Pro athletes Isaiah Thomas and Dexter Fowler dish about top money

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Professional athletes are faced with a difficult task early in their careers — learning to deal with big sums of cash as they’re thrust into stardom, often at a young age.

Isaiah Thomas, an all-star basketball player, and major league baseball player Dexter Fowler sat down with CNBC at the Future Proof wealth festival to discuss the money lessons they’ve learned during their professional careers. Financial advisor Joe McLean, who works with Fowler and Thomas, also shared advice from working with wealthy athletes such as NBA star Klay Thompson and pro golfer Sergio Garcia.

Here are six of their best money tips.

“Once I got money, once my professional career started, learning how to save was the most important thing I learned,” said Thomas, 33, a point guard who’s currently a free agent. He’s played for many teams over a decade-long career, and was a two-time NBA All-Star during a stint with the Boston Celtics from 2014 to 2017.

When his first paychecks rolled in, Thomas and McLean set parameters: 70% of every net dollar was allocated to a savings bucket. This made the saving automatic, said McLean, founder and CEO of San Ramon, California-based Intersect Capital, which ranked 94^th on the CNBC Top 100 Financial Advisors list in 2021.

“Saving more than you spend was our philosophy every month,” Thomas said.

More from Personal Finance:
The 4 big factors impacting markets and the economy right now
Harvard fellow says crackdown on ‘buy now, pay later’ lenders is good news
5 ways to save amid record food price inflation

The percentage saved can change, depending on the athlete and stage of their career, McLean said. It might be 40% on a player’s first contract, 60% to 70% on the second, and 80% for the third and beyond since “the cash flow is so high” at that point, McLean said.

This approach helps players choose the lifestyle they’d like to live “before your lifestyle chooses it for you,” he added.

“You have to make the decision from the very beginning” to build a habit, he said.

“Always prepare for rainy days,” said Fowler, 36, an outfielder who won a World Series with the Chicago Cubs in 2016. He’s currently a free agent.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” he added. “You [could] get in a car accident; you could stop working.

“Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”

Fowler describes himself as a lifelong saver. As a young boy, he’d keep the physical birthday checks from family members, because he didn’t know they needed to be cashed.

“People live in the moment,” he added. “Don’t get me wrong, have your vice.

“I like watches; that’s my vice, but I don’t have 10 vices,” said Fowler. “That’s how you go crazy; you’re going to spend…