How does it feel when you do everything right – and you still fall flat on your face? Marques Ogden can tell you.
The former NFL offensive lineman had heard all the right messages as a kid. Raised by a single dad, he was told early on that his education was more important than sports. A career in football, his dad said, would be short-lived. Planning wisely for the future, on the other hand, would see him through the rest of his life.
So, thinking in the long term, the young man earned a business degree before getting drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars at age 22. But that wasn’t all Ogden did that was right. Unlike most young professional athletes, Ogden drove a pre-owned car, not a tricked-out Maserati. He lived in a condominium, not a sprawling estate. He lived frugally compared to most of his new-millionaire teammates.
After retirement, many of his peers had to file bankruptcy after being preyed upon by unscrupulous accountants and shady venture capitalists. Not Ogden. He’d started a solid construction company which was making impressive profits…until it wasn’t.