Never trust a big butt and a smile – Bell, Biv, Devoe

Once again the timeless advice of our favorite R&B acts of yesteryear has proven its truthfulness.

Look, athletes and entertainers are targets. Young ones. Old ones. Middle aged ones. It doesn’t matter. If you’re good at sports at any level, believe me, there is someone in the shadows waiting to take advantage of you one way or another.

In today’s example, look no further than former 2nd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, and current forward for the NY Knicks, Derrick Williams. In a bizarre but predictable weekend event, Mr. Williams was robbed of $750,000 (!) in jewelry after befriending two women at a club and taking them back to his place.

Now, he’s obviously a target because he’s a young, highly paid athlete in one of the largest sports markets in the world. This we already know.

Yet, he absolutely did himself no favors by consistently posting pictures on Instagram of himself with his prized possessions:

That just shows you the gift and the curse of social media. Fans can get to know you and admire your success. Thieves can follow your moves and plot against you. Until something happens, you can never really be sure who’s who.

Certainly, one could question the wisdom of taking two young women whom you just met, back to the place that you call home. For many, many reasons this could have ended up bad, but we’ll save that discussion for another day.

Sure, it would be reasonable to question the necessity of owning $750,000 in jewelry. However, perhaps the other areas of his financial life are secure and he chooses to spend his discretionary funds on jewelry. Cool, do your thing.

What’s unacceptable, though, is to have that amount of money in expensive possessions stored in a place where they could easily be taken, particularly if you are going to have unfamiliar individuals running around your house. To be clear, a Louis Vuitton jewelry case in the back of a closet isn’t a secure location.

So students, class is in session; please take notes. Here’s my advice on making sure you are not the next victim of the bling ring:

1) Avoid all of the shameless social media posts specifically addressing your material items. Unless you’re getting paid for the “commercial,” you’re promoting someone else’s product for free and giving everyone else a reason to hate you. Not everyone is happy because you’re “winning.”

2) Make sure you have digital copies of the appraisals for all of your jewelry stored somewhere in the cloud.

3) Buy enough insurance to make sure that all of your items are covered.  Don’t assume that your homeowners or renter’s insurance will cover the full amount of your holdings.

4) If you’re going to purchase a significant amount of jewelry, for goodness sake buy a safe with a combination that only you know and anchor it to the floor. It’s not that hard. You can purchase a perfectly good one on Amazon and it will be to you in two days with Amazon Prime.

5) Don’t get lulled into a false sense of security by a pretty face and a short skirt at the club. When in doubt, please refer to Bell Biv Devoe above.

6) Lest you think I’m only talking about women seeing you as a target, you must understand that men see you as a target too. But instead of a skirt, they’ll have on suits and call themselves, agents, financial advisors, attorneys, car dealers, jewelers, casino builders, movie producers and so on. You must always have your guard up with them as well. As Mark Jackson would say, “Hand down, man down.”

I get it. Athletes like jewelry. It’s a thing. Especially in your 20s.

However, you must at least treat your jewels, your cash and your hard work with some respect. Seriously.

Whomever decides to steal your jewels (most likely) weren’t with you shooting in the gym.

I’m sure you didn’t put in all of those hours getting to the top level of your profession just to allow someone to take advantage of you.

So your lesson for today is keep your guard up, secure your stuff and listen to 90s R&B. There’s tons of valuable nuggets of wisdom there.

Rob Wilson is a celebrity financial advisor with a practice geared towards professional athletes and entertainers.  He’s also a frequent contributor the CNN, CBS, NBC and various other media outlets.

For more financial advice, be sure to subscribe here: https://robwilson.tv/vip

As a high draft pick, or a player with a big second contract, it’s easy to believe that you won’t be one of the guys that goes broke because you’ll be making “so much money.”

Yet, in reality, it’s the guys who make the most who have the highest probability of going flat broke.  The bigger they are the harder they fall.

Take former Washington Redskins running back, Clinton Portis, for example.

It’s been reported that Mr. Portis filed for bankruptcy last week despite making more than $40 million during his playing career including a contract that made  him the highest paid running back in the NFL at the time.

Of particular note is the $8 million (!) that he lost by investing in a now defunct Alabama casino, $2 million (!) that he lost to the now defunct Jade Private Wealth Management, nearly $300k owed to the MGM Grand, and $500,000 he owes to former sideline reporter and current Entertainment Tonight correspondent Nichelle Turner (what?).

In fact, his list of creditors looks like a screenshot from the ESPN 30-fo-30 documentary Broke, or an excerpt from the script of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s show “Ballers” on HBO (which I should totally be cast for during the second season, just saying).

As a celebrity financial advisor, what would my advice be to athletes looking to avoid a similar fate?

a) Don’t invest in businesses, especially with 7 figures of your hard earned money, that you don’t understand until you’re done playing and have the time to become educated on your potential ventures.

b) Have faith, but don’t trust. This is the title of an entire chapter in my upcoming book on financial management for athletes. Have faith in your financial adviser, but don’t trust them. Ever. Make sure that you have systems in place so that trust never becomes an issue. If you’d like to learn how to do this, contact me, I’ll teach you how.

c) Don’t buy property to live in with expenses so high that it will be difficult to keep up with them once you’re done playing.

d) Have a plan for how you’re going to make money when you’re done playing, aside from trying to hit a home run with a casino business. If you don’t have a plan on living and working with purpose when you retire at such a young age, you’ll have too much time on your hands and the money will start slipping through your fingers.

e) Apply to work with me. If you seem like a good fit, I’d like to help.

Rob Wilson is a financial advisor with a practice geared towards professional athletes and entertainers.  He’s also a frequent contributor the CNN, CBS, NBC and various other media outlets.

For more financial advice, be sure to subscribe here: https://robwilson.tv/vip

Want to give someone a gift that truly keeps on giving? Check out my segment on the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show for my thoughts on smart financial gifts for the holidays.

Gifts For Children
One Share Of Stock – Beautiful framed stock certificate from popular companies like Apple, Disney, etc.
giveashare.com

Gift Cards for Stocks – Just like restaurant or retail gift cards but for the purchase of stock in your favorite companies  Sparkgift.com or Stockpile.com

Gifts For Friends and Family
Karma Wi-Fi Hotspot – Help your friends save on their mobile bill with this pay-as-you go hotspot Find it at yourkarma.com

Pay For Advice – Great gifts are often something one would not buy for themselves. This could be financial planning, personal training or maybe they have two left feet and you want to get them dance lessons.

Gifts For Yourself
Fund Your Retirement/Investment Account – Instead of accumulating more “stuff” how about planning for your future?

Search for unclaimed money or property – Wouldn’t it be nice to “find” a few bucks that you are entitled to?
unclaimed.org or missingmoney.com

Enjoyed this post? Be sure to subscribe here for more great info -> https://robwilson.tv/vip

Attention student athletes everywhere. I hope you’re paying attention to what is going on in Missouri. If you haven’t been, here’s a quick recap.

After a series of racist incidents on the University of Missouri campus, more than 30 black players banded together and threatened not to practice or play until University President Tim Wolfe resigned.

In the modern era of college athletics this was an unprecedented show of force.

In what I can only imagine was a scene reminiscent of when Peter Parker discovers his super powers, these student athletes came to the realization that by way of generating many millions of dollars for the university they had power greater than they ever imagined.

In addition to lost ticket, concession, parking and apparel sales the university stood to be fined $1 million if they did not play their next scheduled game against BYU. Those are the types of numbers that get people’s attention.

And it worked. Tim Wolfe resigned and the University of Missouri football players showed the world that where there is money there is power and if you’re a football team that generates million for the university, that power lies with you.

Well, apparently the white men of Missouri were appalled and frightened at the thought of young black men beginning to wield the sword that had been handed to them.

It’s no fun for the trainer when the circus elephant finally realizes that he can obliterate him any time he feels like it.

So, in an effort to pressure and intimidate these young black student athletes from having the audacity question authority and use their power to bring about change, this guy…

Republican Rep. Rick Brattin spent his taxpayer-funded time on putting forth a bill in the Missouri House of Representatives that would strip scholarships from any athlete who “calls, incites, supports or participates in any strike.”

In a stunning addition to the bill, colleges would be required to fine coaching staff members who enable or encourage such student protests.

In other words, “You better keep your boys in check, or we’re coming for you too!”

The bill has since been withdrawn, but here’s what Rep. Brattin had to say”

“We cannot have the student body, or in this case the football team, going on strike and forcing out a school president. That cannot be allowed.”

I guess he doesn’t understand whom the president of this publicly funded university works for. Further, try paying the president’s salary when all of that juicy federal student loan money stops flowing in because students stop attending the school.

This, my friends, it what it looks like when fear grips the establishment. When they feel the control that they’ve always enjoyed slipping through their hands.

When they feel the dollars that once flowed so freely into their coffers being impeded by very individuals that generate them.
I said many times that the entire collegiate athletics system is a sham.

Athletes in the revenue producing sports pay for all of the non-revenue country club sports to exist.

Athletes in revenue producing sports get a watered down, useless elective filled education while the coach flies around in his private jet recruiting more free labor and makes $5 million per year.

It makes no sense and the athletes are starting to realize it.

I made it a point to suggest that the University of Kentucky basketball players use the massive platform of the college basketball championship to finally stop the travesty that is March Madness from generating billions of dollars for everyone but the athletes that play in the game.

Now you see why I suggested such action.

We can sit around, debate, discuss, write about, argue over, pontificate, express outrage and any number of other actions regarding the total unfair system of college athletics.

But, as we now see, it’s the actual pulling of the purse strings that gets not only attention, but also decisive action.

So student athletes, this is the film that you should study. This is the blueprint you should copy. This is the system you should look to emulate.

You have power beyond your wildest imagination.

What will you decide to use it for?