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Robert Pagliarini
How to lose $20 million: the sudden wealth problems of professional athletes

How could someone lose $20 million in a year? You're about to find out just how easy it is to go from life-changing, never-have-to-work-again rich to I-can't-believe-it's-all-gone in less than 12 months. Let's look at a hypothetical baseball player. He's worked hard to develop his natural athletic abilities, and one day he gets the call. A California team will pay him $20 million for a single year -- this is an amount that would take the average American worker nearly 500 years to earn. The national media reports this and the small town where he grew up throws the young man a parade to celebrate his good fortune. But before the first piece of confetti falls, our...