Hypothetical: You, pro football, and concussions.
 

Imagine that you get drafted into the NFL. You complete the first year of your contract and get a concussion in your second year that causes you to miss half the season.

Your gross career earnings are about $1.3 million. Taking out the agent fees and taxes, your take-home is about $650,00 for those two years. Assume that you bought a nice condo for your mom and a sweet ride for yourself, so after that and living expenses you've got about $200,000 parked in conservative investments.

Now let's think about concussions. You've got your basic concussion stories about headaches and double vision, and you've got your more spectacular stories about Joe Phillips fleeing the law, Mike Webster living under a bridge, and that Steelers lineman blowing up in a big explosion after a police chase.

You have two more years on a contract that will pay an average of $650,000 a year.

What's the maximum risk you'll be willing to take to get that extra $650,000 a year, plus a potential future contract after that?

Assume that the risk in the poll is your odds of having a Mike Webster experience beginning at age 55.

I'd forget about all that macho shit and learn how to play the guitar.

Dinny

You really need to squeeze a 3rd year in. That way you qualify for the NFL retirement pension plan.

did you not fall down recently?

How much does that pay?

Pretty hard. I started speaking Greek for a while.

Per the scenario, gross of $650,000, net take home approximately $350,000.

Why the figure 1.3 million ?

That's two years averaging $650,000 per year. You may assume no Weimar-Republic hyperinflation during that time.

http://blog.futureadvisor.com/nfl-pl...on-retirement/
So essentially 1400 bucks per month at age 55.

I meant the NFL pension. I need to know how much that will be to know if it's worth risking a 3rd year.

I see. Well, I risk a concussion on a daily basis for much less. Ever been under the dismount of an 800 pound boar ?

Interesting, I had no idea that existed.

I'm woefully uneducated on the dangers of CTE and I'm a relatively healthy young man..

So I'd probably stick it out for as long as I could.

Yep. You play that 3rd year and you will get about $16,000 a year from age 55 until you die.

Throw that in if you are smart with what you got as a player and invested wisely you could be doing alright.