{"id":1599,"date":"2024-05-28T15:35:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T20:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/?post_type=perspective&#038;p=1599"},"modified":"2025-07-10T15:11:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T20:11:46","slug":"what-is-1-million-really-worth","status":"publish","type":"perspective","link":"https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/perspective\/what-is-1-million-really-worth\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Is $1 Million Really Worth for Professional Athletes?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Key Takeaways:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pro athletes typically only take home around 50% of their contract value after taxes and fees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Additionally, most professional sports leagues pay athletes only part of the year, creating variability in income.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While contract values may seem high, thoughtful financial planning is necessary to make money last.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lifetime of training, hard work, and performance has earned you elite earning potential. While the headline numbers are eye-popping, it\u2019s important to understand what you&#8217;re actually taking home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taxes and fees will vary, but generally <strong>professional athletes take home approximately 50% of contract value \u2014 and that\u2019s before deducting rent\/lease costs, living expenses, and support for family and friends.<\/strong> If you picture your salary as several piles of stacked bills, half those piles immediately get taken away before any of it even reaches your hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The example below shows that for an athlete with an annual salary of $1 million, once you pay federal taxes, state and local taxes, agent\u2019s fees, and put money into a 401K for retirement, you\u2019re left with a little over $534K. Divide that up over 12 months of the year and that contract million becomes $44K\/month to cover all your expenses for that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s no small amount of money \u2014 but if you\u2019re also shelling out high dollar amounts for a home (or homes), cars, clothing, jewelry, travel, nights out, loans to friends, etc., or you run into one of these <a href=\"\/perspective\/the-five-biggest-dangers-to-athletes-wealth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">common pro athlete financial pitfalls<\/a>, it can dwindle much quicker than you expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Pro Athletes Don\u2019t Receive Paychecks Year-Round<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most professional leagues pay athletes during the season, which means large in-season checks \u2014 but no reliable income the rest of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example: NFL players are paid in 36 pay periods across the year starting in September, leaving three months of the year where they are not receiving a paycheck. In the NBA, most players are paid twice a month throughout the regular season (November-April).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This variable cycle of paychecks makes it necessary to know when and how much money is coming, how to treat expenses like travel and training, and how to plan for major purchases to <a href=\"\/perspective\/how-pro-athletes-choose-a-winning-financial-team\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">avoid financial issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Understanding the True Value of Professional Sports Contracts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For pro athletes, it\u2019s easy to be struck by the big number on your contract and believe you\u2019ll never have to think about money again. But the truth is, everybody has to think about money. And the more money you have, the more you have to think about it \u2014 especially if you want to make your money (and your lifestyle) last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The good news is, by being aware of the amount of money that actually goes into your pocket, you can properly budget and plan to both live well in the present and set yourself up for a comfortable financial future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Need help making your money go the distance?<\/strong> <a href=\"\/people\/anthony-smalls-iii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reach out to MGO Entertainment, Sports, and Media Industry Leader Tony Smalls today<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Tax-Machinery-case-study-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DOWNLOAD P<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1MillionWorth.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DF<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1MillionWorth2024-791x1024-1.webp 791w,https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1MillionWorth2024-791x1024-1-185x239.webp 185w,https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1MillionWorth2024-791x1024-1-768x994.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 791px) 100vw, 791px\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1MillionWorth2024-791x1024-1.png\" height=\"1024\" width=\"791\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1MillionWorth2024-791x1024-1.png 791w, https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1MillionWorth2024-791x1024-1-185x239.png 185w, https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1MillionWorth2024-791x1024-1-768x994.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 791px) 100vw, 791px\" class=\"wp-image-1601 sp-no-webp\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"width:864px;height:auto\"  > <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways: &#8212; A lifetime of training, hard work, and performance has earned you elite earning potential. While the headline numbers are eye-popping, it\u2019s important to understand what you&#8217;re actually taking home. Taxes and fees will vary, but generally professional athletes take home approximately 50% of contract value \u2014 and that\u2019s before deducting rent\/lease costs, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1600,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"content-type":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"perspective_topic":[28,149],"perspective-type":[42],"class_list":["post-1599","perspective","type-perspective","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","perspective_topic-entertainment-sports-and-media","perspective_topic-financial-literacy","perspective-type-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Much Is $1 Million Really Worth for Professional Athletes? - MGO CPA | Tax, Audit, and Consulting Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover what $1 million really means for pro athletes after taxes, fees, and expenses \u2014 and how to build lasting wealth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mgocpa.com\/perspective\/what-is-1-million-really-worth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Much Is $1 Million Really Worth for Professional Athletes? 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