Chris Simon files for Bankruptcy

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Split98

I was thinking the same thing about the cottage. All I can think of is that he treated it like crap, and it's in disrepair.

Well I think the market in Wawa Ontario for a 6000 square foot cottage has to be pretty damn low in the first place.

We are talking about a town of 3000 people.

So he might have taken good care of it. It's just that its not exactly in cottage country. It's halfway between Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Well I think the market in Wawa Ontario for a 6000 square foot cottage has to be pretty damn low in the first place.

We are talking about a town of 3000 people.

So he might have taken good care of it. It's just that its not exactly in cottage country. It's halfway between Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

Very good point:
http://www.royallepage.ca/en/on/wawa...h_to_low_price

This new listing is the highest price residential listing Royal LePage has in Wawa at $168,500.00:

[Hugh Jahrmes]

Maybe Simon will star in the next iteration of the "I didn't use a realtor" ads?

As a separated father (or.. human in general), seeing someone try to have their child support "forgiven" as though it were regular debt leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Take care of yours, loser.

[ToewsFan]

Originally Posted by Dion

I always find it quite sad when you read about pro athletes going broke and filing for bankruptcy. You gave a young athlete a boat load of money and some of them have no clue as to how to handle it.

It happened all the time when Alan Eagleson was in charge of the NHLPA. Even Bobby Orr went broke.

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by ToewsFan

It happened all the time when Alan Eagleson was in charge of the NHLPA. Even Bobby Orr went broke.

That's because you weren't around to pray for Bobby Orr

[Kjesse]

5 goals in the 03/04 playoff run for the Flames. Incredible for an enforcer type player.

Compare your own personal achievements to that before casting stones. But its easy to dump on someone who spent so much money with nothing to show for it.

I hope things work out for him in the long run.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Delgar

5 goals in the 03/04 playoff run for the Flames. Incredible for an enforcer type player.

Compare your own personal achievements to that before casting stones.

What, so nobody is allowed to say it's a bad idea to blow the after-tax portion of $15 million unless they are a former NHL enforcer who scored 5 playoff goals in a run to the Stanley Cup finals?

Tough crowd.

As for me, if I compare my own personal achievements to Chris Simon's, I find two things really leap to the eye:

1. I never played in the NHL, and consequently never earned $15 million (or any sizeable fraction thereof).
2. Despite this, I never went bankrupt.

[Northendzone]

I believe that the NFL provides rookies with some type of basic financial management course

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

I believe that the NFL provides rookies with some type of basic financial management course

NHLPA also offers this for players. There's a lot of players that come and go in the NHL so it's not surprising that a small percentage of them run into financial troubles.

[CroFlames]

I know a ton of people who are as brutal with money as Chris Simon. The minute you have kids involved though, there is no sympathy from me. When you started having kids, you take a long look in the mirror and tell yourself that no matter what, there's gotta be money for them.

That's just brutal that he dodged supporting his kids despite being an ex-pro athlete. Sad!

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

NHLPA also offers this for players. There's a lot of players that come and go in the NHL so it's not surprising that a small percentage of them run into financial troubles.

If the "30 for 30" episode "Broke" is any indication it's well above 50%. In 2009 Sports Illustrated did a study of how many players were broke 2 years after retirement.

78% for NFL
60% for NBA

NHL probably isn't quite that bad, but yeah... 20 somethings with millions isn't a sound financial plan.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

If the "30 for 30" episode "Broke" is any indication it's well above 50%. In 2009 Sports Illustrated did a study of how many players were broke 2 years after retirement.

78% for NFL
60% for NBA

NHL probably isn't quite that bad, but yeah... 20 somethings with millions isn't a sound financial plan.

That NBA figure is absolutely terrible when you consider how small their roster sizes are. The NFL stat has to be taken with a grain of salt as the average career length is only 3 years and the roster sizes are large (46 not including practice roster). You have a very large portion of the league making league min and out of the NFL in a very short amount of time.

[loob job]

Here's another idea, go get a f'n job like everyone else here on this board. Go sell cars, go back to school and work in an office after you graduate. Lazy drain on society is how I see this story.

[ricardodw]

bIt is kind of an information gap that there is no disclosure on any NHL player on how their finances work.

What happens to a player's pay cheque making 3M in Alberta or BC or Manitoba?

How much of their endorsement money do they keep?

How much are they taxed? what sort of tax shelters do they use? When Sedins and Subban gave huge donations to hospitals how much did it actually cost them and how much did they save in taxes?

There are all sorts of memoirs publish but not one deals with how the money was managed.

from Hockey news career earnings: Wayne Gretzky is 109th at $42.6 million, Mario Lemieux is (fittingly) 66th at $52.5 million. Jagr has the highest career earnings 117.8M and a networth of 40M

From http://www.celebritynetworth.com Net worth: Gretzky 200M Lemieux 150M

[tvp2003]

As noted in the article, Simon is a member of the Michipicoten First Nation, so I'm not sure how much of that $15M he actually had to pay in taxes...

EDIT: Apparently that benefit is limited to income earned on reserve land? I'm not an accountant so I have no idea...

[northcrunk]

Don't feel bad for him at all. He was a giant piece of #### on the ice and off.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I know a ton of people who are as brutal with money as Chris Simon. The minute you have kids involved though, there is no sympathy from me. When you started having kids, you take a long look in the mirror and tell yourself that no matter what, there's gotta be money for them.

That's just brutal that he dodged supporting his kids despite being an ex-pro athlete. Sad!

Yup exactly. That's why I feel zero sympathy for the guy. Unless there is some behind the scenes agreement we don't know about, the guys a dead beat dad, plain and simple. The world is full of men like that, and each and every one of them is a POS for doing that. Surprised to see so many people siding with him.

He had a situation where he made more money then 99.999% of any human being in the entire history of the human race ever has, and somehow ended up broke and is 3 years late on child support payments. You have kids, you pay for them. End of story, no exceptions. Work at McDonald's if you have to.

Good luck on that lawsuit Chris the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

And thanks for '04. I really did like you back then.

[Northendzone]

in some fairness to the players, I'd imagine that it is easy to get sucked into an expensive lifestyle - you can have significant chunks of free time, so you can go shopping (and you are likely buying expensive suits to keep up with the boys on the team), I'd alos imagine there are lots of expensive dinners, agents to pay for, additional off season training (skating coaches, nutritionists, mental coaches etc).

that being said, I believe the NHL players get a per diem of something like $300 per day when on the road, and I am assuming lots of them get other perks like free vehicles to drive.

I'd imagine guys like Chris Simon and others who come from poor communities have lots fo people asking for help and you stir in a few poor investment decisions and bam - you have gone thru $10,000,000.

I'd also think there are some players who remain more grounded and are able to live a more reasonable lifestyle and are not afraid to ask for help with their money.

however, it seems like NBA players in general get really dumb ideas - for example I am sure I recall on player building a stupidly large home with a Shark Tank - while a shark tank is a cool idea, it is very impractical for all but one of the five richest sultans or perhaps royalty.

think of how much money Mike Tyson wasted on food for his pet tiger.

Despite the above, I still think simon was a fool and I would not even send positive energy his way

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Dion

I always find it quite sad when you read about pro athletes going broke and filing for bankruptcy. You gave a young athlete a boat load of money and some of them have no clue as to how to handle it.

Maybe all pro sports leagues should make it manditory that all athletes take course in financial management.

Can agents do more to protect their clients from themselves?

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

in some fairness to the players, I'd imagine that it is easy to get sucked into an expensive lifestyle - you can have significant chunks of free time, so you can go shopping (and you are likely buying expensive suits to keep up with the boys on the team), I'd alos imagine there are lots of expensive dinners, agents to pay for, additional off season training (skating coaches, nutritionists, mental coaches etc).

that being said, I believe the NHL players get a per diem of something like $300 per day when on the road, and I am assuming lots of them get other perks like free vehicles to drive.

I'd imagine guys like Chris Simon and others who come from poor communities have lots fo people asking for help and you stir in a few poor investment decisions and bam - you have gone thru $10,000,000.

I'd also think there are some players who remain more grounded and are able to live a more reasonable lifestyle and are not afraid to ask for help with their money.

however, it seems like NBA players in general get really dumb ideas - for example I am sure I recall on player building a stupidly large home with a Shark Tank - while a shark tank is a cool idea, it is very impractical for all but one of the five richest sultans or perhaps royalty.

think of how much money Mike Tyson wasted on food for his pet tiger.

Despite the above, I still think simon was a fool and I would not even send positive energy his way

For all of Tyson's monstrous behaviour, at least he supported that tiger.