On the outside, Scott from Orlando, Florida, looks like he\u2019s living the dream. He\u2019s got an MBA, a career as a professional golfer and the kind of life most guys would trade for in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n
But when Scott called The Ramsey Show, he pulled back the curtain on a very different reality: he\u2019s drowning in roughly $300,000 of debt. Years of chasing the pro golf circuit left him with $220,000 in student loans, an $80,000 IRS bill and a whole lot of regret.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The bad decisions didn\u2019t stop there. As Scott globetrotted in pursuit of his golf dream, his loans accumulated interest. Then the IRS came calling \u2014 and to top it all off, his agent stole about $250,000 of his earnings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was traveling the country playing (and) obviously I wasn\u2019t paying back my student loans,\u201d said Scott. \u201cThat stuff was just racking up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Scott\u2019s tired of being in the bunker. He\u2019s ready to stop playing around with his money and finally take a swing at paying off his debt.<\/p>\n
As his debt accumulated, Scott felt like he was making all of the right choices. He pushed himself academically \u2014 though it meant taking on significant debt \u2014 and when the chance came to compete globally, it felt like an amazing opportunity.<\/p>\n
But after years of playing golf professionally and incurring substantial travel expenses, he was audited by the IRS. The audit revealed a discrepancy between his reported golf expenses and the deductions he claimed, ultimately leading to a back-tax bill of $80,000.<\/p>\n
Only about 1% of tax returns were audited between 2013 and 2021, (1) but certain red flags can increase your chances. Math mistakes, excessive deductions and mismatched records are common triggers. (2) In Scott\u2019s case, the auditor said the difference between his golf costs and his write-offs pushed his tax liabilities higher.<\/p>\n
After sharing his story, Scott said he wanted to talk with someone who had climbed out of a similar debt hole. Ramsey Show co-host Jade Warshaw could relate \u2014 she paid off more than $460,000 in debt herself. (3)<\/p>\n
Read more: US car insurance costs have surged 50% from 2020 to 2024 \u2014 this simple 2-minute check could put hundreds back in your pocket<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n If Scott keeps competing, even locally, it\u2019s important that he chooses who to trust carefully. It\u2019s not uncommon for agents to steal money from their clients. Stories of athletes getting fleeced by their agent or financial advisor are all too familiar.<\/p>\n Just recently, Shohei Ohtani\u2019s interpreter and agent, Ippei Mizuhara, allegedly stole $16 million from the baseball star. (4)<\/p>\n Scott\u2019s losses are significant, but he\u2019s not alone. A 2019 EY survey found that fraudsters allegedly stole nearly $600 million from professional athletes between 2004 and 2019. (5)<\/p>\n In addition to choosing an agent he can trust, if he needs one, it\u2019s also critical that he find a trustworthy accountant to help him file his taxes each year. With multiple streams of income, it\u2019s easy for a tax return to get complicated and even easier to make a mistake that could haunt your finances later. That\u2019s why working with a competent tax professional can come in handy.<\/p>\n Beyond finding the right people to work with, Warshaw urged Scott to focus on his \u201cwhy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are you doing this? Because that\u2019s going to be the thing that you need to connect to every time you want to spend money on something else,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Warshaw and co-host George Kamel both encouraged Scott to envision where he wants to be in a few years \u2014 and how paying off the debt will help him get there.<\/p>\n When it comes to practical next steps, Kamel suggested Scott use his golfing talent to bring in a new income stream by coaching.<\/p>\n Rates vary, but in Orlando, private golf lessons range from $50 to $200 per hour. (6) If Scott charges $100 per hour and teaches eight lessons a week, that\u2019s an extra $800 he could put toward debt every week. Consistently boosting his income this way could significantly speed up his debt-free journey.<\/p>\n Join 200,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.<\/p>\n The Ramsey Show (1<\/a>); CNN (2<\/a>); Empower (3<\/a>); ESPN (4<\/a>); EY (5<\/a>); Find Golf Lessons (6<\/a>).<\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the outside, Scott from Orlando, Florida, looks like he\u2019s living the dream. He\u2019s got an MBA, a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":293223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[7780,1430,150128,10612,4712,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-293222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-dave-ramsey","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-ramsey-show","11":"tag-scott","12":"tag-shohei-ohtani","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115352568205498690","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}