Shaquille O'Neal stated that he purchased a "boring" financial product years ago to prevent himself from squandering his wealth; according to him, this arrangement is expected to pay him $1 million per month starting next year.
He said that someone once took a napkin, tore it in half, then tore it again, and then said to him, “If you want to become rich, spend 25 and save 75.”
O'Neal said that at the age of 20, he spent one million dollars in a single day. After that conversation, he began to save heavily. Later, when he started investing his wealth, he wanted to secure a source of future income in case those investments did not yield returns.
This four-time NBA champion said, "Since I had a lot of money coming in at that time, I put a large portion of it into annuities. That was my foolproof plan in case the investments didn't succeed or various other situations arose."
An annuity is a type of insurance product that converts a lump sum of money or a series of premiums into regular income payments, which are typically received after retirement.
O'Neal has also publicly promoted annuities in the past. He stated that once he turns 55 next spring, he will have "a lot" of income coming in, and it "will almost last for the rest of my life."
When asked how much he expects to earn, he replied, "I don't like to brag, but I think by the time I'm 55, I'll be able to earn about one million dollars per month."
O'Neal also said a few impressive things in this podcast. He recalled telling the children, "Our family is not wealthy; I am the one who is wealthy." He also told them that if they wanted to inherit a legacy from him, they would need to meet certain "conditions."
He said, "A master's degree is necessary, as well as a bachelor's degree. If you want to get your hands on this 'cheese', you'll need to have two or three degrees."
As is well known, O'Neal promised his mother that he would return to college to complete his studies after turning professional. Later on, he obtained a bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree.
He also mentioned again a widely circulated experience: in a hotel lobby, a stranger once invited him to invest in the company before its listing on Google, which is now Alphabet.
This basketball legend said that after consulting his own "financial advisor," he "invested a little." Later, he read in the newspaper about the outstanding returns obtained by early investors in Google.
He called this Google investment a “quite big success,” but then joked that he lost all of it during his divorce in 2009, and even stuck out his tongue just like his iconic mannerism.
A similar experience may explain why O'Neill has a preference for annuities—a product that may not be glamorous, but it is a reliable way to secure retirement income.
