While it’s pretty common to hear athletes go broke once their stop professionally playing, Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson is making it known he’s not one of them. During a recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay Podcast,” the 45-year-old revealed how being smart about his money during his NFL career ultimately allowed him to save 83% of his salary.
From his jewelry, which was fake, to opting for Spirit Airlines rather than flying private, making smart decisions while he was still at the peak of his career has allowed him to fall back on a ton of wealth. “Never bought real anything while I was playing,” Johnson told Sharpe. “Never, what was the point? I went to Claire’s. For what? What am I doing it for?”
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Johnson says he’s no fan of wasting money on things that are unnecessary, such as an $80,000 watch to simply uphold an image of a person he doesn’t identify with and a lot of times leaves people getting into financial difficulties later down the line. “If you can get to a point in your career where your name becomes bigger than anything you can purchase there’s your value.”
As he mentioned, Johnson’s name alone carried enough value for him not to feel like he needed to impress or show off his fortune by overspending on fancy things he didn’t need.
So, when Johnson did step away from the NFL, he wasn’t finding himself in a tight financial situation like some athletes do when they aren’t making the type of money they made in their career.
“And then other women who really doing their homework done Googled how much you making already,” he said. “Why am I buying $50,000 watch? $80,000 watch? Time is free so what am I paying for? I’m Ocho, what’s the point?”
Chad ochocinco on when he knew his fiancé sharelle was the one 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/VZZEFJD7lm
— Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) January 30, 2023
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Johnson played a whopping 11 seasons in the NFL, with his former teams including Cinccinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins, and the New England Patriots. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he’s currently said to be worth around $15 million, though these sites can sometimes be a little inaccurate as it doesn’t actually disclose how they amassed these figures.
Either way, Johnson doesn’t appear to be in a hard financial situation because of how he treated his NFL salaries.