Professional Athlete or Investment Banker?
Andy note: "Blast from the past - Best of Eddie" - This one is originally from Aug. 2010. If there's an old post from Eddie you'd like to see up again shoot me a message.
Given that today is Friday, the NFL pre-season is underway, and I had a little bit to drink last night, I thought I'd pose an existential question today. If you had a choice, would you rather be a professional athlete or an investment banker? I know it sounds a little off-the-wall, but indulge me. I was inspired by the latest article by Matt Taibbi (yes, that Matt Taibbi. Settle down; he leaves Goldman alone in this one.)
Plenty of bankers, and even more traders, come from the ranks of college athletes. And it takes a hell of a lot to compete at the collegiate level. So I know there's a wide cross-section of Wall Street who has at least thought about what it would be like to be a professional athlete. If we're being honest, we've all thought about it a few times. And you don't have to be a train wreck like Lenny Dykstra.
Let's talk numbers. While it's hard to quantify what the average banker makes over a career due to all the variables, it's a little easier when it comes to professional athletes. For example, the median 2009 salary in the NFL was $770,000 and the average length of an NFL career is four years. Baseball and basketball skew higher in both categories, so we'll use the NFL for the purposes of an example.
So the obvious question is, would you forgo a career on Wall Street for the fame and fortune of a professional sports career, even if it were only for four years and roughly $3 million? And over at age 26? Before you answer, maybe I can give you a little context.
I was 24 when I blew out of my first marriage. To say that I was ready to party would have been the understatement of the century. I was a banker making good money, so my options were wide open when it came to living arrangements. Instead of getting a nice place by myself, I fell into renting a room in a big house with four other guys.
Three of the four were former professional athletes. Tom had been a linebacker with the Eagles in the mid-80's. Jimmy was the youngest guy ever drafted by the Minnesota Northstars (now the Dallas Stars). Kevin was a AAA catcher who got called up to the St. Louis Cardinals as a replacement player during the 1994 MLB strike. And then there was me and the Colonel. We called him that not because of his military service (he was sorely unfit for it) but because his given name was Steve Austin. He also happened to work for the local beer distributor. Yeah, you read that right.
I found what I was looking for, and then some. When Taibbi says that professional athletes get away with murder (ahem, Ray Lewis), he's not kidding. Some of the shit that went on in that house would blow your mind.
Tomboy found his niche almost a decade after an NFL career that could charitably be described as middling. He discovered an uncanny knack for procuring Russian army surplus gear and medical-grade marijuana (presumably from different sources). He parlayed the Russian junk into a respectable fortune. Overall, he made pretty good investments and did well for himself from that point on.
Jimmy was whipsmart and you never had to worry about where he was coming from. But you couldn't say the same for his hockey buddies. My years as a boxer and Marine taught me how to take a punch, and it came in handy with that crew. We lived in an IHL town, and we ran with an IHL crowd (the IHL was known in the old days as the "Iron League" and was immortalized by the Hanson Brothers in the movie Slap Shot). Anytime the Houston Aeros came to town you were guaranteed to get punched in the face and have the time of your life. Go figure.
Before I get too far out of bounds, let me just mention the women. The parade of women that came through that house (and in and out of the hot tub) were stellar. Not to mention they were all high-functioning sociopaths. For some reason, professional athletes attract that caliber of woman. One night, Jimmy's regular thing came over with one of her girlfriends when I was the only one home.
They wanted to hang out in the hot tub, so I told them to go for it. They invited me to join them, and I said what the hell. Then they started making regular trips to the bathroom to "powder their noses". Jimmy's girl was pining over him like he could lick his eyebrows, and the other one was telling her what a bag of shit he was for not marrying her. Shit spiraled out of control until they were screaming at each other and ready to go to blows. I convinced them that we should go to a bar and chill out. You can probably guess how that night ended. If I wasn't a trader, I'd be a bail bondsman.
There's not a lot I'll say about Kevin other than that he was one of the most genuinely sweet guys I ever knew, and he had movie star good looks. He might have only pulled down $1,500 a month playing for the Amarillo Armadillos, but he had women falling at his feet the whole time. And you can't put a price tag on that.
My point in this whole trip down memory lane (and believe me, I could go on for hours) is that professional athletes have it pretty good. Even after they've outlived their usefulness from an entertainment standpoint. Today's athletes are paid so much more than the guys that I knew, and even the guys I knew were having the time of their life years after their careers ended. It makes me think that might be the way to go, if you had a choice.
What it all boils down to is this: would you take $3 million and whatever potential injuries you collected over 4 years to have that money at age 26? How big a factor would the fame be for you? Do you expect to earn more than $3 million over the course of your career as an investment banker? And would you be willing to trade 20 years of your life for it? How about 40?
I just think it's an interesting topic of conversation on the eve of another professional football season. Professional athletes seem to have it all: big money, fame, women, a get-out-of-jail-free card. Plus they get to play a game they love for a living. Can you say the same thing about Excel?






Comments
dude get some real topics.
dude get some real topics.
awp wrote: dude get some real
dude get some real topics.
Chess club, I presume?
braverman, your posts are
braverman, your posts are epic. always entertaining
This question has a lot of
This question has a lot of variables that can skew the answer. The biggest one for me is: am I still coming from the same school or am I graduating from ASU with below average grades and SAT?
If that's the case, I'd rather stay in finance (especially since I'll only be a pro for a couple of years). If I'm coming from the same school then hell yes, I'd rather be a professional athlete, no question.
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BossMode
Every kid's dream was at one
Every kid's dream was at one point to become a professional athlete - I know I dreamed of it. I would take pro athlete over IB, especially in the US, with MBA schools' and banks' obsession with athletes. Switching to IB is not that hard after an MBA.
This is an ideal scenario though, where everything goes right: you don't go to jail for carrying a gun or raping a fan, your family is sane and gives you good advice, you don't impregnate hookers, you actually find out that there is a thing called "banking" during your career and that the best way to get into it is through an MBA (information is everything), you get to keep the same IQ, etc.
Is this seriously even a
Is this seriously even a question? Almost everyone would go pro athlete, plus are we even including say pro golfers? Their careers are extremely long and being the best seems to yield a net worth of a billion and... It completely depends on the sport and position you play for how long your career/earnings are.
Those who wouldn't go pro athlete are either in huge denial or d-bags.
My boy who I played football
My boy who I played football with in HS, Russell Okung just got his nice rookie check. Then i got my other boy who is currently an SA for BAML in NY.... I think ill take Rusell's path any day, too bad getting into professional athlete is a crap shoot in alot of ways. That 3 mil assumption is also a bit flawed, first round draft picks are DEFINITELY going to get more than that, just in signing bonus. In the amount of time it takes to make MD at a BB , you could be filthy and retired as an athlete doing whatever the fk you want.
Those who think this isnt
Those who think this isnt even a decision (would choose pro athelete) never played a college sport, to give you a really small dose of what a professional career might be like. Not saying I wouldn't choose being a professional athelete, but it is stil a JOB, and its still a grind. Alsoof course I would want to be a professional athlete if I could be a first round draft pick superstar (Russell Okung) and had a great shot at some longevity and big money in my sport. However the lions share of athletes are not superstars, and dont make the extrvagant salary. I play baseball in college and playing sixty games a season is a fucking GRIND. The thought of playing 162 seems crazy to me. Its not as easy of a lifestyle as most would think for those that dont have big names in their sport.
Gang, Gang, Gang
Edmundo Braverman wrote: awp
dude get some real topics.
Chess club, I presume?
How about you shut the hell up awp. It Is not normal for a MALE to not want to talk about things such as these.
Gang, Gang, Gang
I would choose finance in a
I would choose finance in a heartbeat!! I never went pro but playing in college was a JOB like the guy above said. And while it does seem like athletes pull a lot of ass, if your working in a field that is high paying and in a big city you should have no problem getting adequate booty. With that being said I know my orthopedic surgeon on a first name basis and ironically I think I just tore my PCL last weekend playing football. And I'm not even playing collegiate sports anymore. Playing sports is the definitely the "life" but I'm in my early twenties and I'm already tired of the injuries. Stick my ass in a office please.
Yea and i've been lucky
Yea and i've been lucky enough to never have had a serious injury to contend with, if that happened and had to rehab for months blah blah blah, forget it
Gang, Gang, Gang
Athlete, hands down. People
Athlete, hands down. People on this site seem to forget that banking is just a job, and a shitty one for that matter.
See my other WSO blog posts
Absolutely. I'd easily take
Absolutely. I'd easily take Valentino Rossi's or Casey Stoner's life over banking or even trading. Also, those guys have fewer restrictions on what stocks they can invest in and how they can play with their own money.
This is really a no-brainer. Unfortunately, there are fewer entrance opps for nerdy engineers who have an excellent sense of balance but are otherwise kinda uncoordinated in professional sports than there are in banking. Maybe my kids will get to compete in the MotoGP one day, but if farming was good enough for Grandpa and accounting was good enough for my Dad, I can be content with being a quant.
Work hard, play hard.
phantombanker wrote: Athlete,
Athlete, hands down. People on this site seem to forget that banking is just a job, and a shitty one for that matter.
I agree the only point I was trying to make it that there is a basis for discussion here
Gang, Gang, Gang
Becoming a professional
Becoming a professional athlete is much more difficult than breaking into finance. Having a long successful career as a professional athlete is way more difficult than becoming, say, an MD at a BB. That being said, I'd much rather be a pro athlete. If I could choose any two sports, it would have to be baseball or golf. Golfers can have long careers and travel the world playing courses that people wait months, maybe years and pay huge $$ to play on. Baseball players, it seems to me, have the least demanding physical requirements. Baseball players pull more tail than football or basketball players.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone who plays college sports. I played football freshman year and retired after the season was over. That shit was miserable and I'm enjoying the retirement. They wanted me to put on 20 lbs during the off season, all the practices, weights, meetings, travel, etc,.
At the college level, even in D1, few girls give two shits if you play football or basketball.
Dr Barnaby Fulton wrote: At
NBA
The only sport I would do
This can't even be a choice.
Virginia Tech 4ever
dumbyoungbum wrote: The only
Gang, Gang, Gang
At first blush I'd say
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Chech4 wrote: dumbyoungbum
Financial Modeling Training
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Banking Resume
you nailed it Marcus
Gang, Gang, Gang
Yea I know I was talking
If you look at salaries it's
Chech4 wrote: Edmundo
Highest paid sports (Boxing
yes the highest salries are
Gang, Gang, Gang
awp wrote: Chech4
Gang, Gang, Gang
In a heartbeat. Football
captainmorgan wrote: Playing
I guess here's what I'm
Well, yes, but they're all
Work hard, play hard.
Definitely pro athlete. You
For my aspiring Entrepreneurial Nomads, check out my blog.
The 78 percent number (i.e.,
Virginia Tech 4ever wrote: I
I was never good at sports. I
looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
Pro Athlete --> MBA -->
I am a former professional
.
My question to you is this...
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Guide to Finance Interviews
Banking Resume
LIBOR wrote: I once heard a
Work hard, play hard.
Marcus_Halberstram wrote: My
IlliniProgrammer
looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
I'm confident that awp is
The answer to this question
Trading will take years off
Work hard, play hard.
Marcus_Halberstram wrote: My
haah no hes not for real, its
Gang, Gang, Gang