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Shaquille O'Neal and Dozens of Top Athletes Open Up their Portfolios

O'Neal, who is featured on the cover of money's September issue, tells the magazine that after he spent a huge amount of his first million dollar bonus on cars and clothes, he realized that he needed to take control of his financial life. He did not want to follow the financial path of other professional athletes such as Kareem Abdul Jabbar who at one point lost millions via lavish spending and bad investments.

He says that unlike his aggressive playing style, he tends to be ``very conservative'' when it comes to his money. ``I don't like taking risks. If I have 20 million and I'm making six percent, that's okay with me. I don't need to make 20 million into 200 million.''

The article notes that Shaq's investments and money management is handled by a team of professionals, whose primary goal is safety. The 335 pound NBA All Star's primary goal is to ensure that his money grows so that it will enable his children to be financially secure.

So where does O'Neal put his money? According to the article, his investment managers focus on blue chip tech companies such as AOL, Microsoft, Lucent and Oracle. In addition, Shaq often takes equity positions in companies that he does endorsements for including NetZero and Dunknet.

``I don't really worry about [money]. I'm blessed obviously to have it; now the thing I need to do is keep it and make it grow for my kids,'' says Shaq.

In addition to Shaq, money interviewed dozens of other current and former top athletes from sports ranging from Tennis to NASCAR to Hockey to Baseball to the WNBA, and found that each athlete has a unique position on what it takes to be on top of the financial game.

Among the sports celebrities interviewed include:

DALE EARNHARDT: The seven time Winston Cup NASCAR champion known as the ``Intimidator'' owns multi-million dollar seats on both the New York and American Stock Exchanges as well as stock in companies such as GM, Goodyear and a number of tech issues. He considers his stock exchange seats ``as the ultimate rental property. It's like leasing a house, but you don't have to put a roof on it.'' His best investment to date was the purchase for $5 million and the sale one year later for $25 million of Sports Image, a NASCAR apparel and souvenir company.

SERGEI FEDEROV: The Russian born Detroit Red Wings All Star only began investing when he arrived in the U.S. in 1991. Since then, his portfolio has grown to include a diversity of bonds, mutual funds and stocks including companies such as Nokia, Dell, Cisco, GE, Wal-mart, J&J and ExxonMobil. He also will make short term buys that he views as ``If I lose, I lose. If I win, it's better than playing a casino.''

LUC ROBITAILLE: The L.A. Kings veteran says that years ago, ``Nobody talked stock. Now that's all they talk about. Someone always has a great scoop, whether it's in the locker room or before practice drills. We talk stocks every day but game day.'' His best investment was purchasing Qwest after its chairman Philip Anschutz took over the team. ``He doesn't miss a lot of boats.'' The stock has risen 600% since its IPO in 1997.

LISA LESLIE: The WNBA and L.A. Sparks star is one of the few players who earns enough to focus on their investments. ``You're talking about maybe ten players who have enough put away and still take care of their families.''

ALLISON FEASTER: The L.A. Sparks 1998 first-round pick and Harvard graduate actually turned down an offer to be a securities analyst for Merrill Lynch. She says because of her modest salary ``I'm not wealthy, so I have to pick and choose.'' Her best pick so far has been 3Com which she sold at its peak of $119. She also holds stock in Oracle, Nokia, and AOL.

INGER MILLER: The 28-year-old Olympic gold medal sprinter says that she wants to retire by age 35. She started her financial plan right out of college, and, is a disciple of the Peter Lynch school of stock picking: Buy what you know. Among the stocks she holds include Quokka.com, Nike and DaimlerChrysler.

JIM COURIER: The recently retired Grand Slam champion began investing one year after joining the tour in 1988. An admitted CNBC junkie, Courier's strategy is ``that I would like my grandchildren to be selling my stocks.'' A huge believer in broadband technology, he holds a number of high tech stocks including Sun Microsystems, and JDS Uniphase which he believes ``could be the next Intel.''

JOSE CANSECO: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays slugger got interested in investing because of the long, boring flights for road game travel. ``I got interested by reading certain books, magazines (including money), anything I could get my hands on.'' He recently started his own financial company, Canseco Financial Services, which started out as a mortgage lender but he hopes to turn it into an investment vehicle for athletes. He has nearly 90% of his assets in the market including stocks such as Yahoo and AOL.

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