Walker was well-known as a gambler on the court. A prolific outside shooter, he was often criticized for attempting 3-point shots at the expense of higher percentage inside shots. (An average NBA three pointer goes in only 36.7% of the time compared to 48.5% for a 2 point shot.) This criticism was largely misplaced: Walker averaged 0.98 points per 3 pointer attempted versus 0.89 points per 2 pointer attempted.

His gambling off the court, on the other hand, was far less publicized at the time — and far more personally damaging. When you’re playing “$15,000 hands with Michael Jordan during an all-night gambling session where estimates of money lost and won totaled several hundred thousand dollars,” you might have a problem. A salary of $49 million — a conservative estimate of what he took home after taxes and agent fees — is a lot, but that’s not Jordan money.

And as we’ve talked about before, the hidden costs of being a celebrity and “taking care” of friends and family adds up quickly:

Off the court, there were the cars, the jewelry, the houses, the suits, the gambling. He liked to move in an outsized entourage; his mother estimates that, during his playing days, he was supporting 70 friends and family members in one way or another. And speaking of his mother, he built her a mansion in the Chicago suburbs, complete with an indoor pool, 10 bathrooms, and a full-size basketball court.

[…]

Living at the Bishops Forest condominium complex in Waltham during the Celtics season, Walker turned the pavement surrounding his home into a virtual luxury car lot – two Bentleys, two Mercedes, a Range Rover, a Cadillac Escalade, a bright red Hummer. Often, the vehicles were tricked out with custom paint jobs, rims, and sound systems at considerable added expense. He also collected top-line watches – Rolexes and diamond-encrusted Cartiers.

The lessons here are simple and apply to everyone, not just athletes making $9 million a year: Make sure you’re saving a good chunk of your salary, limit your risky investments/gambles, and create and track a budget so you can stay on top of your cash flow.

The clothing company H&M has made a name for itself providing high-fashion clothing at prices that most people can afford. (BTW – I am not paid by H&M; this is what my wife has told me.)

On occasion, H&M enlists the services of an otherwise exclusive designer, to produce a line specifically for the store. The latest such luminary is Jimmy Choo, the shoe & handbag designer of Sex-and-the-City notoriety. The line will be released in H&M stores in November.

The most basic black pump in Choo’s high-end line retails for around $500, with newer and flashier items fetching well over $1,000. At H&M, the entry-level price point will be $99, with the most expensive shoe topping out at $299. It’s not exactly Payless, but considering the demand for the designer, these are bargain prices.

Indeed, H&M is anticipating such high demand for this product that they’ve created a section on their website: “How to Shop.” The first 160 people in line at H&M stores will receive bracelets limiting their time to shop the Choo collection.

Furthermore, of the 150+ H&M locations in the US, only 10 will carry the line. Five of those are in New York City.

What gives? Why doesn’t H&M want everyone to experience the newly-affordable luxury that Jimmy Choo has created?

Not exactly. By limiting the supply and the amount that can be purchased, H&M is accomplishing two things: it’s ensuring that the price won’t fall, and it’s ensuring that Jimmy Choo maintains its mystique.

Consider this – what if every H&M store in the United States carried unlimited amounts of this line? Sure, they might be busy on the first day, but after a time the consumer demand would be satisfied. Inventories would build, and H&M would have to put the shoes on sale. So, not only would Jimmy Choo shoes be on the feet of every girl in the US, but they’d be selling at a discount price. The horror!

Instead of such a nightmare scenario, H&M and Jimmy Choo have played it smart. They’ve made a limited quantity, so the demand for these shoes will be far from satisfied, and there won’t be any pressure to discount the price. Additionally, since only a relatively lucky few will be able to purchase these shoes, Jimmy Choo can retain the exclusive aura that surrounds its name.

Now, while you’re standing in line on November the 14^th, you can explain to your fellow shoppers why the line has formed in the first place.

What’s your take on H&M & their supply of Choo’s shoes? Let’s hear about it in the comments!

We have received complaints of noise disturbances and guests wandering the hallway and Observation Deck. This is a direct violation of your Lease Agreement…Additionally, we were notified that you had over 10 cars parked in guest parking on the evening of September 25th. This is a violation of your lease … which states, “You may have no more than two overnight guests at a time unless we provide specific approval.”

He also owes his Los Angeles luxury apartment landlord almost $10,000 in unpaid rent and late fees.  Soulja maturely responded by posting a video on Twitter showcasing his jewelry and designer bag collection and the piles of cash he keeps in an unprotected shoe box in his apartment.

Flub #1: Unpaid rent and rental agreement violations.  A lot of young adults rent property either while in college or when they start their first job.  Rental agreements can come in many different forms from many different sources.  You might have a landlord, or maybe you’re subletting from a friend or renting through a lease in a big corporate run apartment building.  Whatever the case, make sure you read your rental agreement carefully.  Any violation of property rules, tenant guidelines, or deadlines can lead to expensive fees or even eviction.  There are certainly benefits to renting, especially when you’re young, but make sure you pay your rent on time and avoid violating your contract (cranking your music isn’t always a good idea).

Flub #2: Keeping cash and valuable items out in the open.  Protecting and insuring your valuables is a basic and important step especially when living on your own.  Keeping large amounts of cash is never a good idea.  Put your money in a savings account and important documents like birth certificates and savings bonds in a safe or safe deposit box.  Throwing around your valuables often leads to theft or misplacing things.

Take a few lessons from Soulja Boy:  Don’t crank your music. Pay your rent on time.  And keep your valuables safe – in a safe.

But as his homes sit unsold, the IRS filed another tax lien on the actor whose government tab now totals $6,617,550.84.  Failing to pay your taxes for multiple years is never a good idea.  This kind of balance due makes Pam Anderson’s $1.1 million debt look a little less daunting.

Not to mention from 2002-04 Cage improperly deducted things like limo rides, meals and gifts from his tax return to the tune of $3.3 million.

There are a few financial lessons we can take from this kind of celebrity mishap:

• Always pay your taxes.
• Have someone else look over your return to make sure it has been completed properly.
• Just because you’re rich and famous doesn’t mean you can get away with poor money management.

I’m not sure searching for actual treasure will help Mr. Cage out, but perhaps he should seek out a financial advisor to help get him back on track.

According to People magazine, Los Angeles County records show she owes more than $1.1 million to creditors:

According to the documents, five different construction companies have filed liens against her home, the largest being $674,043 for “labor and materials … to remodel main house, construct swimming pool, construct foundations for guest house.”

She also owes $252,360.39 in back state taxes and penalties for 2007.

With that, she joins the illustrious ranks of celebrities who have displayed disastrous financial-management skills. Just because you make a lot of it doesn’t mean you’re good with money.

Pam should remember the immortal words of the Notorious B.I.G.: “Mo’ money, mo’ problems.”

Today’s edition of When Celebrities Mismanage Their Finances – or, excuse me, When “Celebrities” Mismanage Their Finances – centers on Nadya “Octomom” Suleman.

Suleman – mother of 14 children, including the world’s only set of octuplets – recently signed a contract for her kids to appear on a reality TV show. Each child will receive $250 per day of shooting and “15 percent of the kids’ earnings will be placed in a trust account,” according to E! News.

Now while $250 per child per day may seem like quite a bit, it’s actually not very much. Collectively they’ll earn nearly $250,000. The show will only shoot for 71 days over three years, meaning that each child will earn $17,750 total. And 15% of that is just $2,662.50, the amount to be placed in each child’s trust, accessible once they turn 18 (in accordance with CA law).

In other words, the kids aren’t making very much money from this deal at all. They’ll be paraded about on a reality TV show and, assuming interest on the trust account is less than 8%, likely end up with less than ten grand.

One hopes that the $211,225 Suleman controls will be spent wisely. Feeding, clothing, and housing 14 growing kids can’t be cheap.

Former Mets and Phillies slugger Dykstra filed for bankruptcy last week with reported assets totaling $50,000, despite claiming in April that he was worth $60 million.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

In the bankruptcy petition he said he owes JPMorgan Chase & Co. $12.9 million and Bank of America Corp.’s Countrywide and credit-card units a combined $4.2 million, according to Bloomberg News.

Dykstra also owes almost $1 million to jet charter services, about $342,000 to celebrity lawyer Daniel Petrocelli and $229,000 to literary agent David Vigliano, Bloomberg said.

Dykstra may have played an instrumental role in the Mets’ 1986 World Series win, but his financial endeavors have yielded few home runs. ESPN.com profiled his “business acumen” just three months ago. Television finance personality Jim Cramer has repeatedly hyped him as an investment savant: Dykstra will even sell you his stock picks on a website for a subscription fee of $999.95 per year.

But after years of living high on the hog, Dykstra has nothing to show for it. He purchased Wayne Gretzky’s mansion in Thousand Oaks, Calif., for $18.5 million in 2007, but his bankruptcy filing shows a combined $17.2 million in borrowing against it. He claims to own a Gulfstream II private jet, yet owes $1 million to a jet-chartering service.

Like Michael Vick, Lenny Dykstra serves as a grim reminder of how easily a fool and his money are parted — and how financial education is just as important for the filthy rich as it is for people of lesser means.

Our culture often glorifies financial success, but it is an illusion to think that, just because you’ve made money, you’re set for life. Highly paid and visible sports stars and entertainers seem especially prone to dramatic financial setbacks (perhaps because their money problems are more likely to end up in the news). But surely everyone knows someone who has suffered similar misfortunes.

There are tried and true ways to avoid such a fate, starting with the simple maxim to live within your means. Yet most, if not all, of the Madoff victims no doubt thought they were. Their mistake was assuming they could trust someone else to manage all their money for them. Mr. Madoff is fortunately an extreme exception. Yet the financial crisis has unmasked a plethora of examples of firms putting their interests above their clients, some of it criminal, most of it not.

The vast number of financial advisers and money managers rightly pride themselves on their integrity and devotion to clients’ interests, and render valuable services to their clients. Almost everyone can benefit from such a relationship. But no one should abdicate all responsibility for investing and monitoring their hard-earned savings. Simple diversification would have prevented any of Mr. Madoff’s victims from losing everything. The basics of personal finance aren’t all that complicated. Why isn’t such a course offered, at least as an elective, at every high school in the U.S.?

Until we address the fact that tens of millions of Americans lack the basic financial literacy they need to manage their own money, the Bernie Madoffs of the world are going to keep stealing it from them. Read the whole column here.

While most of us will never have that kind of net worth to worry about, the King of Pop’s last will and testament serves as a reminder of the importance of preparing for the worst. Especially if you have dependents, having a will is vital. Without one, your assets can be tied up in court for months or years while the legal system sorts out the mess. There’s lots of good information available online to help you with the estate planning process, and it’s never too early to start.

CNNMoney.com’s “Top Ten Things To Know” hits all the basics, including:

Everybody needs a will.

A will tells the world exactly where you want your assets distributed when you die. It’s also the best place to name guardians for your children. Dying without a will – also known as dying “intestate” – can be costly to your heirs and leaves you no say over who gets your assets. Even if you have a trust, you still need a will to take care of any holdings outside of that trust when you die.

Trusts aren’t just for the wealthy.

Trusts are legal mechanisms that let you put conditions on how and when your assets will be distributed upon your death. They also allow you to reduce your estate and gift taxes and to distribute assets to your heirs without the cost, delay and publicity of probate court, which administers wills. Some also offer greater protection of your assets from creditors and lawsuits.

There’s no reason to delay protecting your assets. Michael Jackson’s sudden death at age 50 should remind us all that responsible financial management includes proper estate planning.

The Daily Mail reports that a survey found women were ‘far more likely’ to spend irresponsibly than men as they try to emulate celebrities such as Victoria Beckham and Paris Hilton.

Last year 55 per cent of young bankrupts were female, up from 48 per cent five years ago.

In total, 1,560 women under 24 were declared bankrupt compared to 1,250 men in the same age group.

Bankruptcy rates in the U.S. reflect a similar phenomenon. A new study reveals that filing rates tend to be higher among people ages 25 to 29, with household incomes between $30,000 and $60,000.

With the recession in full swing and low-on-the-totem-pole jobs at risk, it’s more important than ever that young people understand their financial limits. (And spoiler alert: Even celebrities sometimes can’t afford their luxe lifestyles.)