How overspending can cause Professional Athletes to go Bankrupt

Overspending is something that can affect a wide range of people, but one group of people that can get affected hard is professional athletes. Scott Bercu, a financial accountant for professional athletes, "believes this group spends like mad, and blows their savings too rapidly. He said, 'They see their salaries as infinite, like it doesn't end, like they can't spend it all. But if you get $5 million a year, by the time you get done paying your agent and taxes, you have $2 million left to spend.'" (Crooks) I believe that Bercu's view about how athletes spent their money is true, but I think it only is a small group of with in the community of professional athletes. One example is Allen Iverson, in a blog by Brian Warner, He states that "Throughout his career Iverson's wasteful spending was legendary. He frequently traveled with an entourage of up to 50 people. He showered these same people with luxurious jewelry, expensive cars and exotic vacations. He was also a bad gambler in both senses of the word. Iverson was known to drop over a million dollars gambling in a single evening in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Allen's financial problems came to light after his wife of eight years Tawanna filed for divorce and demanded custody and full support for their five children. In a December 2012 court disclosure, Iverson told a judge that his monthly income was $62,500 but his expenses were $360,000! Of that $360k, $125k went to paying back various creditors and another a large chunk goes to mortgages. Iverson-owned homes in Denver and Atlanta were eventually lost to foreclosure and a Georgia judge ordered him to repay nearly $900,000 to a local jeweler." (Warner)  I was in awe after reading the blog about Iverson, because Iverson is one of the greatest player of all time and the fact that he is now broke is just mind boggling. Warner's blog showed me that although Iverson make over $150million in his career, that the way he spent his money is cause him to become broke. The reckless spending Iverson did, is also being done by current players. Iverson's story is one that all athletes from every sport should be aware of, because it could help them see that spending money recklessly is a path that could lead to ending up broke.
This picture uses Iverson's famous rant about practice to show what some athletes including Iverson thinking about saving money.

Works Cited:
Crooks, Ross. "From Stoked to Broke: Why Are So Many Professional Athletes Going Bankrupt?." Mint life, 22 Feb 2013. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. https://www.mint.com/blog/how-to/from-stoked-to-broke-why-are-so-many-professional-athletes-going-bankrupt-0213/?display=wide.
Warner, Brian. "Bankrupt Allen Iverson Has A $30 Million Reebok Trust Fund That He Can't Touch Till 2030." Celebrity Networth, 01 Mar 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/celebrity/bankrupt-allen-iverson-has-a-15-million-reebok-trust-fund-that-he-cant-touch-till-2030/.