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Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, but nothing beats being lucky and great. Former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski, who won multiple Super Bowls during his illustrious career, certainly qualifies as great. However, he was also incredibly lucky for his first stock trade, which netted him almost 1,000% profit on Apple shares he bought after a recommendation from his contractor.
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Rob Gronkowski shot to fame as a prominent member of the New England Patriots dynasty led by Head Coach Bill Belichick and Quarterback Tom Brady. Unlike Belichick and Brady, known for their button-down, all-business personalities, Gronkowski was famous for his vibrant, fun-loving nature. So, it may come as a surprise to learn that Rob Gronkowski is financially astute, but by all accounts, he has handled his finances very well.
In his 2018 book It’s Good to Be Gronk, Rob revealed that he never spent any of the estimated $70 million he made playing in the NFL and avoided buying expensive items like cars and jewelry. Gronkowski parlayed his fun-loving personality into a successful career as a pitchman for some of America’s most recognized brands, like T-Mobile and Dunkin Donuts. He lived off the money from his marketing deals, not his NFL salary.
Ironically, Gronkowski’s first foray into stock trading happened entirely by accident. In an interview with Fortune Magazine, Gronk told how he made his first stock trade. “My first stock ever was the Apple stock,” Gronkowski said. “The guy actually who built my house in Foxborough, he told me, ‘Hey, buy Apple stock.'” At the time, Gronkowski wasn’t familiar with stock trading, but he was intrigued.
“You know I’d never been involved in stocks and really didn’t know how stocks worked,” he continued. Eventually, Gronkowski decided to pull the trigger and purchased $69,000 worth of Apple shares. It was a rather large investment for a first-time stock buyer, but Gronkowski told Fortune, “I’m going to go big, yeah obviously, this just fits along the lines of just me being myself.”
Gronkowski purchased the shares in 2014 after calling his financial advisor and telling him to make the deal. He may not have meant to buy and hold the stocks, but that’s exactly what happened. Maybe Gronkowski was so busy having fun that he forgot about his investment. “So, then all of a sudden, I forgot about it,” Gronkowski said.
“Then, it’s like 2 ½ years later and the shares are worth $250,000,” Gronkowski continued. He concluded the story of his investment adventure by telling Fortune, “So, I sell off the portion of the $69,000 that I used to buy it and I have now, to this date, I have over $600,000 in Apple Stock all because of the investment I made in 2014 having no idea what I was doing, but just listening to the man that built my house.”
It’s an incredible story, and luckily for Gronkowski, his contractor gave him a good tip. Nevertheless, you may want to be more cautious about where you get your investment advice. Unlike Rob Gronkowski, you probably don’t have a $70 million cushion to fall back on. However, Gronkowski’s successful foray into stock trading illustrates how lucrative the right investment can be.
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