“If I didn’t win, I wouldn’t think about it” | Wilnesh News

Early in her tennis career, Williams was so concerned about winning that she repeatedly forgot to collect her earnings.

Williams, 42, earned $94.8 million in bonuses as a tennis player before retiring in 2022, according to the Tennis Association Women’s Tennis Association. Early in her career, she almost left a considerable part behind: she was so focused on her performance that she would barely leave the city without any money, She was interviewed on First We Feast’s YouTube talk show Hot Ones last week.

“Is it true that you took very few winnings your first year on tour and then once tried unsuccessfully to cash your first million-dollar check through an ATM?” Host Sean Eyre Vince asked her.

“These are all true,” replied the victorious Williams. twenty three Grand Slam singles champion and 73 During her 27-year career, she won a professional singles championship. “I never played for the money. I played because I loved the game… and I wanted to win.”

Williams’ professional debut – at the 1995 Bell Challenge in Quebec City, Canada, where she played only one match and lost a qualifying round – The result was reportedly a check for $240. At 14, she said, she was in no rush to spend the money.

The same was true when Williams got her first million-dollar check. People around her were excited about the dollar figure, but Williams just wanted to deposit the money and get back to work, she recalled.

“I never really spent a lot of money,” Williams said. “I just walked by the drive-in and the guy said, ‘Well, I think you need to go in and check it out.'”

She recalled that as her career progressed, her “tax man” had to remind her to take her money while on tour.

“[He]would say, ‘Didn’t you get the money?’ and I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t get that in Zurich, I forgot about that in Moscow,’” Williams said. “I play to win, and if I don’t win, I don’t think about it. I’m just super pissed off, so I want to find a way to get better and win next time.”

Williams’ early career experience was part of her financial literacy education: When she started making money on her own as a teenager, her father, Richard, made sure she took care of it all, she told Bloomberg “Trading” Podcast in May.

“I remember having to figure that out, having to learn from a young age how to manage it and not go crazy about it, so he empowered us to do that,” Williams said, adding that when it came time to weigh the sponsorship deal at Puma With companies like Nike, she always had a seat at the table.

“I’m 16 and my dad is negotiating and they’re going back and forth and he wants me to be there all the time to make sure I know what to do going forward,” she said. “I learned early on that tennis salaries — and maybe that’s why I forgot about them — should be your minimum income.”

Experts say personal finance lessons for kids are important. Eric Landolt, head of family consulting and art and collections at UBS, says if you start teaching children basic money lessons as early as 5 to 8 years old, they will Ages 8 to 12 are ready to learn concepts like saving, spending, and investing.

Landolt says that by the time they reach their teens, they are ready to effectively manage a small budget or allowance.

“Financial literacy should be a basic skill, a basic skill like reading or writing or doing something that should be taught to everyone in every situation,” he said.

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