NYTimes Describes Financial Lessons From Sports Stars’ Mistakes

Reporter Ron Lieber describes the financial meltdowns endured by Michael Vick, Steve Young and other professional athletes and the pressures that lead to them.

But psychologists have a field day with the professionals’ tendency toward outsize financial gestures, attributing it to an odd sort of mind-set that develops when they are suddenly in a different financial world than longtime friends and family.

“Your animal brain goes into a panic, because you’ve just gotten thrown out of the tribe,” said Brad Klontz, co-author of the book, “Mind Over Money“ (Crown Business, 2009) and a clinical psychologist. “And your brother who has been there for you wants to borrow money to start a business. So athletes have a tendency to give away money. When you no longer have money, you aren’t put into that situation anymore.”

It doesn’t make much rational sense, but here we have Mr. Vick’s bankruptcy filing, complete with his somewhat vague recollection of spending between $120,000 and $150,000 on jewelry for his brother.

Mr. Lieber does a good job of summarizing the kind of counseling and education that athletes need to avoid such mistakes. His advice applies to many more kinds of people than sports stars.