CJ McCollum has banked one of the biggest career hauls of his NBA generation, yet the veteran guard says he still books flights and hotels with credit card points, the product of a money fear he has never shaken.
“I had a fear and a paranoia that I was gonna go broke. I always just feared, like everybody goes broke, so I was just like, ‘I’m not gonna spend money,'” McCollum explains in a viral clip, adding of a recent trip: “This trip here, I used points to come to New York. Points for the trip and for the stay, and it gave me $450 in food and beverage.”
The $6,000 Chain That Was His Only Splurge
McCollum’s rookie-year restraint has become the stuff of financial-literacy legend. Drafted 10th overall in 2013, he says his one indulgence was modest by NBA standards: a $6,000 chain with a big cross, “but that was really it. I was afraid.”
The discipline ran deeper than jewelry. He lived off a $12,000 energy drink endorsement rather than touching his salary, and spent seven years paying off his first car specifically to build his credit, the same credit now funding his points-powered travel.
The Budget Frozen in 2016
The habit that best explains McCollum’s psychology: his household budget hasn’t moved in a decade. “The budget that we have in place now for my family and I is the same budget that I had when I signed my first extension in 2016. We pretended that I was never gonna make another dollar for the rest of my life.”
Extensions kept coming, roughly a quarter of a billion dollars’ worth across stints with Portland, New Orleans, and beyond, but the pretense never changed:
“We’ve just pretended as if none of this money was ever gonna come, and we’re living as if that first extension is all we have left.”
Why the Fear? The 60 Percent Problem
McCollum’s paranoia isn’t irrational; it’s statistical. Professional athletes go broke after retirement at alarming rates, a systemic failure Jaylen Brown recently blasted while citing the figure that 60 percent of players lose most of their wealth within a decade of retiring.
McCollum, a Lehigh economics-minded graduate and former NBPA president, attacked the problem with education, seeking out billionaire mentors including developer Don Peebles and the late Junior Bridgeman, and studying one new asset class per year with his advisor before investing. “When you don’t come from money, it’s always hard to learn about it,” he has said. By 2023, that process had produced roughly 30 alternative investments spanning real estate, private equity, franchising, and wine.
The Payoff: A Fortune That Isn’t Going Anywhere
The result is a reported net worth around $75 million, plus his acclaimed McCollum Heritage 91 wine label, a real estate partnership with his brother Errick, and a blueprint younger players increasingly cite.
McCollum acknowledges the math differs for today’s rookies, who arrive wealthy from NIL deals and richer contracts, but his principles travel: live on a fraction, learn before you invest, and never assume the checks keep coming. And if a nine-figure earner can fly on points with a $450 food-and-beverage credit, the rest of us have no excuse.
CJ McCollum has made nearly $300,000,000 in the NBA and still flies on credit card points because he’s afraid of going broke
“I had a fear and a paranoia that I was gonna go broke. I always fear like everybody goes broke, so I’m not going to spend money”
“I bought like a $6,000… pic.twitter.com/QH8gAM07KV
— katsu (@katsuxbt) July 15, 2026
FAQ
Does CJ McCollum really travel on credit card points?
Yes. He says he booked a recent New York trip entirely on points, flight, and hotel, plus a $450 food and beverage credit.
Why is he afraid of going broke?
He describes a career-long “fear and paranoia” rooted in how often athletes lose their fortunes, a pattern research and players like Jaylen Brown have highlighted.
What was his rookie splurge?
A single $6,000 chain with a cross; otherwise, he lived off a $12,000 energy drink deal and spent seven years paying off his first car to build credit.
How much has McCollum earned?
His career NBA earnings approach $300 million per circulating estimates, with reported figures around a quarter of a billion dollars, against a net worth of nearly $75 million.
What does he invest in?
About 30 alternative investments, real estate, private equity, franchising, blockchain, and wine, including his McCollum Heritage 91 label, were studied methodically with mentors like Don Peebles.
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