How much would you have to be paid to run for a living?

late 20s nyc guy wrote:

Darius gaiden wrote:

So you only spend 83 dollars a month on food?

Yeah I call bs. I will easily drop twice that on a night of dinner and drinks. If I had to guess my non-alcohol related monthly food expenditures, it would probably be between $1200-1500, and I'm definitely not into the posh $200 brunches that many of my friends are. Even takeout from a decent Indian place and a couple beers from the deli and you're looking at $50 for a meal in front of the TV.

Considering it would cost me other career opportunities and I could do it at the most for another 10 years, I think $200k is the absolute minimum I would take, no matter how much I would enjoy it...just about the opportunity cost.

you spend $50 on takeout food for the tv?

ttyrdyjud wrote:

you spend $50 on takeout food for the tv?

No, the food is for myself.

Got news for you "Chocolate" Starfish. It ain't Chocolate. It's Sh!t.

late 20s nyc guy wrote:

Yeah I call bs. I will easily drop twice that on a night of dinner and drinks. If I had to guess my non-alcohol related monthly food expenditures, it would probably be between $1200-1500, and I'm definitely not into the posh $200 brunches that many of my friends are. Even takeout from a decent Indian place and a couple beers from the deli and you're looking at $50 for a meal in front of the TV.

Well you're a huge exception, most grown adults know how to cook for themselves. Life is ripping you off if you're spending that much on food, even in NYC.

To answer the question, I would initially do it for the $15,000 or whatever the minimum I could live on is. Maybe even less by moving to a country.

I wouldn't stick with it more than a year or two, though, unless I got legitimately good. Running is fun, spending a year not having to focus on anything else would be fun, but it's not my passion.

Not to mention the 20k health care/bills you'll be paying once you are in your 70s...I guess if you were running professionally every day of your life, then you wouldn't have to worry about health care by that time.

At what age?

If you are talking about right after college I think I could do it for as little as $25,000 yr.

At age 40, I'd need at least double that.

Well I already run for no pay, and I'd pay to run for a living, so fewer than 0 dollars

` wrote:

I would take $20k a year for the rest of my life (adjusting for inflation) if it meant I could run for a living. I'd even take a pay cut once my student loans were paid off and I only had to pay for rent/utilities/food.

word

Darius gaiden wrote:

You must live in a fantasy world if you think you could survive off of 20k a year.

That's a bit more than my mother lives on so you could do it. You'd need to live someplace where the cost of living is pretty low and be very careful of what you spend, but you could do it.

To the original question, I have two responses. The first is that I would do it for that 20 grand or so or whatever the minimum amount I need to survive is.

On the other hand I'm not sure I'd do it for ANY amount because it means that running was my job and I think that eventually everyone begins to resent their job. I'd hate to feel like each run was "going to work." That's one reason I was never really tempted to work in a running shop. And my pre-race nerves have always been awful. If I had the added pressure of knowing that there'd be no money for rent this month if I didn't crack the top three or something I think it would be intolerable.

From that point of view, I'd prefer either to do something part time or with very set and limited full time hours and use any money made from running to supplement the other income or to have a fat shoe contract, maybe like Webb's original deal with Nike, where I could put away enough money during its length that I'd be more or less set for the rest of my days.

Just because you like to waste money doesn't mean everyone does. I've been living off of 35k/yr for years. I wouldn't want to take a pay cut to be a pro runner, but I probably would. The only issue would be travel. I'd take 20k if my race and travel expenses were included.

late 20s nyc guy wrote:

Darius gaiden wrote:

So you only spend 83 dollars a month on food?

Yeah I call bs. I will easily drop twice that on a night of dinner and drinks. If I had to guess my non-alcohol related monthly food expenditures, it would probably be between $1200-1500, and I'm definitely not into the posh $200 brunches that many of my friends are. Even takeout from a decent Indian place and a couple beers from the deli and you're looking at $50 for a meal in front of the TV.

Considering it would cost me other career opportunities and I could do it at the most for another 10 years, I think $200k is the absolute minimum I would take, no matter how much I would enjoy it...just about the opportunity cost.

If I were starting out as a 21 year old TODAY, knowing that I would likely be done with running as a full-time career by age 35 (if I get to longer than that, then great; just wouldn't plan longer than 35) I'd have to make at least the equivalent of what I would make in another job. If I could only make $40,000 a year doing something else, then $40,000 a year would be it. I MIGHT even take a LITTLE less just because I would have more time to do whatever. I wouldn't take less just because of some love of running (which I no longer have; I still LIKE running, just don't love it like I did back in the day).

The main thing would be having a plan for what to do when running doesn't make money anymore. IF the prospects are few, then I'd have to save a ton of that earned money while running.

you need more than just merely make your life because athletes don't last much older than 30-35 of age. Then you'll go w/o a job, no pension, no retirement fund, and no SS payment until 60.

most people are too short-sighted to even be a competitive runner.

Enjoy you're heart attack at age 60. [/quote]

YOUR heart attack.

Not that hard.

rupple stiltskin wrote:

Well you're a huge exception, most grown adults know how to cook for themselves. Life is ripping you off if you're spending that much on food, even in NYC.

It's partially a matter of opportunity cost. If the other poster has a job that allows him to make a lot of extra money by working extra hours, it makes sense for him to let someone else do the cooking. If a real estate broker works to sell properties during the time that they would otherwise be cooking for themselves, maybe they can sell an additional property each month. If you're in NYC selling million dollar apartments and ten million dollar brownstones and earning a two or three percent commission on each sale, one extra sale per month more than makes up for the cost of eating out.

Of course, it is also a matter of preference. Some people just like to eat out. You're not getting ripped off if you enjoy it.

$200,000 for the opportunity cost

Agree. It depends what I'd actually have to pay for. I'd like to have my student loans paid off by age 30, though, so I wouldn't be starting my non-running career in debt after having not worked in a professional field for almost a decade.If student loans were covered in a lump sum, and equipment, medical, and travel were covered while you ran, what would you really need besides food and shelter (where you and a bunch of runners could split the cost), and maybe $50 here and there for gifts/leisure?

redux wrote:

What exactly are the parameters? Do I get a shoe/equipment sponsor and team and coach and facilities or is it just a pile of money?

If there's a bunch of non-monetary perquisites I think the money could be fairly low considering the overhead (i.e. BILLS) would end up being pretty low.

Also, do I get to keep prize money and sell stuff I get from my sponsors that I don't need in addition to this magical pile of money?

Bullet the Blue Sky wrote:

I love running, but you gotta pay the bills. It would turn my hobby into a job, and every job turns into a grind sooner or later. $200k for me.

This. But I have lower salary standards, maybe $120k. I love running, but as I've grown up I've realized I crave the structure of a work environment. I would go crazy only being held accountable for running every day. On top of that, I would go crazy with expectations for performance. Treating running as as job wouldn't be enjoyable.