Though Miami Heat basketball legend Dwyane Wade had a successful playing career and is now thriving as an entrepreneur, he said it took him several years to learn how to manage his money.
According to CNBC Make It, Wade said that with the significant sums of money young athletes are earning today, he hopes they have someone knowledgeable about financial management in their corner. He recalled that when he first entered the league, it took him over five years “to even start to understand” how to manage his millions.
“I came into the league as someone who had never really handled more than $500 at a time, and [suddenly] I’m making millions of dollars,” Wade told CNBC Make It while promoting a partnership with Google Workspace. “It’s not that I
didn’t have good people around me. It’s that no one was making the level of money that I was making. To be able to know what to do, you have to be with people who are on the level that you’re on. And I didn’t do that.”Wade, 42, admitted he was too proud to ask for help at the onset of his playing career,
making the type of money he was making as a first-round draft pick and young NBA superstar. When he did get the necessary financial advice, he still did not know what was being told to him. He said he didn’t know if he even knew how to listen.“You don’t want people to think less of you because you don’t know something like how much money you have or what to do with your money,” he said.
However, he expressed his hope that the newer professional athletes are receiving the necessary guidance from the leagues to help them make informed financial decisions and manage their money wisely.
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