February 22, 2012

Allen Iverson – who has earned over $154 million in salary alone over his stellar NBA career — is reportedly broke.

That number excludes his tens of millions more in non-salary income, including a $50 million lifetime endorsement contract from Reebok. And the player best known as “the Answer” has no easy answer for the bills, including around $859,000 he currently owes to a Georgia jewelry store (too bad he didn’t have Newt’s credit line at Tiffany’s).

Whether Iverson can’t or won’t pay Aydin and Company Jewelers is unclear. Moreover, there is no evidence that Iverson has officially declared bankruptcy. But Iverson’s seemingly desperate efforts of late to make a comeback suggest that he is in deep financial trouble.

For instance, he made the Iverson equivalent of pilaf to play in Turkey and was offered plantains to play in Puerto Rico. Now comes an insulting offer to play indoor soccer for the Rochester Lancers. It’s a sad and shameful denouement for a man who, pound-for-pound on his six foot, 165-pound frame, is the most gifted and fearless guard to ever play pro basketball.

What’s sad is that the remedy was so simple and easy. For instance, I calculate that even if Iverson had passively invested (say, in a broad-based index fund like SPY) only half of the more than $200 million he reportedly made over the past sixteen years, and wantonly squandered the rest, the amount he invested would have at least kept pace with inflation.

I am not talking hedge funds or sexy IPOs. I am talking large-cap staples of the American economy, with no “vig” at all to the money management sharks, Ponzi schemers, and private equity shysters that circle pro athletes and their posses. A high-rated, tax-free, long-term municipal bond ETF like MLN might even be safer, if not always more profitable.

As I learned when my beloved mother — an accumulator of seemingly expensive things – suddenly passed, most material things don’t carry much resale value. Yet celebrities in general, and pro athletes in particular, think they do. Blinged-out, overly customized, and hard-to-resell mansions, diamond-studded watches, Gulfstream jets, fur coats, cheesy overpriced jewelry, and the requisite Bentley’sall lose their value over time. Cars, no matter what the brand, lose value as soon as they are driven off the lot. Same goes for planes. In only rare cases does a watch grow in value. Ditto for jewelry, especially garish jewelry. The best and safest way to grow money over the long-term is through investing in dividend-paying stocks. Boring? Yeah. Not very “street.” But, as a former German girlfriend once told me, “To be radical in your art, you need to be conservative in your life.”

As much as I admired Iverson as a player and guiltily enjoyed his inimitable, incorrigible bad boy charm, it is still tragic that someone, anyone, in his expansive network of takers, enablers, handlers, and sycophants did not at some point pull the 11-time All-Star aside and be a genuine financial friend. And I don’t mean the lecture that all rookies receive that 60% of NBA players are broke within five years of leaving the game.

That lecture is obviously not working. A genuine financial friend would have spoken ongoing, unvarnished, personal truth: lose the lottery mindset, dump the hangers-on, drop the traveling hair stylist, and, instead, start saving and investing wisely. A bona fide financial friend would have done the difficult thing and gotten the league or the players union to hold Iverson’s paychecks in escrow.

Moreover, an NBA that cared more about its personnel and brand would have required that Iverson, as well as all players, pass a yearly financial planning and retirement course before they were allowed on the hardwood (including how to read a financial statement, why to run from promises of a “guaranteed” return, and how a rock-solid prenup, living will and family planning can prevent you from getting soaked by a gold-digging ex).

Now, Allen Ezail Iverson is reportedly broke, his wages garnished, his Wells Fargo bank account out of his control. Moreover, those fifty or so “friends” and “family” that lived off, or milked, Iverson’s naive generosity are running for cover.

As of today, Allen Iverson joins the unholy pantheon of all-time-profligate sports spendthrifts – from Derrick Coleman to John Daly, Sheryl Swoopes to Mike Tyson, Jack Clark to Diego Maradona, Latrell Sprewell to George Best – who each squandered a king’s ransom because of a lack of financial education and the desire to pursuit it.

http://www.forbes.com/sit...-say-what/

Sweet Jesus, what is wrong with this world? 150 Million is more than some countries' GNP's!!

Give me $150 million and my great grandkids will be set for life!

Stupid!

Only in a first world country where someone can get $150 million and blow right through 'em!

Boo-fucking hoo hoo. Good for his dumb ass.

Q? Does any of this surprise u?

Dude is.........and was a complete KNUCKLEHEAD.

Now's the time to hock that jewerly at the local pawn shop.

did anybody notice it said:

"Whether Iverson can’t or won’t pay Aydin and Company Jewelers is unclear. Moreover, there is no evidence that Iverson has officially declared bankruptcy. But Iverson’s seemingly desperate efforts of late to make a comeback suggest that he is in deep financial trouble."

wether he broke or not ain't gonna make or break my day

however, i hear people who never had nothin hate on folks

who did all day... REMEMBER you can't take that shit with you.

"Remember that credit is money." - Ben Franklin

Graycap23 said:

Q? Does any of this surprise u?

Dude is.........and was a complete KNUCKLEHEAD.

These cats NEVER learn. They don't understand the difference between being wealthy and rich.

A fool and his money, eh?

NDRU said:

A fool and his money, eh?

In this case......just a FOOL.

One Hundred and Fifty Million dollars is a lot to blow in a short period of time

angel345 said:

One Hundred and Fifty Million dollars is a lot to blow in a short period of time

not really, ASK MY LAWYER

and no.

i didn't blow 150 mil.

Yeah this is kinda old news, a couple of years ago there were reports Mr. Iverson was having cash flow problems. I think he blew a lot of money on the gaming tables too.

If anyone cares to read a damn good story in S. I. a couple of years ago.

How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke.

http://sportsillustrated..../index.htm

KingBAD said:

angel345 said:

One Hundred and Fifty Million dollars is a lot to blow in a short period of time

not really, ASK MY LAWYER

and no.

i didn't blow 150 mil.

You didn't blow it. He did, right? That rogue

Another thing to consider if there's more hands in the cookie jar besides yours, that's how you can broke, athlete or not.

angel345 said:

Another thing to consider if there's more hands in the cookie jar besides yours, that's how you can broke, athlete or not.

YES!!!

angel345 said:

Another thing to consider if there's more hands in the cookie jar besides yours, that's how you can broke, athlete or not.

Those hands have 2 be "allowed" in.

Graycap23 said:

angel345 said:

Another thing to consider if there's more hands in the cookie jar besides yours, that's how you can broke, athlete or not.

Those hands have 2 be "allowed" in.

And then there's the unavoidable hand of Uncle Sam

angel345 said:

Graycap23 said:

Those hands have 2 be "allowed" in.

And then there's the unavoidable hand of Uncle Sam

Those thieves will always get theirs.

Iverson made common mistakes: spending all he earned, no contingency savings to tap and (possibly) worse no adequate plans for retirement.

I'm shocked! Shocked, I say!!!

He seemed so prudent and promising in that bowling alley melee.

Graycap23 said:

angel345 said:

And then there's the unavoidable hand of Uncle Sam

Those thieves will always get theirs.

Always.

fuck him

that will "teach" him a lesson in frivolity... lol

...

[Edited 2/25/12 8:01am]

[Edited 2/25/12 17:06pm]

Coming to a D-League team near you...