NFL legend Cam Newton admits he’s not ‘superman,’ can’t provide for his 8 kids like he used to. Here’s his 1 big mistake
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Cam Newton, once one of the NFL’s most exciting quarterbacks, is now dealing with a challenge off the field: lost income.
At the age of 36, Newton’s days as a professional athlete are now behind him. He officially opted out of the game in 2021 after his one-year, $6 million contract with the Carolina Panthers expired. Now the former football star is candid about the financial reality of life after fame.
“Being in the NFL, everyone knows a lot of money is coming your way in a short amount of time, and when you’re away from the game for three years, those checks don’t come in the same way,” he said on an episode of the FOX reality TV show. Special Forces (1).
Newton admitted that the sudden drop in earnings made it difficult for him to feel like “Superman” to his eight children.
“It makes me sad to know that I can’t provide like I once did,” the former quarterback wrote on Instagram (2).
Alongside this drop in income, Newton pointed out in a video posted on YouTube that poor lifestyle was a major culprit in his financial woes and those of other professional athletes (3).
But in a dynamic and changing economy, it’s certainly not just entrepreneurs and professional athletes who face sudden income fluctuations; Ordinary workers are also struggling.
The unemployment rate in the US is worsening; The year 2025 records the weakest annual employment growth rate since 2003 (4).
While the Federal Reserve has repeatedly cut interest rates in 2025 to support the market, these efforts have not been enough to fix America’s unemployment rate. Many factors are to blame here.
On the labor market side, the workforce is aging and shrinking due to decreased immigration (5).
Meanwhile, employers face ongoing economic uncertainty due to tariffs and rising input costs, making it difficult to hire more workers. According to a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Richmond in conjunction with Duke University, nearly one-fifth of companies said they were reducing hiring because of tariffs (6).
There have also been widespread layoffs of civil servants as the U.S. federal workforce has shrunk to its lowest levels in at least a decade (7).
According to the Wall Street Journal, “job searches [are] workers are growing more desperate as they scrape together part-time jobs, raid 401(k)s, and get waitlisted by DoorDash (8).
Like Newton, many people now face difficult choices and uncomfortable lifestyle changes.
If you’re facing or preparing for a sudden drop in income, here are three ways you can strengthen your financial situation.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans’ total credit card debt was $1.23 trillion as of the third quarter of 2025 (9). This is the highest balance ever since the New York Fed started tracking the figure in 1999.
Professional athletes are not exempt from taking on significant debt, either. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Anthony Brown has reportedly filed for bankruptcy in 2024 after owing nearly $3 million to eight creditors (10).
Many households must examine their credit card debt when income drops because these obligations can quickly become unsustainable. Credit card debt is notorious for having exorbitantly high interest rates. For example, according to Bankrate (11), the average interest rate on credit cards was 19.65% as of the beginning of 2026.
The two biggest methods of paying off debt are avalanche and snowball techniques.
The Avalanche method focuses on paying off your highest-interest debts first. This can create a cascading effect where you quickly eliminate smaller debts after the larger debt is paid off.
The snowball method, meanwhile, starts with saving energy by paying off smaller debts one after another. Then, when you only have one debt left, you devote all your resources to paying off your debt. From this point on, most financial experts recommend creating an emergency fund and then starting investing as soon as possible. But becoming debt-free is the first and arguably the most important step.
Once you’ve taken care of your debt, the next step is to focus on expenses.
If your income changes, activities that were once normal for you, such as vacations, dining out, and shopping sprees, may no longer be affordable. Here, Dave Ramsey’s famous “beans and rice” approach can help pay off debt quickly and start accumulating savings. Temporarily reverting to a simple beans and rice budget can give you room to develop the emergency funds you need.
As a general rule, many experts recommend having at least three to six months of expenses in an emergency fund. If you’re among the 81% of U.S. workers worried they’ll lose their jobs in 2025, you’re not alone (13).
But planning ahead can help you avoid financial hardship if the worst-case scenario occurs.
A high-yield account to get started Wealth Front Cash AccountIt can be a great place to grow your emergency funds, offering both competitive interest rates and liquid access to your cash when you need it.
The Wealthfront Cash Account can provide a base variable APY of 3.25%, but new clients can get a 0.65% increase in the first three months. total APY 3.90% It is provided by the program banks based on your money that you have not invested. That’s ten times the national deposit savings rate, according to the FDIC’s December report.
With no minimum balance or account fees, as well as 24/7 withdrawals and free domestic bank transfers, your money always remains accessible. Plus, Wealthfront Cash Account Balances up to $8 million are insured by the FDIC through program banks.
Whether you’re an athlete, entrepreneur, or employee, it pays to set aside some money each month for investment. Passive income from regular savings can help you stay afloat if your career takes an unexpected turn.
You don’t need to invest millions of dollars to increase your wealth. Thanks to compound interest, investing a small portion of your salary each month can make a big difference.
For example, investing $50 every week for 20 years would equal $123,821 assuming 8% compounding. The next step is to choose where to invest. One popular option is the S&P 500, which has returned an average of 11.1% annually over the past 20 years (14).
Acorns rounds up your daily expenses to the nearest dollar and invests the rest in low-cost, diversified ETFs. So your $4.25 morning coffee turns into a 75 cent investment in your future.
If you want to go one step further, you can invest a larger portion of your paycheck into a low-cost S&P 500 ETF with Acorns.
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People (1); @fifthquartercfb (2); @4.&1 Kam Newton (3); Bureau of Labor Statistics (4); Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (5); Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Atlanta (6); Reuters (7); Wall Street Journal (8); Federal Reserve Bank of New York (9); New York Times (10); Bank rate (11); Community (12); Recruitment of Industry Analysts (13); acorn (14) curve (15)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without any warranty.
