Travis Kelce’s ‘Dumbest’ Money Decision Wasted Thousands
With his lucrative NFL deal, successful podcast, and endorsements, Travis Kelce may never have to worry about money again. In the early days of his professional football career, he felt similarly. Unfortunately, he quickly learned that this was not the case. Kelce shared the purchases he made that feel like a big mistake in retrospect.
Travis Kelce shared the dumbest things he did with his money
In 2013, Kelce signed a contract with the Kansas City Chiefs worth $3.12 million, plus a $703,304 signing bonus. He knew exactly how he wanted to spend it.
“I had my eyes on a pair of size 13 Nike Air MAG ‘Marty McFlys’ — the coolest shoes that I’d ever seen in my life,” he said on his New Heights podcast (per CNBC) “As soon as I got my check, I immediately went online and sourced them.”
The shoes cost around $10,000. He also began dropping serious money in clubs.
“The dumbest thing I ever bought with my rookie money was bottles in the club,” he said.
VIP bottle service can also cost thousands of dollars, especially in major cities.
“I was avoiding the rent lady because I was so stupid to agree to all those bottles,” he said. “Rookies out there, don’t get caught up in buying bottles, it’s the fastest way to lose your money.”
Kelce said he was “damn near dead broke” by the start of his second season.
“Rookies didn’t realize that once the season was over, you weren’t getting paid,” his brother Jason said. “A lot of people were not realizing that those checks were going to stop.”
Travis Kelce wanted a certain kind of lifestyle when he signed with the Chiefs
Kelce said that once he started making money, he got caught up in trying to live an expensive lifestyle.
“I would say most of it was just being caught up in actually having a good amount of money for the first time and the fact that I’ve always wanted to just live recklessly with being able to appreciate the hard work that I put in with the money that I have,” he told Stash Wealth.
The expensive lifestyle quickly caught up to him, though.
“I’ve always wanted to live that ‘baller lifestyle,’ and I found out that only lasts like a year at the most, trying to do that with the amount of money I had,” he said. “So, it was definitely a learning experience.”
He’s now one of the highest-paid players in the NFL
These days, Kelce likely doesn’t have many monetary concerns. Forbes reports that he is worth $52 million. With a yearly salary of $17 million, he is the highest-paid tight end in the NFL and among the highest-paid players in the league.
He also recently signed a three-year, $105 million contract with Wondrey for his podcast. Outside of this, he picks up additional money from endorsement deals with companies like Nike, General Mills, and Subway.
