There's 1 Reason Rich Athletes Go Broke
There's 1 Reason Rich Athletes Go Broke
Cam Newton says there's 1 reason rich athletes go broke and he no longer makes $20M/year in 2025 — here's why
Moneywise Tue, July 1, 2025
At the height of his career, Cam Newton, former NFL MVP and Carolina Panthers quarterback, says he earned roughly $20 million a year. However, in a recent video on his YouTube channel, Newton confessed he was making online content “to keep the lights on.”
Newton’s candid admission pulls back the curtain on a common struggle retired athletes face: managing money once the big paychecks stop.
He points to his own situation as “the No. 1 reason” why so many wealthy players end up broke, failing to scale back spending when their income takes a hit.
Here’s how untamed expenses can gobble up even eight-figure salaries.
Lifestyle creep
Newton insists he did a better job managing his money than the average athlete.
“I never really had a financial advisor, but I never really was a splurger either — still to this day,” the 36-year-old says.
Federal and state income taxes ultimately reduced his take-home pay to roughly $12 million a year. Newton estimates his annual expenses were between $5 and $6 million, leaving some room for savings and investments.
Although he no longer makes eight figures a year, he says his expenses have stayed more or less the same. Some of the big-ticket items draining his savings include private schools, home maintenance, alimony and luxury purchases.
“Those things never leave,” Newton says. “Your overhead never really changes.”
The problem Newton — and many other celebrity athletes — can struggle with is that when your income changes, your expenses have to change with it.
This rapid lifestyle inflation during prime earning years is one of the key reasons why even high-income families can struggle financially. Roughly 36% of consumers who earned $200,000 or more a year were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a PYMNTS survey.
The only way to avoid falling into that trap is to keep a tight lid on expenses, according to Newton. Cutting down on your monthly expenses is a good place to start, with insurance payments being one of the biggest cost culprits.
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