There are plenty of "regular" people in their 20's and 30's that have no concept of saving for later years That's my point. Many "regulars" don't have any concept of saving because they don't have money to save. By the time you make car payments, insurance, $3.20 a gallon gas, food, rent, etc. there isn't any to put away. That's crap. People make choices at every income level. Most Americans want to live in the nicest home they can afford. As soon as they can afford to move out of the old neighborhood, they do. All but the poorest people in this country can save something, but most people don't save up to buy a lesser car, they just use credit to buy one that they can't afford. That is even more true of people in theirs 20s. People do not want to live below their means enough to truly save up for that car, or gadget, or tv. This is not a phenomenon that is exclusive to NBA players. I have seen (and done) this same thing in law school. All of a sudden you get a job in law school that is paying you $30-$40 an hour for part-time work, or huge amounts of money for your summer job. Do you save and scrimp and take out less student loans? Probably not. Despite the school's advisers telling you that is what you ought to do, people (especially young people) like to live for the moment, and worry about the future later. Sure, when you are in your 40s still paying off your student loans, you will agree it is unwise. But, so what? Life is for the living. We can scrimp and save for our huge retirement, and not even make it there. Also, using Shaq as an example is a really bad one. No one thinks that Shaq is ever going to go broke. But, the NBA minimum players, who are also expected to help out their poor parents and extended family as well. I think all of these harsh judgments are really just denying human nature.
using Shaq as an example is a really bad one I realize it's Shaquille O'Neal, not some benchwarmer whether they're stars or sixth, seventh, or eighth man off the bench whether they be at the high-end of the salary scale or further down bperk, as noted above I mentioned several times I was speaking about the average player, not necessarily Shaq, but Shaq just happened to have his monthly expenses listed in a publication. But if you want to say a family with an income of $45,000 per year has the same ability to put some money away as someone who makes $1 million per year, even if they only have this income for two, three, or four years, then I can't quite agree. You're correct that everyone makes their choices about what to do with their money, but a guy that makes that large amount of cash for a few (or several) years can go out and buy a home without a mortgage, vehicles without payments, create a college fund automatically for their kids, and still not have spent half a million. But in your post you're also talking about people who went to law school, and that's not even conceivable for most Americans, as the majority won't even go to college. A law school graduate (with their degree) has already planned for their future by gaining an education that will most likely mean they'll remain financially comfortable up through retirement. I have a friend who was an All-Pro NFL linebacker. He came up with nothing (but a large family), played a career of average length, but knew from the start he had to plan for the future (and believe me, he was no genious). He played well, made decent (though not huge) money, bought two large homes, lived extremely well, put money away, invested in a business for his future, and now lives a great life without a financial care in the world. He helped his family, although they weren't the type of people that expected him to buy them mansions and BMWs, etc. But his salary for that short span of his life allowed him this.
