THE BARATELLI INSTITUTE · Mentoring at Scale
INTERACTIVE COMPANION TOOL

The Athlete's Wealth Trajectory

For athletes worldwide — NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, soccer (international), cricket, golf, tennis, and MLS. Project your career earnings, lifestyle burn, savings curve, and post-career runway. See the stark difference between the disciplined trajectory and the documented "typical athlete" path.

78%
NFL players bankrupt or stressed within 2 yrs of retirement
60%
NBA players broke within 5 yrs (Sports Illustrated 2009)
5 min
to your personalized projection
STAGE 1 OF 5

Athlete Profile

Sport, age, current contract status. Determines the realistic earnings curve.

NFL
Avg career 3.3 yrs; 78% in financial distress within 2 yrs of retirement
NBA
Avg career 4.5 yrs; 60% broke within 5 yrs of retirement
MLB
Avg career 5.6 yrs; longer runway; lower career-end stress
NHL
Avg career 4.5 yrs; smaller comp pool than NFL/NBA
MLS (US Soccer)
Range $80K-$10M+; international transfers
Soccer (International)
Premier League / La Liga / Bundesliga / Serie A. Career 8-12 yrs avg; retire ~33. World's most-played sport.
Cricket (International)
IPL / international test / T20 leagues. Career 10-15 yrs avg; retire ~35. Largest single league = India IPL.
PGA / Tennis / Golf
Career 15-25 yrs; longer runway; expense-heavy
Rising
Pre-peak years; earning trajectory rising
Prime
Peak earning window; maximum contract value
Late career
Post-peak; veteran-minimum or final big contract
STAGE 2 OF 5

Career Earnings Estimate

Estimated total career earnings (gross). Pre-tax, pre-agent, pre-everything.

Lifetime gross from contracts, salary, prize money. Excludes endorsements (separate input).
$
$
STAGE 3 OF 5

Lifestyle & Burn Profile

The "typical athlete" lifestyle pattern is well-documented. Adjust to your reality.

Housing, cars, lifestyle, family. Documented avg for $5M+ earners: $1.2-3M.
$
Parents, siblings, extended family. Often a hidden $500K-$2M/yr.
$
Primary home + investment property. Liquidity-trapping if over-allocated.
$
Restaurants, entertainment ventures, friend businesses. Rarely positive ROI.
$
STAGE 4 OF 5

Discipline Choices

Toggle the disciplines you're applying. Each one shifts your post-career runway by years.

Fee-only fiduciary advisor (no commission)
Avoids the broker-dealer 2-3% wrap fee that eats $50-150K/yr on $5-10M portfolio
+ years of runway
Domestic asset protection trust (DAPT)
NV/SD/AK trust with spendthrift provisions; protects from creditors and self
Asset protection
Domicile in no-tax state
FL, TX, NV, WY, SD, TN — saves up to 13.3% of state tax on contract income
5-13% on income
Max 401(k) + Backdoor Roth + Cash Balance Plan
$70K+/yr tax-deferred via Mega Backdoor Roth + cash balance for high earners
$25-50K/yr tax savings
Cap lifestyle at 25% of net income
Hard discipline: 75% of after-tax income to long-term portfolio. Forces savings rate
Doubles runway
No friend-startup investments
$500K-$2M typical loss across career on restaurant/club/entertainment ventures
+$500K-$2M preserved
Post-career income plan in place by age 28
Broadcasting, coaching, private wealth, business — second-career income stream
+$200K-$1M/yr post-career
STAGE 5 OF 5

Your Wealth Trajectory

Side-by-side: typical athlete trajectory vs. your selected discipline path.

TYPICAL ATHLETE PATH
Net worth at age 35
$2.1M
~3 years of post-career runway at current burn
YOUR DISCIPLINED PATH
Net worth at age 35
$8.4M
~30+ years of runway at sustainable burn
Same career earnings. Same career length. 10× more runway.
The difference is structural — fiduciary advice, no-tax-state domicile, asset protection, lifestyle discipline. Not investment skill.
+$6.3M

Career-stage breakdown

StageAgeTypical net worthDisciplined net worth
W
Sudden wealth + identity transition?
Wealth Psychology covers the mental and family-dynamics dimensions of post-career wealth. Coming soon
YOUR PERSONALIZED ATHLETE WEALTH PLAN

Get the full 8-page roadmap by email

Year-by-year financial plan, vetted advisor list (athlete-experienced CPAs and fee-only RIAs), state-tax decision tree, and the 5 mistakes that cost the typical pro athlete most. Plus a free preview of The Athlete's Wealth Playbook.

Disclaimer. Order-of-magnitude projections for educational purposes. Career earnings vary widely; published averages mask massive dispersion. Engage qualified professionals — athlete-experienced CPAs, sports lawyers, fee-only RIAs, and qualified counsel — for the actual planning and execution.
WANT THE METHODOLOGY BEHIND THIS TOOL?
This calculator is one chapter of The Athletes' Wealth Playbook.
The tool gives you the answer. The guide gives you the argument — the case law, the worked examples, the negotiation playbook, the cross-check tables, the exception cases. Read the chapter and you can defend your number to a board, a buyer, an examiner, or a counterparty.
The methodology behind this calculator is in Ch 1 The Career Window of the reference guide.
See the Guide → Browse all 22 guides
PROFESSIONAL DISCLAIMER · PLEASE READ

Educational and informational purposes only. This calculator and any output it produces are intended solely for general educational and decision-support purposes. They do not constitute investment, tax, legal, accounting, appraisal, lending, insurance, or any other professional advice, and they do not create a fiduciary, attorney-client, accountant-client, or advisor-client relationship of any kind.

Estimates based on your inputs. All results are estimates derived from the data and assumptions you provide. Tax law, accounting standards, regulations, market conditions, and the specific facts of your situation can materially change the answer. The Baratelli Institute, its affiliates, and any co-branding professional make no warranty of accuracy, completeness, currency, or fitness for any particular purpose, and disclaim all liability for decisions made in reliance on the output.

Consult your own qualified professionals. Before acting on anything calculated here, consult your own attorney, CPA, financial advisor, appraiser, lender, or other qualified professional licensed in your jurisdiction who has reviewed your specific facts and applicable current law. The Baratelli Institute is a publisher of practitioner reference material. It is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, law firm, accounting firm, appraisal firm, or lender.

Co-branded versions: If a professional advisor's name and contact information appear on this tool, that advisor has elected to make the tool available to clients as a courtesy. Inclusion of an advisor's name does not constitute the advisor's endorsement of any specific result, nor does it transfer professional responsibility for the underlying methodology to that advisor. The disclaimer above applies regardless of co-branding.