First, let me be clear, I have never won more than $20 from the lottery. That’s $20 over my entire lifetime. But as a wise person once said, learn from other people’s mistakes because you won’t live long enough to make them all yourself.

The lottery winner who was my guide was a man named Curtis Sharp Jr. He stuck out in a Jet magazine article because he was the largest single lottery winner in the U.S. at that time. Mr Sharp accepted his lottery winnings wearing a bowler hat with his wife on one side and his girlfriend on the other side. Mr Sharp then divorced his wife and married his girlfriend in a lavish New York wedding complete with a horse drawn carriage and bought himself a custom Cadillac with a Rolls Royce grille. Mr Sharp was the man about town and even starred in a Grey Poupon commercial with Donald Trump.

Then shortly thereafter, I read in another Jet magazine article that Mr Sharp was broke. 

The next question was my first dive into financial literacy: how could someone lose all that money?

I found out that there is something called the curse of the lottery. I also found out that most people are not equipped to handle the large amounts of money, notoriety, and requests that come with the winnings.

We see these same behaviors and actions with sports and entertainment figures as outlined in the post: MonkSays…it’s Not Your Fault

So, when I watch The Draft and I see newly drafted players holding up their new jersey’s wearing iced out watches and chains, I see Curtis Sharp all over again.

No athlete is guaranteed to be financially successful, but they can at least set themselves up to be successful out of the gate by not just hiring an agent, but a tax professional as well as a financial planner to help them navigate the fact that they will get paid in large sums just for the length of their season. The tax planner will help them navigate the fact that they will be paying different taxes in every city/state that they play in, as well as their home state (this is why part of Deon Sanders’ tax strategy was to own a ranch in Texas).

The other biggest expense to navigate is family/entourage expense. You have to teach them about financial literacy as well so they can grow what they’ve been given (by you) and they can also understand how precarious your situation is. In other words, a players entire ecosystem has to be aligned and on the same page in order for the curse of sudden wealth to not take them down.

In the end, Mr Sharp Jr did okay. By his own words, the smartest thing he did was to not quit his job and stayed around long enough to retire and collect a pension. That retirement income is what helped to sustained him until his passing. 

My life has been one long financial journey filled with adventure. I’ve recently retired early and I now use lessons learned from those lived experiences to teach financial literacy to the youth, young adults, and the mothers who raise them.

Financial Literacy: Monk Says…Learn The Game

www.MonkSays.com

#monksays #financialLiteracy #retirement #financialMistakes #Lottery