NESN notes Patriot great Rob Gronkowski publicly considered retirement last offseason, waiting until late April to announce he would suit up for the New England Patriots in 2018.
Will he play again in 2019?
Gronk is keeping (uncharacteristically) tight-lipped as the team heads for the playoffs, but whatever happens, he’s going to be just fine due to a combination of football frugality and smart money moves.
In short, his retirement might be championship caliber, as well.
In a league in which more than 78 percent of NFL stars will file for bankruptcy within five years, Gronkowski is, sadly, an aberration, although it’s hardly limited to pigskin play; 60 percent of NBA players going broke during the same time period, and baseball players file for bankruptcy four times more often than the average U.S. citizen, according to Sports Illustrated.
For perspective, Wyatt Investment Research reports that the annual household bankruptcy rate likely hovers around 1.2 percent.
In his 2015 book, “It’s Good to be Gronk,” he revealed that he hasn’t touched “one dime of my signing bonus or NFL contract money.”
Instead, he’s been living off of his endorsement money since his career started in 2010 (he made $4 million alone from the league in 2017, according to CNBC).
The legendary goofball and namesake of the predictably wild Gronk Party Ship is an example of a professional athlete who’s saving for retirement the right way.
As is Marshawn Lynch, who’s known as the person in the locker room teammates turn to for help with their 401ks.
“Marshawn helps me with a lot of things as far as understanding my worth,” former teammate Tyler Lockett told ESPN.com. “He’s a great guy. Even at practice, he’s helped us with the 401k, talked to us about that. … He helps us with a lot of stuff.”
Thankfully, there’s hope for wider financial wellness among professional football players. The NFL Player Second Career Savings Plan consistently ranks at, or near, the top of the list of the nation’s largest 401k plans in terms of quality, according to research firm BrightScope.
And John Hancock recently teamed with a number of rookies to help raise awareness about the importance of retirement planning overall.
The players include Saquon Barkley (Giants), Calvin Ridley (Falcons), Sony Michel (Patriots), Phillip Lindsay (Broncos), Dante Pettis (49ers) and James Washington (from a team no one likes).
“Like many young adults, rookie professional athletes have high hopes for their careers, but may not take the needed steps or know the best strategies for planning for life after playing,” the company notes. “Through ‘The Long Game,’ [the players] are helping to shine a light on the importance of retirement planning through a personal video series that explores their respective long-term goals and passions outside of football.”
If only efforts like these were around earlier. Hall-of-Famer Warren Sapp famously went broke after making an estimated $82,185,056 in his NFL career. He ended up with $826.04 in his bank account.
As for Gronk, he did finally break down, buying one over-the-top, big-ticket item last summer.
“When I signed my incentive deal last year, my friend had a chain and I was like, ‘Dang, man, that’s a nice chain,’” he told UNINTERRUPTED’s “Kneading Dough” at the time. “I never had jewelry in my life. He let me wear it last year at a party and it made me feel good.”
“So then, in the back of my head, I said, ‘If I hit all my incentives, if I do everything I need to do, get all my bonuses, put all the work in, I’ve gotta finally treat myself. It’s been eight years. I haven’t really bought anything in my career, don’t really have anything luxury like that.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
