Why families stretch their budgets for high-priced youth sports

[notadoc]

"The couple recently sold their Dallas home and moved to Orlando, Fla., so Ian could hone his skills at Bishops Gate Golf Academy, where annual tuition, including academics at Montverde Academy, costs $60,000.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/05/why-families-stretch-their-budgets-for-high-priced-youth-sports.html

[jz]

The promotional material reveals  a high portion of international Asian students.

Sad to read the stats on Americans sacrificing 401k contributions to spend on youth athletics.

[Donnie]

jz wrote:

Sad to read the stats on Americans sacrificing 401k contributions to spend on youth athletics.

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I don't know.  Some people value other things more than FIRE.

[q-school]

It seems like a sound decision to me. What could go wrong?

[Donnie]

q-school wrote:

It seems like a sound decision to me. What could go wrong?

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Yeah, skid row is littered with corporate execs who squandered it all funding their kids' tuitions at golf academies.

[StuRedman]

Yikes!  I thought 1500 for my son's basketball team was pricey.

[VagabondMD]

If the family can otherwise provide for themselves with income and resources that are legitimately acquired, and they enjoy providing the opportunity for their child, who am I to judge? I mean, it's not like they are spending the money on blow and hookers or betting on horses.

I am sure that I have spent (and continue to spend) money on stuff that the family in the article, not to mention forum members here, would think is silly, too, though not blow, hookers, or horses .

[ajm184]

Interesting article.  My son competes two or three times a year in Tea Kwon Do ('TKD') tournaments.  He frequently competes with a boy who is a year older than my 11 yo son.  This particular boy also competes in alot of tournaments, about 16 to 18 tournaments per year.  Each tournament cost between $85 and $180 in entry fees, throw in travel and hotels and it is about $400 - $500 per tournament depending upon distance from home.  Found out, this boy my son competes with is being home schooled by his mother so he can devote more time to TKD.

Though certainly people can find their passion at a young age, I would not be confident in being my child's educational foundation.  Hope it works out for this family.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Some middle class folks view spending on youth sports as pre-paying college- i.e. the kids will be good enough to get athletic scholarships and maybe, just maybe, make the NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL etc. It's an investment in some ways. Not a very wise one in my view, but an investment nonetheless.

[SValleyMD]

Meh. A lot of people here are dropping serious money on private schools with questionable upside.

Athletics is one of the easiest ways of improving ones opportunities in college from getting any college education to getting into any Ivy League school.

Plus, some huge opportunities for personal development, confidence, work ethic, etc

But obviously some cases can be negative and youth sports is getting crazier and crazier by the year led by some crazy parents/coaches

[Zaphod]

In all fairness the kid seems pretty good. IIRC, golf is one of the rare sports where no name folks make decent money just being consistent. My wifes parents paid for tennis for her while growing up, and while not to this degree of cost, it wasnt cheap at all  for middle class people. She did end up with a D-1 scholarship though, so it worked out. Obviously that is not the norm.

[StarTrekDoc]

No different than violin/piano/art class lessons or season passes to Disneyland.   To each their own for their children.  Kids are expensive.

Short of sending kids to public school and using the local Parks+Rec options, it's going to cost.

[MPMD]

Zaphod wrote:

In all fairness the kid seems pretty good. IIRC, golf is one of the rare sports where no name folks make decent money just being consistent. My wifes parents paid for tennis for her while growing up, and while not to this degree of cost, it wasnt cheap at all  for middle class people. She did end up with a D-1 scholarship though, so it worked out. Obviously that is not the norm.

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That's still a tiny, tiny number of people relative to the population and ultimately probably not that much different than any other prof sport.

I am good friends with 3 people who are PGA pros. Not touring pros but at one point in our glory days they were all scratch/subpar golfers w/ pro cards. Insane amount of time invested to get there.

1 worked at a country club for probably $45k/year.

1 worked at a golf store chain for similar/less.

1 did a brief stint on an amateur tour and I think won like one $1k purse.

[Kamban]

A good academic private school costs $52-64K.

 This is the Lawrenceville Prep school in NJ. And the chances of getting a scholarship in a to college ( Ivy or non Ivy) is much less for graduates of that the school that the son in OP's school goes to. For 60K per year Ian has a good chance of getting full tuition paid, possible sponsorship later on and maybe a sports career..

2017-18 TUITION & FEES

Tuition & Fees	Boarding	Day
Tuition 2017-2018	$62,190	$51,440
Technology	$550	$375
Infirmary Fee	$885	$550
Total	$63,625	$52,365

 

[q-school]

Vagabond MD wrote:

If the family can otherwise provide for themselves with income and resources that are legitimately acquired, and they enjoy providing the opportunity for their child, who am I to judge? I mean, it’s not like they are spending the money on blow and hookers or betting on horses.

I am sure that I have spent (and continue to spend) money on stuff that the family in the article, not to mention forum members here, would think is silly, too, though not blow, hookers, or horses .

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as you know, I am all about living life and reminding people it's not all about maxing net worth.

however, the title of the article is about stretching to make it happen, and the kid's father admits to not fully funding retirement to make this happen.  I think those are alarm bells when pursuing this kind of endeavor.  not saying it shouldn't be done, but imo, totally different than whether your taxable savings account grows 10% or 8% this year.

sometimes it's easy because your kid actually is tiger woods.  it's a lot harder when your kid is coming in 30th and you are still a believer.

for me personally, if Jordan spieth could make it in dallas, I'm not sure why this kid has to move to 60k/year Orlando to make it work.  if he coughed up 40k a year to Jordan spieth's teacher, I'm sure he could get plenty of great instruction.  admittedly I'm not an athlete and there may be other more important factors that make this a smart move.  60k per year is more than Harvard.  I'd have to be pretty wealthy and not really worried about maxing retirement funds to spend that kind of money on education/golf.  a higher percentage people make it from college football to the NFL than college golfers to the PGA.   pga is very pyramidal.  the top 125 get a lot.  the next say 125 on web and european tour make good livings.  all other golfers struggle to make a good living.

on a much smaller level, lots of families around here spend exorbitant amounts compared to what I perceive as their relative net worth on youth sports.  it is fascinating to me.

obviously ymmv