Benched and Broke

‘Tis the season to spend every Sunday planted in front of the TV, immersed in your favorite football team. While you’re keeping up with player stats and records, you might also be keeping up—or at least in the know—with just how much money your favorite NFL players are making. From the obviously high-paid superstars to the lesser known players, if someone has a spot in the NFL, chances are their salary is nothing to sneeze at. If you’re pursuing or considering an education in accounting, you probably have some interest and knowledge in personal finance, including the proper way to create a budget. It may surprise you, then, to see just how many NFL players become bankrupt after their careers. In fact, within just two years of retiring, three in four NFL players are either under financial duress, or they’re already bankrupt. The following infographic takes a look at how NFL players slip into these bad financial habits—from bad investments to over-spending, there are a lot of factors that go into depleting players’ wealth so rapidly. One of the biggest ways that players are impacted, however, is by bad financial advice. If your goal is to one day be an accountant, you could probably offer these players some solid advice, and maybe help them hang onto their money a little better.