Adonal Foyle’s new book is a must-read for every professional athlete in every sport. Adonal has lived the life and writes from his vantage point as a 13-year NBA vet. This is a one-of-a-kind text book.
Pat Williams
Senior Vice President and co-Founder of the Orlando Magic
Adonal Foyle was instrumental in helping me to face my financial future with confidence. This book will empower athletes like me to go into retirement secure in their financial futures.
Marcin Gortat
Center for the Phoenix Suns
Every athlete should read this book. In fact, every person should read this book. It’s a road map to avoiding financial disaster. It combines financial sense with commonsense and shows athletes how NOT to go from riches to rags.
Ron Barr
Host of Sports Byline USA
The long, sad history of penniless boxing champs has become all too common in the NBA. Adonal Foyle’s book, Why Players Go Broke, is a must-read for every professional athlete. Ranging over social relations, planning and personal psychology, the book is replete with important advice for every NBA player determined to enjoy over his lifetime the financial benefits of a successful career in the pros.
Neil Grabois
Dean of the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy, the New School
I played professional basketball for the Harlem Globetrotters, and this book would have been great to have back then. It could have help me avoid some costly mistakes. This book tells it as it is.
Roy Byrd
former Harlem Globetrotter
As a NON-sports guy, myself and others in the public see these exorbitant sport contracts that leave our minds boggled. I didn’t understand them nor did I understand the events leading to the years of monetary abuse which caused the same player names to be used in context with bankruptcy, massive payment amounts for failed relationships, no medical insurance, or as wild as it seems, homeless!
I will say that this book not only explained the culture’s cause and effect, but that, simply put, some of the contents made me make a call to my accountant. This book reaches across aisles, not only sports aisles, but with lessons most of our parents and education systems failed us at, or that, at a minimum, we should have listened to… are you listening now!
Dirk-Thomas Brown
Small business owner
This should be a mandatory read for all athletes. Foyle makes the process enjoyable, understandable and uncomplicated, making retirement planning a true priority for anyone.
Drew M. Moomaw
CFP® and CEO
I have always had the utmost respect for Adonal, dating back to my freshman year at Syracuse when we played the scholar athlete from Colgate who dominated the paint. This book can undoubtedly change the lives and guide the paths of many athletes for decades to come. The do’s and don’ts are essential, and, unfortunately, far too many have to learn the hard way. However, Adonal lays out a concise plan that will keep future generations of athletes of all sports from falling into some of the pitfalls and making the same mistakes that end in tragedy. Much respect to Adonal for putting this book together.
Etan Thomas
former NBA player, writer and poet
This work by Adonal Foyle is a must-read for any player, coach, teacher, student, mentor, counselor or anyone who has a chance to impact young people. It is a story of our times. It is a story of entitlement and enabling that must be addressed if we are going to point the “Me Generation” in the right direction.
Brian Billick
Super Bowl-winning Head Coach
Foyle’s forthcoming book will be groundbreaking because he discusses why athletes go broke. He provides insight into the lives of young men and the sociological pressures that lead to an astounding statistic: roughly 50 percent of NBA players are destitute within five years of retirement.
Foyle’s impending book and his other work serve to attack the root causes of a systemic problem. Youth idolize professional athletes, based only on what they can see.
Foyle is attempting to catch young people early in life, to offer them tools so that they can pursue their athletic dreams with the knowledge that there are far more heart surgeons than professional basketball players.
Byron Williams
National Columnist
As a licensed clinical therapist who treats the issues that arise from the complex career and family dynamics experienced by those in the sports entertainment and celebrity industries as well as experiencing many of those same issues within my own career and family, this book is not only inspiring but it may offer valuable clues on how to pre-empt or address many of these problems. In the past when media has depicted the perfect “celebrity life,” they made it look easy and fun. Even though any type of celebrity lifestyle is never easy and, frankly, perfection is unobtainable, I have found that with sound professional advice you can make it anything you want!”
Carla Lundblade, MS, LPC, NCC
Licensed clinical therapist specializing in sports and entertainment industry professionals
There is an old saying: “If there is no vision, the people perish.” It applies very well to personal finance. Many professionals—particularly those who enjoy an extended period of lofty income—eventually find themselves without enough capital to support income replacement due to lack of guidance and/or discipline. I utilize a process and design a “playbook,” if you will, to challenge the client on transitioning the discipline utilized to achieve their success onto the pathway required to diversify and maintain success into the next phases of life.
A critical component to protecting a financial legacy is mitigating risk. This takes on an expanded meaning for professional athletes. Adonal has done a thorough job of identifying the inherent risks associated with living the life of the men and women who possess such fortune.
Ahmed Stephens
Financial Consultant
