The Big Spender

Co-worker and fellow basketball fan Cavin pointed me in the direction of this article about Shaquille O’Neal’s massive monthly budget.

There are several things amazing to me about this since I don’t yet make $20 million a year like Shaq does. First, the dude spends $1500 a month on cable tv. What channels and how many pay-per-view movies is this guy ordering? Second, $2300 a month for pets? And $17 grand a month for clothing. He’s apparently not shopping at Ross Dress for Less.

If Shaq is making $20 million a year, getting taxed about $6 million, and spending almost a million a month, that means he is (relatively speaking) putting next to nothing in savings, just like the rest of America.

Lesson from The Big Aristotle: As income increases, don’t increase standard of living at the same rate.