Would you support your adult children for doing this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I am an outlier, but to me $80k to be able to be on the tennis or golf circuit or play minor league baseball or ski on some dinky tour for a year sounds like a fantastic thing to do. I would do it in a heartbeat if it’s not a hardship.

You only get so many opportunities in life to do something off the beaten path. Early twenties is your most free time. Go for it.

+1

We're currently doing with our DS, and he is currently in his 2nd year on the golf low level challenger tour. He makes zero money on the tour and spends about 6K/month on travel, food, and lodging. He has made so many friends whose families are very wealthy from all over the world, especially in Asia, that he will guarantee to have a job, and make a lot of money when he is done playing golf. He plans to stop playing two years from now. His current gf is from Vietnam and her family is very wealthy, and they own several high-end hotels and golf courses throughout Vietnam. The best decision he ever made by playing on the tour. YOLO, and in order to be successful, one needs to be surrounded by successful people, not a bunch of workabees.

Yeah, golf is very different than toiling in low level minor league baseball (or soccer or international basketball equivalents).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tennis right? It is a losing game.

I think tennis is much worse than golf…I read something that like the top 10 men and women suck up like 95% of all the money, maybe another 50 men and women are able to eke out a middle class existence (like net $250k per year) and then everyone else is lucky to break even.

Of course now with social media and what not, there are some influencers who do well but mainly due to their looks…nobody cares how well they perform on the court.

This is accurate. There are numerous small tournaments in Eastern Europe, offering an opportunity to rise in the rankings without traveling extensively. However, what American players find there is that the caliber of players is very high compared to those here.

I saw an article where some of these tennis players ranked like 200th in the world learned you could bet on low level random matches with online betting sites and agreed to tank games in order to win $2500 here or there…it was a big deal if they could win $30k in a year to subsidize their play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why people would hold a rich subsidised athlete in such high esteem. It’s not like they are a professional or showed the grit and determination to make it off their own bat. Exactly what qualities does it show? Please don’t say it will enhance their social skills. Three years of volunteering abroad or actually working would do that.

Three years of working an office environment with a bunch of workabees is NOT going to improve your social skills. It only enforces the idea that you will always be a workabee.

Okay. But please explain how 3 years as a non-professional sportsperson supported by your parents does. Wouldn’t people sneer at the idea of the sportsperson being underwritten by mummy and daddy?

PP here. Only poor people sneer at the idea of the sportsperson being underwritten by mummy and daddy. Rich people live in a world that most people do not.

The vast majority of professional golfers that compete on the low-level professional tour are supported by parents. These golfers are good, just not good enough to make a living as professional golfers. The parents of these golfers are wealthy with vast connections throughout the business world. When you hang out with those people, you learn things from them. It is much better than being in a corporate job with your peers for the next three years. You don't get promoted that way. You get promoted by being close to those guys at the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why people would hold a rich subsidised athlete in such high esteem. It’s not like they are a professional or showed the grit and determination to make it off their own bat. Exactly what qualities does it show? Please don’t say it will enhance their social skills. Three years of volunteering abroad or actually working would do that.

Three years of working an office environment with a bunch of workabees is NOT going to improve your social skills. It only enforces the idea that you will always be a workabee.

Okay. But please explain how 3 years as a non-professional sportsperson supported by your parents does. Wouldn’t people sneer at the idea of the sportsperson being underwritten by mummy and daddy?

PP here. Only poor people sneer at the idea of the sportsperson being underwritten by mummy and daddy. Rich people live in a world that most people do not.

The vast majority of professional golfers that compete on the low-level professional tour are supported by parents. These golfers are good, just not good enough to make a living as professional golfers. The parents of these golfers are wealthy with vast connections throughout the business world. When you hang out with those people, you learn things from them. It is much better than being in a corporate job with your peers for the next three years. You don't get promoted that way. You get promoted by being close to those guys at the top.

Okay. So it’s not that they develop any particular social skills or inspire some sort of respect for their tenacity etc. It’s about connections with influential people. It’s not my world but I get it.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one who would 1000% support their kid doing this even if doesn’t lead to future earnings? Just because doing stuff is the point of life and the employment market doesn’t reward all the things I think it should, and I have no problem being my kid’s patron for a few years for the Never Gonna Make It tour even if it doesn’t get them a job later, but just because it’s a worthwhile pursuit and a special opportunity and they only get one life to live?

Maybe it’s because I am close to a lot of entrepreneurs but I just don’t get why earning money via employment is such a totem for people. Sure, if you think the work is meaningful and good, great! There’s nothing wrong with being employed. But the money is just money.

I get that being given money comes with pitfalls, but everything comes with pitfalls! Being employed sure does! You guys don’t know any unhappy lawyers? I know a bunch. A W2 is not a sure path to anything but taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who would 1000% support their kid doing this even if doesn’t lead to future earnings? Just because doing stuff is the point of life and the employment market doesn’t reward all the things I think it should, and I have no problem being my kid’s patron for a few years for the Never Gonna Make It tour even if it doesn’t get them a job later, but just because it’s a worthwhile pursuit and a special opportunity and they only get one life to live?

Maybe it’s because I am close to a lot of entrepreneurs but I just don’t get why earning money via employment is such a totem for people. Sure, if you think the work is meaningful and good, great! There’s nothing wrong with being employed. But the money is just money.

I get that being given money comes with pitfalls, but everything comes with pitfalls! Being employed sure does! You guys don’t know any unhappy lawyers? I know a bunch. A W2 is not a sure path to anything but taxes.

I have 1M in surplus money, and I would love to do that for my kids. Unfortunately, they are not athletic good enough to qualify for the tour. There are things in life that money just cannot buy. Being a corporate drone for the next 30 years is boring.

[Anonymous]

If there is a trust fund kids forum I think that is where you need to post this because then with others who pay to have kids go to college but don’t have expectation that adult will get a job and provide for themselves- that is a different world than most if not all on this forum.

[Anonymous]

If you are willing to accept the possibility that your kid might become a trust fund kid, then you should do it. Do you have the funds to support that? He has a certain lifestyle that he will probably want to maintain, and it might not be independently attainable with the job he gets after this pro-golf stint, especially when he is comparing himself to all the other trust fund kids on tour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who would 1000% support their kid doing this even if doesn’t lead to future earnings? Just because doing stuff is the point of life and the employment market doesn’t reward all the things I think it should, and I have no problem being my kid’s patron for a few years for the Never Gonna Make It tour even if it doesn’t get them a job later, but just because it’s a worthwhile pursuit and a special opportunity and they only get one life to live?

Maybe it’s because I am close to a lot of entrepreneurs but I just don’t get why earning money via employment is such a totem for people. Sure, if you think the work is meaningful and good, great! There’s nothing wrong with being employed. But the money is just money.

I get that being given money comes with pitfalls, but everything comes with pitfalls! Being employed sure does! You guys don’t know any unhappy lawyers? I know a bunch. A W2 is not a sure path to anything but taxes.

Nope, you aren't alone. I would absolutely support this. The same way my parents supported me becoming a ski bum after college instead of sitting in a cubicle (NOT financially, but in other ways. I didn't have a trust fund, I worked like 4 jobs to be able to play hard). I don't think those 5 years of living in the mountains has impacted me negatively in anyway as a now 46 year old successful professional. I did learn to deal with all sorts of crazy situations that have definitely helped me to this day, along with amazing connections that I still use. When I left everything at 22 to live in the mountains my exact quote was "I don't want to be 40 and wishing that I had done this." I took a chance and loved every minute. If you can do this for your DS, do it. He will be fine in the long run and maybe even better off.

[Anonymous]

If you can afford it do it. Your DS has the rest of his life to work