- You know like I remember in college,
I printed out a Lamborghini
and I had posted it on my mirror.
I said, someday I'm gonna go get that Lamborghini.
What's up GQ, I'm Emmanuel Sanders.
And this is how I made, saved and spent
my first million dollars.
I grew up in a small country town outside of Houston
called Bellville, Texas.
A population of like 5,000.
So I grew up man, Texas football is in my opinion
the best football.
So I grew up with that Friday night lights field you know,
playing for your city and playing for your town.
My first job, I remember I worked at two jobs
but they were right next to each other.
So it was a hair salon,
and then it was like a game room type place
like a pool hall type place.
And for the salon, I would take out the trash.
I was probably like 14, 13.
And then for the game room, I would go over there,
and just sit over there all day.
And clean the machines and stuff like that,
just to try to make some money.
It was like my little hustle as a 13, 14 year old.
My football career kind of took off my sophomore year,
actually in high school.
And that's when I started gaining traction,
college scouts started coming around and noticed my talent.
It was a school that definitely was one of the first ones
to give me a scholarship offer.
And they stuck around even when other teams
started to figure out about me or hear about me, you know.
So, I stayed loyal to them.
- [Interviewer] What was it like finally hearing
your name come around?
- Oh man, it felt good.
It was like a dream come true.
It was everything that I ever wanted,
but I knew it was opportunity you know, to go in.
But that doesn't mean that I was gonna you know,
make a lot of money.
I knew I was gonna make some money,
but once I got into the league I understood that it was
way more money to be made.
And a lot more work to be put in.
- [Interviewer] What was that feeling when you first signed
your first contract?
- Oh man, like when you asked me that question
the song that was playing in my head is Deion saying,
"must be the money".
That's how I felt, man.
And that Kanye song,
wait til I get my money right.
I was like, I got my money right now.
I'm about to go buy everything that I wanted.
You can see the details of my rookie contract, here.
You heard how I made my first million dollars,
now this is how I spent my first million dollars.
Within the span when I got my big contract,
I spent about three to $4 million.
So imagine this is three to $4 million,
'cause a million dollars it's just not enough.
So when I signed my deal,
I went and purchased a house outta Houston.
I think I spent like $2.5 million on that.
I dropped it,
it was 14,000 square feet.
I had two movie theaters,
I had a full court basketball.
I told myself, "I'm about to live the life".
"I'm about to live the dream that I always wanted".
2.5 on the house, right when I got my first deal.
Then I came back and I said, you know what?
I got the house, I got a seven car garage.
And said, I always wanted a Lamborghini.
I remember when I was in college,
I would put a Lamborghini on a mirror.
I said, I'm gonna go and get that Lamborghini.
So right when I got the house,
I went and got me a Lamborghini Gallardo.
I dropped that.
Then I said, you know what?
I also told Mike Wallace one time we were sitting
in the pool, that I was gonna go get the Rolls Royce.
So I went and got the Rolls Royce Wraith,
right after I got the Lamborghini.
Boom, so then I got that.
So I had the house, I had the cars,
I also had a Range Rover.
So you see obviously the Lamborghini
and the Rolls Royce, that's high.
The Range Rover is probably half of that,
so I just keep that right there.
But obviously you know,
I wasn't the only one that did it all
to help me make it to the NFL.
So obviously I had to take care of my people.
So I went and bought my grandma a house, right.
I bought my grandma house,
I took care of all my people, right.
I got my sister a house.
Then obviously you know, I had the house,
I had the cars, I took care of my people.
But then I would look down, and my clothes wasn't right.
So I had to get me a budget for my clothes.
So I started going crazy.
I started spending crazy money on shoes, on clothes.
Louis Vuitton, Gucci.
I was like, I'm about to live the dream
because I work hard to do it.
Like I said traveling, I started traveling.
I started going to Miami.
I started coming out to LA, like I said
I'm from a small country town in Bellville, Texas.
So I started traveling a lot,
I started hanging out a lot.
I started you know, hanging with my boys a lot.
But again, that wasn't just my first million
that took me about three million.
But I'll tell you this,
you might think that I done blew all my money.
Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
I had a financial advisor and I was able to spend that
because that's what I made, and I did it the right way.
And that's why right now, I'm sitting back and I'm blessed.
And I'm still doing good.
So I mean, obviously it seems as if I'm spending
all this money, right.
But the house, it was 2.5 million.
I got a loan at 1% with the bank,
which I put down X amount of dollars, right.
I took that 30,000 and instead of spending 2.5,
I reinvested that, put it in the stock market
Where I got a loan at 1% .
But it was re-investing,
I was making 15 to 20% on my money.
The only thing that I really blew even my grandma house,
I got a interest rate.
The only thing that really was wasting my money,
was the cars.
Because that depreciates, in which I was still able
to sell those and the clothes and the traveling.
But traveling I'll spend money any day
of the week on experience.
Experiences of traveling and being even more cultured,
I'll always spend that.
Clothes to me, yes it's a waste of money.
But I like clothes, that's what I like.
So it is what it is.
I'll spend the money on that.
But the rest of it you have to be smart about it, right.
You have to have a financial person who knows exactly
what they're doing.
And knows when to spend the money,
how to spend the money and be budgeted.
So that you know, you don't go broke.
Every time I talk to young guys, that's what I tell 'em.
I say, "man make sure you have your finances set up.
And make sure that you have a budget
in which you know what you're spending, you know".
I tell people all the time
and a couple guys that come in the locker room.
I say, "so if I went and bought a cheeseburger
and you went and bought a cheeseburger".
I say," you're spending the money that you made
this past game".
"I'm spending the money that my money has made".
Make sure you investing your money in stocks,
mutual bonds, stuff like that.
And setting it up,
set your budget up so that your money grows.
And over time it just goes up and up.
It goes up more and more and more,
you know as time goes along.
Now that I done got older, I've sold all my cars.
I only have two cars, right now.
I used to have like five cars.
When I was a young guy,
I just wanted to live the NFL lifestyle, right.
I had all the cars, I had the biggest house.
Now I just want a 6,000, 5,000 square foot house.
You gimme two cars, there's no basic car though.
I'll take a Range Rover.
And right now, I'm driving a Rolls Royce Cullinan .
And then like I said, I still like my clothes.
I'm starting to get away from that.
It's crazy how when you young,
like you you want all this stuff.
And then once you have it, you like it.
But at the end of the day, it all kind of fades away.
At least for me, it is.
And I'm now to the point,
you know I got two beautiful kids.
You know, I got a beautiful wife.
I got a beautiful family.
And man, I'm looking forward to putting more
in this pile over here,
of traveling the world with my kids.
And experiencing like this beautiful planet
that God has created.
Try to live my best life until you know,
my last day.
Once again, man this is Emanuel Sanders.
I appreciate you guys watching, salute.