<p>Olympians really don’t make that much money from the Olympics themselves, right?</p>
<p>I suppose that some may make some money from endorsements or announcing but I don’t think that too many of them make a huge amount of money; certainly not enough to compensate for all of the time and effort that they have put in.</p>
<p>I was talking to my wife about how much money athletes get - there are some sports where people can do well if they are in the category of very best - maybe top 50 in the world. But financial rewards drop off very, very quickly. And there are many sports where the best players don’t become fabulously wealthy. The ATP website shows lifetime earnings of the top 1,000 tennis players in the world.</p>
<p>I just took a look at the guy ranked 201. He’s 26 years old and has career price money of $337,339 or about $40K per year. He probably has to pay for airfare to tournaments and housing. He probably gets free racquets and maybe clothes but it isn’t really glamourous like it is at the top.</p>
<p>Current parents should not expect their children to be able to bail them out, due to the impending fiscal squeeze that will require a lot of austerity to pay down accumulated debt. Just recently, there were articles saying that, after decades of Social Security recipients getting back more than they put in, new retirees will get back less Social Security benefits than the amount that they paid in taxes. That means that the current working generation is working to pay down the debt from generous benefits of the previously retired generations.</p>
<p>Rising costs of state universities are a symptom of how the overgenerous underfunded promises of the past are catching up to us – people have to pay much more (whether in taxes, tuition / user fees, or alternative private spending) to get the same service that cost very little to the user in the past. Private company pensions are also in trouble, as people well know. Individual savings and investments are also uncertain, and unemployment in the economic downturn means that many have drained their savings and investments in any case.</p>
<p>IF a young athlete receives lucrative endorsements and IF that person is able to invest those funds well and IF that person elects to share those resources, it COULD be helpful to the athlete and the family. That is certainly a lot more IFs than I’d be comfortable with, but do commend the families and athletes for the tremendous sacrifices they have made to achieve at high levels. Some have medalled, though many have not.</p>
<p>Bodies that compete at elite levels may also experience premature advanced “wear and tear” and may need some significant medical interventions throughout their lives, which will also have to be paid for. Hopefully resources will be saved for this as well.</p>
<p>Not everyone has the funds to feed, clothe, educate their children, save for retirement and the inevitable medical costs, and take care of all of their other family members’ financial needs. Many would surely love to, but it’s not possible for everyone, even though their emotional family ties might well be very close.</p>
<p>I don’t mean that family provides a new Prada bag for every season. I mean that whatever we can do for each other is family. My son was a Madoff victim. I won’t go into the specifics but his life was nearly destroyed. We offered a room back in our home, use of one of our cars for six months (no time limit…things got better) and yes, we could afford to help him out financially. No, I don’t mean a weekend in Kapalua…but money to tide him over.</p>
<p>…Did I mention that the previous year he gave us a trip to Italy? Just because he could…not because it was expected…he wanted to do something special for us.</p>
<p>And yes…he is doing fine again. But helping and supporting family is nuanced. I would help all my children always. And I know that they would be there for us. (Did I mention that last week I received some disturbing health news? All my children dropped what they were doing, came to dinner and said whatever I needed they were there. That’s family.</p>
<p>Our family is also very close. So far, we have not really needed to directly help one another financially. My folks have space in their home & have welcomed each of us to live there as long as we wanted rent-free before we move out on our own timetable. We have not given trips or vacations to anyone, as we always have everyone pay his/her own freight and it has worked well (everyone is very comfortable financially).</p>
<p>We welcome our kids to live with us rent-free as long as they need to and have provided vehicles shipped to them and re-titled in their name as well.</p>
<p>If any of our family members was in a bad situation financially, we’d all help out as best we could. Fortunately, it has never come to that and hopefully never will.</p>
<p>Was there anything in my post that suggested such a thing?</p>
<p>My husband and I have 7 siblings between us, 7 parents, grandparents still living. We could help family if needed, but there are many people in this country with even more family members than I who are struggling to just get from paycheck to paycheck, who don’t have any more room in their own homes, etc. Not much room in there to help FINANCIALLY if the need arises, even though they are family and family means very much to them. Of course there are many ways family can lend support to each other which do not involve financial outlays, but that was not the topic here. The sentiment that “that’s what family does” sounds great but is often just not feasible for many, certainly not to the degree discussed by the OP, i.e. funding a parent’s retirement, particularly when that parent shows no desire to dial down their spending or sacrifice their standard of living.</p>
<p>The Prada comment wasn’t directed at anyone. It was meant as irony.</p>
<p>As for the OP my feeling is that there is a lot missing in the analysis. His analysis of the situation that is. Of course there are people who expect their children to take care of them. But there are kids who don’t get that the parents did everything for them and now need help.</p>
<p>It does seem very unfair when people are unwilling to make good choices and cut back on spending but expect others to finance their wants/needs. To me, this is too heavy a burden to lay on our loved ones. </p>
<p>I would pare back my expenses and assets as much as humanly possible long before turning to loved ones for help. I especially would not expect anyone to lavish any luxuries for me and allow me to live a “better” lifestyle than they do.</p>
<p>^^totally agree with HImom. I suspect there are some families that think “your money is my money,” and maybe that works for them when everyone is working equally hard and they are all sharing the burden. Of course we all will help our kids as needed (as long as they aren’t bums) and expect they won’t allow us to be destitute or in the streets. But there is no way I’m asking anybody in my family whatsoever for money until there is absolutely no choice, and I have done everything. From selling every asset to working five jobs, to declaring bankruptcy. Though I would consider staying with family for a short time if they had room, and a few times I’ve borrowed money to do the down payment shuffle for a week from my parents. But I hear of plenty of times where family members are borrowing money, and not paying it back, while still giving in to their addictions and vices, or living more lavishly than they should.</p>
<p>I understand completely what Dave Ramsey means when he says, “the borrower is slave to the lender,” and if I’m going to be a slave, it will be to my mortgage company and not to my family. I will do everything in my power not to do that to them.</p>
<p>It just seems so wrong to me to if I am trying to get money from a loved one who has made careful choices so that s/he will have sufficient resources and I may not have made great choices that down the road I expect to be bailed out (like the grasshopper & the ant fable). I know we’re all family and I do try to be generous when I am able but honestly resent it when others have made choices to be what I may consider lavish and then run out of assets/funds. We all make choices and have judgments about how funds/resources are spent and there are lots of degrees of where and how one can live, from a studio shared by many people to a MacMansion or more, plus everything in between. We also make choices about how to remain nourished, educate our loved ones, earn a living, get medical care, leisure, etc.</p>
<p>ellebud,
I think your descriptions of family expectations are wonderful and ideal. Unfortunately, many or most? real life families often include members who do not like each other for various and righteous reasons. Family members who have treated other family members poorly should not expect the type of treatment you describe.</p>
<p>Bay: I must be a total fool. My mother had a brother who was extremely wealthy. He lost if all. And, at 88 he was homeless. I hadn’t seen him in years because of family “stuff”. He came for dinner on a July 4th…and stayed…for three years…during my treatment for cancer.</p>
<p>We fed him, clothed him and he finally found a place to live. I’m no Pollyanna, trust me. I just had to look in the mirror everyday. And, on the off chance that there is a heaven I wanted to look my mother in the eye and tell her that I did the best that I could in her memory.</p>
<p>Ellebud,
You are a good person and your uncle was so fortunate to have you as his niece who was willing to house and clothe him during your cancer treatment. There are increasing #s of people in this world who don’t feel connected and if they are homeless would not really know where to turn. It is important for each of us to be sure we can sleep at night with the choices we make. I’m sure you slept well, knowing you were doing what your mom would appreciate and that was probably another factor in surviving cancer.</p>
<p>My FIL used to take money from his pockets (even though his family was struggling), so that he could feed his relatives who had even less than him. At his services, there were many who came up to us and told them that he stood between them and hunger and was the only thing that kept them going in lean times.</p>
<p>ellebud,
more people should look in the mirror everyday. If they can’t find it in their own hearts, maybe when they look in the mirror and see what others see they will do what they should for their public image. I can’t imagine not helping my family or them not helping me…no one can give what they don’t have but there are lots of ways to help. For example, my sister could not help pay for her niece to go to college…but she could help with an appropriate college search directed toward finding an affordable school with decent fit that gave her a doable amount of merit and financial aid. She could help pay for some of the college tests that made college doable. And she could supply lots of moral support.</p>
<p>He was a good man & involved everyone in his household with his philanthropy, whether or not they wanted to be. H used his entire paycheck to pay family bills and often found there just wasn’t enough money for all of it because FIL gave so much of it away to others in need.</p>
<p>Ok, I’ll make an exception if they are homeless, otherwise I can’t face my mother in heaven either. But one set of relatives just spend the wazoo and another set of relatives are much more frugal. Who are you going to save?</p>
<p>ellebud,
I don’t think you are a fool, but I am not talking about simple family “stuff”. Abuse, neglect and cruelty happen. To expect everyone to set those things aside and assume financial responsibility for others simply because they are perpetrated by “family” is insensitive.</p>
<p>My hunch is that ellebud is about as sensitive and caring as they come. I don’t think the OP’s question had anything to do with sexually abusive or cruel parents. Just parents who were frivolous with money.</p>