“People scammed me and told me they would turn my million dollars into $10 million”: When Shaq broke down how he fell for get-rich-quick schemes when younger

Shaq talked about how he decides on investments and also on how he learned to not trust every financial idea thrown his way. 

Shaq established himself as one of the greatest players in the history of the game 10 years before he even retired from the league. Three championships, three Finals MVPs, a regular season MVP and countless All-NBA and All-Star nods were enough for O’Neal to retire in 2002. 

He would of course, win another ring and many more accolades until retiring in 2011 due to an Achille tear with the Boston Celtics. During the course of his 19-year career, Shaquille O’Neal amassed a total of $292 million which comes to about $434 million when adjusting the US Dollar for inflation in today’s time. 

However, his career earnings are far from what his actual net worth is at it stands at a mighty $400 million, over a decade after receiving his last paycheck as an active player for the NBA.

Also read: “I spent $1 million in just 30 minutes!”: When Shaquille O’Neal spoke about his spending problem as NBA star, and the incident that made him change drastically

This is due to the fact that Shaq has made a plethora of incredibly business savvy decisions in terms of investments and endorsements. 

Shaq on his worst financial decisions to date. 

It may be easy for Charles Barkley and the ‘Inside the NBA’ crew to poke fun at Shaq for being the face of every other brand in the United States as an ambassador but it’s all an incredibly smart ploy by the 4x champ. 

O’Neal has everything from food chains like 17 Auntie Annie’s and a Krispy Kreme outlet to the flex of being an early investor in Google during the 1990s. However, during those 1990s, ‘The Big Aristotle’ had several hits and misses.

Also read: “Charles Barkley, you sound stupid right now! I passed Dikembe Mutombo on the all-time blocks list!”: Shaquille O’Neal claimed he was a better shot blocker than Mutombo

He would explain that when he was in his early days in the league, he would fall for several get-rich-quick schemes. “I lost a lot of money in get-rich-quick schemes- if someone said, ‘give me a million and in three years, it’ll be $10 million,’; deals like that, I would take every time. No research, no due diligence.” 

Shaq would go on to talk about his worst investment being in a paper company that turned out to be a complete scam. He does have some great advice though that he’s said on several platforms where he tears a piece of paper to demonstrate how anybody should save 75% of their earnings and use the remaining $25 for whatever they want.