Quarterback Russell Wilson has a bachelor’s degree from NC State and a masters from Wisconsin. Richard Sherman graduated from Stanford with a degree in communications (so surprising). Yet it’s Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch—who majored in social welfare at the UC, Berkeley—that teammates turn to for help with their 401(k)s.
As Fox Sports rightly notes, everyone loves Lynch, an engaging and charismatic personality and one heck of a football player, but “not necessarily the first member of the Seattle Seahawks that we would envision handing out advice on retirement plans.”
Not that it matters; with horror story after horror story of professional athletes going broke soon after retirement, anyone who takes up the flag to assist in proper planning is to be commended, even if it’s simply to call attention to the need. And that need is huge. Sports Illustrated reported the grim statistics back in 2009—78 percent of NFL players face bankruptcy or serious financial stress within just two years of leaving the game and 60 percent of NBA players face the same dire results in five years.
“Marshawn (Lynch) helps me with a lot of things as far as understanding my worth,” wide receiver Tyler Lockett said on Monday, via 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.”
He probably has a heavy allocation to Skittles, and his advice prowess would naturally lend itself to a financial career after his time with football is done (let’s hope it’s more Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and less Lenny Dykstra).
Although we can laugh at the unusual nature of the situation, Fox Sports adds that “[Lynch] is a tremendous presence within the communities of Seattle and his hometown of Oakland. He reportedly considered retirement at the age of 28 — an indication that he’s financially secure.”
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