It’s an unfortunate fact that many athletes end up broke once their playing careers end. Some make bad investments, some live beyond their means and some are taken advantage of by family members or advisers. One unseen drain on many of their bank accounts is alimony and child support payments.
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Gilbert Arenas made over $163 million in his playing career, and he’s now a successful podcast host. He has five kids in total: one with his ex-girlfriend Lindsay Faulk, and four with his ex-girlfriend Laura Govan. He also got married in January to Melli Monaco.
Arenas was interviewed recently by DJ Vlad of VladTV, and after he was told about former NBA’er Eddie Curry having to essentially pay double child support over an administrative error, he revealed that he has always taken steps to ensure that would never happen to him.
“To be honest, I can’t take credit for it, ’cause I don’t remember where I got it from. What kind of saved me was, all the money I ever gave my ex, I always put it as child support,” he said. “Even when we were dating, everything I’ve ever gave her, I said child support.”
The move has proven to be financially responsible for Arenas, though it’s fair to wonder if it put a strain on his relationship since it seems to indicate a lack of trust in his partner. Still, it’s better safe than sorry, and the ordeal Curry went through is proof of that. As long as he communicates the reasoning behind it and his partner is on board, then it’s nobody else’s business.
Arenas may not necessarily be the best person to take advice from due to some of his erratic behavior and run-ins with the law in the past (he pleaded not guilty in July to three charges stemming from his alleged connection to an illegal high stakes poker game being run out of his house), but he put it out there anyway if anyone wanted to listen.
“All you fellas out there, moving forward, all you NBA players out there, baseball, any celebrity that has money, even allowances to your girlfriend: child support,” he said. “Write it as child support, so one, it doesn’t go under the gift tax, and it gives credit to you for something that happens, you’ve already established a bottom line number that she lives on.”
Maybe Arenas’ Agent Zero nickname came about because that’s the amount of back child support payments he planned on making. He’s obviously done his research on the subject.
