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.

Researchers at Northwestern and the University of Chicago are publishing their findings in an upcoming issue of Economic Sciences:

“Higher-testosterone women are more prone to take risk, and this attitude is correlated with riskier career choices,” says Paola Sapienza, associate professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and co-author of the study with Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago.

Those risks sometimes translate to higher pay but also higher rates of unemployment, the study says.

The difference was not due strictly to gender, either. The 90 percent of women and 31 percent of men measured with low testosterone levels were equal in their risk-aversion. And in terms of solvency, the differences between the sexes were negligible: Surveys indicate that 10 percent of men and 11 percent of women report having filed for bankruptcy at some point in their lives.

But if you’re chock full of testosterone and itching to, say, use your savings to play the lottery, try to keep your impulses in check and put your money somewhere a little safer.

Vick (who was once the highest paid player in the NFL with a 10-year $130 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons) is just one of a number of celebrities and athletes who have filed for bankruptcy despite earning millions from significant contracts and endorsements.

Judge Frank J. Santoro denied Vick’s plan to repay millions in debt because there is no guarantee that the NFL will allow him to play again. (Vick had identified a football contract as his main source of income, but it is unlikely he will receive the same compensation as he did before the scandal.)

The judge commended Vick for wanting to take charge of his finances by himself, but said it had taken months of accountants, trustees and lawyers working to unravel his assets in the first place.

“No one is good at everything, but the fact, Mr. Vick, is you are perhaps extraordinary at your chosen profession, but that does not translate into financial sophistication,” Santoro said.

A closer look at Vick’s bankruptcy filings — to see how he got himself into this mess in the first place — reveals the vast amount of money he spent, one sum he even described as “chump change.” Although he was trying to provide for his children, mother, and fiancee, a number of Vick’s debts could likely have been prevented with a little more financial literacy.

Vick owned 9 cars (4 of which were still being paid off, one on which he owes $63,000), 2 boats, 5 horses, and 4 homes. The statement of Vick’s financial affairs indicates he never used many of the cars, boats and houses that he was paying for. His liquid assets have also gone up in smoke with $3.5 million in “miscellaneous” transfers and $1.1 million in checks made out to “Cash.”

Cases like these — involving public figures that many Americans idolize — are a sobering reminder of the importance of financial education. No matter how much money you have, if you don’t utilize fiscal responsibility and prudence when spending, it could all be gone before you even realize it.