Shaq is by far one of the greatest basketball players of all time and a Laker legend who has made millions of dollars throughout his career. Above is a hilarious clip about a story on how Shaq spent his first million dollars in 45 minutes and how he got a quick lesson in finance 101. *Skip to 1:58

Lets start off by discussing FICA, I think all of us can agree with Shaq that FICA sucks, especially when you get your first paycheck and see’s how much is taken out from FICA, as Shaq puts it “Whoever you are FICA I am coming to get you”.

Now FICA stands for Federal Insurance Contribution Act, and is a required tax that is applied to all American workers, sorry no way of escaping FICA, even if your as big as Shaq. Included in FICA (2015) is, 6.2 percent social security and 1.45 percent Medicare (*if you make over 200K there is a surcharge). This is almost 8% and can drastically change the amount of money that you thought you were about to receive! In Shaq’s instance 8% is $80,000 so in realty Shaq only has $920,000 not including other taxes yet. 

Shaq’s story teaches us the importance never spending all your money before knowing what money you might owe, especially taxes. We can all learn from Shaq’s mistake of learning to save especially when you start getting your first paychecks.