Former NBA player Jamal Mashburn scored even more in retirement

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Stories of retired professional athletes falling on hard times have become so common that ESPN made a documentary called “Broke” to publicize their plight. Former NBA All-Star Jamal Mashburn knows he won’t be counted among the retired athletes who have gone into retirement. Benzinga looks at how he overcame this grim trend.

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A toxic combination leads to financial difficulties

The irony of NBA or NFL draft day is that most people watching, and indeed the players themselves, believe they are set for life after their name is called. Unfortunately, too many players discover that life is a marathon, not a sprint. This means that jumping into an early head start in the race to lifetime riches doesn’t guarantee that’s where young professional athletes will end up.

Despite having won millions of dollars, many players are affected by a toxic combination of circumstances that lead to financial ruin. First, there is the impatience of youth. Combine that with the reality that many professional athletes come from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, leaving them to be the breadwinners for themselves and their extended family.

Then there is the fact that many young professional athletes lack financial literacy, which most young people suffer from. However, most young people don’t have millions of dollars at their disposal, and if they do get that rich, it’s usually much later in life that they learn about things like debt service and planning for the future.

Poor business decisions

Many professional athletes are trying to build their future, but a lack of financial knowledge leads many of them to invest in the worst types of businesses. Buying into high-risk operations or letting family members manage their finances often burns millions of capital that would be better invested in traditional or alternative offerings.

Unfortunately, many more professional athletes are being ripped off by their agents or by “financial advisors” who run into the agents to rob their clients blind. Couple this with lavish spending on depreciating assets like car and jewelry collections, and you end up with dozens of ex-players who don’t realize they’re in dire financial straits until it’s too late.

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How Jamal Mashburn Bucked the Trend

When he left the University of Kentucky in 1993, Jamal Mashburn was one of the most sought after players in basketball. At 6’9″, he had the bulk of a power forward but the offensive skills of a guard. This made him nearly impossible to defend and he scored at will for most of his career before to be interrupted by a series of accidents.

He retired in 2006 with a very solid career average of 19.1 points, but a much shorter career than would have been expected on draft night. This is where many ex-pros struggle, but Mashburn has been preparing for his post-NBA career for years. He used his money and built an incredibly diversified portfolio that includes:

• A real estate agency

• Five car dealers

• 40 Papa John’s Pizza locations

• 38 Outback Steakhouse locations

He also sits on the board of Fairbridge Hotels International and is an advisor to cannabis brand Revolution Global. Today, the website Celebrity Net Worth estimates Mashburn’s net worth at $100 million. According to HoopsHype, Mashburn earned $75 million during his career. However, taxes and agent commissions gobbled up significantly more than half.

That means Mashburn turned $35 million into $100 million and is still making a profit from his various business interests. It’s a rare success story off the field that has earned Mashburn as much respect in the C-Suite as he has on the field. While you may not start life with as much capital as Mashburn, you can still learn from his example. Jamal Mashburn realized that the key to investing is planning for the marathon, not the sprint.

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This article Former NBA shooting guard Jamal Mashburn scored even more in retirement originally appeared on Benzinga.com