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My New Financial Hero

I can’t believe I haven’t written about my relatively new financial crush hero, well luckily he is back in the news so I have a chance to write about him now.  I can tell you while I respect the standard people that are usually named, but this guy encompasses my goal and is completely unfiltered in expressing his position in life.  It is no other than Carson Palmer.   It should be noted that while I am a big football guy, I am not a football fan of Carson Palmer or the Bengals for that matter.

Why is Carson Palmer Back in the News?

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week you have heard that the NFL lockout has ended, and moves are being made by both sides.  Some veteran players are getting dropped by their team while some players are holding out for more money.  Carson Palmer is doing neither, instead he is publically pleading for a trade.

However, the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals won’t trade him, so Carson is left with two choices retire or play.  The owner of the Bengals was quoted in a local paper being very reasonable,

Asked why he wouldn’t trade Palmer and get some draft picks in return, Brown (Bengals’ Owner) said it was a matter of principle.

“Carson signed a contract. He made a commitment. He gave his word,” Brown said. “We relied on his word. We relied on his commitment. We expected him to perform here. He’s going to walk away from his commitment. We aren’t going to reward him for doing it.”

Sounds like Carson is sort of being a baby, right? I kind of agree with that sentiment but it was a quote that Carson said a year ago on a little local radio station that started my financial crush fascination.

Why is Carson Palmer My New Financial Hero

When this firestorm started months ago Carson Palmer was quoted as saying,

I have $80 million in the bank

I don’t have to play football for money. I’ll play it for the love of the game but that would have to be elsewhere.

Re-read it.  And Once More.

He is working because he wants to and will continue to do so on his terms.  Carson Palmer is so financially free he literally told his boss, I am not going to work for you any more.

I tried to dig around to see if I could find out what Palmer is invested in/businesses started but it seems like he is a pretty private person.  His contract, however, is highlighted on SportRac:

 

So it is likely he is spending a “normal” amount of money but making an extreme amount of money and investing the difference.

Will I have $80,000,000 in the bank or in a business one day? Very very unlikely.  Does Palmer have $80,000,000 in the bank? Probably not but he has enough to tell his boss what he wants and if I could have just a sliver of that and have the ability to work when and how I want to…that’s the goal!

Do you have an unlikely financial hero? Can Palmer be a Financial Hero or just a cry baby that is going to take his proverbial ball and go home?

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31 COMMENTS

  1. Seeing $80,000,000.00 written out is very eye opening to how much money it is. Much more effective than 80 Million.

    He probably doesn’t have quite that much, but it’s nice to know that at least one athlete is fiscally responsible.

    • There aren’t many, Nik. I think I read a stat a couple years ago that 40%+ of all NFL players end up declaring bankruptcy. Terrible.

    • I am hoping I can say that one day…I would like to at the very least get to the point I wouldn’t have a panic attack if I got fired. I need to build my income streams FASTER.

  2. Living in the Cincinnati area and having been a lifelong Bengals fan, I can tell you that this is par for the course with Mike Brown. Rather than improve his team’s chances of winning, he will receive NOTHING in return when Carson ‘retires’ – just to prove a point. While it’s outstanding that Carson has literally reached the ever-elusive F@&$ YOU MONEY level, it sucks to be a Bungals fan.

    By the way, if you’re looking at financial heroes, Mike Brown crushes Palmer any day. He has one of the most valuable franchises in the NFL and does just about anything he can (intentionally or not) to keep mediocre football alive and well in Cincinnati. For his services, we continue to shop up to games, support the team, and stuff money in his wallet.

  3. I agree with both of their stances.Sure, the Bengals are a joke and working for Mike Brown is no picnic. But he’s right, Palmer did make a commitment to the team and he’s letting everyone down by sitting out to get his own way. Look at their young WR’s. At the end of the year, Palmer was on fire throwing to Shipley, Caldwell and Gresham after Owens and Ocho got hurt. Those guys aren’t coming back, so Palmer has a chance to work with some talented young guys and be a great offense this year.That being said, Palmer is in a place financially to be able to tell his boss to shove it and not give a crap what happens.My take is that Palmer knows he is not the QB he once was, and rather than continue to struggle on the field he is going to fade away while trying to make it look like the Bengals forced him out.

  4. Whether you have $80 million or less in the bank, financial independence is the name of the game! The message is clear, you never want to be a slave to a job. Savings can give you that choice.

  5. I do have mixed feelings about this since I believe in telling the truth and being a man of my word. However, even with a contract if Palmer is willing to live with the consequences and is financially free to do as he wishes, more power to him.

  6. Man good post! I’m not into football, but something is true here, achieving that level of financial independence and doing something that you truly enjoy, goes together.

  7. I agree with them both. Carson made a commitment to play for the Bengals or no one, he is choosing no one. That’s a reasonable response given his situation. He plays for the love of the game, but getting beat up week in and week out due to poor ownership and management is not fun. So if he’s not playing for money and he’s not playing for fun – what would he be playing for?

    • I should add, I’m a Steelers fan so I’m happy to see him go. He was the only talent on that team the past few years.

      • OchoCinco was pretty good for a year or two…but then again we don’t all have dirty linebackers LOL (falcons fan here)

  8. This guy rules – I’m sure that everyone has days where they want to go tell their boss to piss up a rope and just leave and do what they want, but they either spend too much or dont earn enough (or a combination of both) but not carson. Way to go dude!

  9. Palmer is officially my new unlikely hero! That is amazing to think someone could have the resolve to manage their money well with so many of their peers buying any and everything they can to throw their money out the window.

    he has an amazing talent on the football field, but he obviously has an amazing talent in the personal financial sector as well.

    Well done Palmer!

  10. I’m a Carson Palmer fan to and you can’t help but admire the strength of his convictions. Thought it’s a lot easier to do when you’ve got $80 million in the bank!

  11. I actually have a few unlikely money heroes – most of them are along the same lines – frugal celebrities who could spend millions, but are smart with money so they don’t “have” to work but do so because they love their craft.

    Toby Maquire, for example, once said: I just never wanted to put myself in the position where my spending was so huge that I had to keep making movie after movie.

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