Andrew Richardson-USA TODAY Sports
Fucking athletes, man. In addition to playing a professional sport for a living and getting paid millions of dollars for doing it—even if they suck—these guys just don’t give a shit about the stuff that they buy. While you and I live paycheck to paycheck and try to salvage every last dollar, these guys are out there ballin’ out of control.
And a new study from a California-based wealth management firm called Personal Capital just determined just how much the average NBA player spends per month—$42,000!
The average NBA player using a free budgeting tool from Personal Capital spends about $42,500 a month. His top spending category is clothing and shoes, and his favorite merchant is Express, according to Personal Capital, a digital wealth management company in San Carlos.
Personal Capital struck a deal with the league and the NBA Players Association to provide financial education seminars and its spending management tool to players from all teams. The free online and mobile tool lets users pull their bank, savings, credit card and other accounts into one place. They can analyze their income and outgo on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and make adjustments to meet their goals.
More than 50 players, ranging from rookies to veterans, are using the tool. Based on four months of usage from December through March, their top spending categories, after clothing and shoes, are automotive, travel, restaurants, charitable giving, entertainment and personal care.
Savings “did not make the top 10,” although the players may have pension or 401(k) plans that are not tracked by the tool, said Mark Goines, Personal Capital’s chief marketing officer. Most of the players are in their 20s and 30s and — like most people in that age group — are net spenders, he added.
For reference, per Forbes, the average NBA salary this season was $4.9 million two seasons ago, so it’s definitely gone up since then.
So what does this really tell you? Teach your future kids the art of the jump shot, hope they’re somewhat tall enough to play ball in college and pray they get a chance to play in the Association. Oh, and it also tells you that saving money is NOT SEXY AT ALL!