public schools) I have still not made 2 M in my entire working career.
I do not feel sorry for myself in any way whatsoever, but really, really feel sorry for Mr. Smith.

Worcester, the NBA created the advisory job that Satch held so successfully for 18 years, and it's the reason why he's in the Hall of Fame as a contributor.

Sam

Clyde,

If you taught in public schools for 36 years, you more than earned every penny you made—and I hope a nice pension to boot. The military is probably the only profession I admire as much as teaching in terms of putting it on the line every day.

Well done.

Sam

I know exactly what Smith is feeling, myself.

back in 2010 at the height of the most recent depression, no one was building hotels in my area. Since wiring them is what we do now, we were dead in the water. I and my co-owner had already laid off our employees, with the HOPE that we could land and project and bring them back later and we decided to stop paying ourselves as well for the duration.

I imagine it can be tough living on only about $6M a year!

sarcasm of course.

PS: don't feel badly about my story, we did it for economic reasons. IF we were gong to have to close up shop, we did have a reservoir of cash assets in the company. So if we closed up we could have taken that as capital gains and paid much less taxes overall , than to bleed the cash down in salary's.

but hey...it SOUNDED good!

My father always told me not "Don't worry about losing money. It's not arms and legs. You can make money again."

I frequently referred back to those words in 2008 when the real estate crash took away $6M in anticipated profits and my $1.27M life savings that I'd poured into a 37 unit luxury condo project.

Since then I've rebounded and can now afford to subscribe to both Netflix Streaming and Amazon Prime. Life is good.

Worcester,

I had a customer that once told me that we are not supposed to hang onto money, because it is simply a lubricant. I will never forget his piece of advice, and somehow it has made me feel better over the years. Glad things are better for you, at this point I'm just happy to be able to "super size" at will!

Wide, my dad was a teacher in the Lexington, Ma school system. I sometimes wish I had followed in his foot steps, as he has been pretty comfortable with his pension from them. He got out in 1984, as teaching had changed so much, and the parents tended to blame teachers for their own misgivings, and lack of attention paid to their children's education.


Pete

Pete, is that Pistol Pete in your avatar?

Is he kidding us? What a nerve to. Make a statement like that. He never had it so good! What a jerk!

No, its The Hick From French Lick!

Who saved his money!!!!


Pete

He never spent a nickel, but did not brag about it, just let his teammates pay for him. They were the fools. I have a sister who still has her first communion money!!!

Sorry, but I really think that this article is a bush-league cheap shot. Yeah athletes make a lot of money, but giving up a couple of million dollars is still giving up a couple of million dollars. Although we laud athletes who do so, in a way, they are without a doubt limiting how much they can support future generations of their families. I don't hold it against anyone if he sacrifices "winning" or "getting a ring" if he wants to ensure financial stability and opportunity for as many generations as possible. In fact, one could argue that sacrificing financial stability of future generations is somewhat short-sighted (even selfish...). Darwin would certainly argue that sacraficing dollars for rings/loyalty is a terrible decision in the evolutionary sense. Even morally, I have a hard time condeming a guy whose lotalty lies with family (even distant generations) rather than a "team" that will not hesitate one second to cut/trade him as soon as his value declines.

You are right Rosalie! He has his first dime, which based on his upbringing and respect for the dollar, has worked for him.

I remember reading an article about him which he discussed quite a few former team mates that tried to borrow money from him due to hard times. He declined........


Pete

There is a lot to be said for earning and saving the money you make.

My thoughts on Smith are, with people out there not even earning $15.00 an hour, please do not tell me you are suffering on $6,000,000. Life style change? I have no issue with him making money, the whole NBA does. Sorry, just the way yI feel.

Shamrock,

I have no problem with athletes getting every red cent that they can, but after you sign a measly whatever million dollar amount you should not whine about it.  No one made Smith sign for such a figure.  He signed the contract so he knew what it was going to be.

If he wanted more, he could have looked around for more.  Apparently, he decided that this salary amount from the Clippers was as good as he could find.

Perhaps he should already have enough money to keep about four generations of Smiths living fairly well.  He has played for over 15M per year for at least a few years already, and got a sizable buyout figure from the Pistons at some point during last season.

Again, get all you can but don't whine after you sign a contract.

Wow, the forum really landed on Josh. Reaffirms my faith in the forum's sense of values.

Hey Pete. Best to Donna.

Sam