"When you find that next passion, everything else will make sense" - Kobe Bryant's advice for investment after retirement
When NBA legend Kobe Bryant called it a career, his next focus was pursuing his passion outside of the basketball court. That’s why before his passing, the “Black Mamba” had an active investment career and a growing interest in the entertainment storytelling industry, and he even won an Oscar for his work “Dear Basketball.”
In an interview with CNBC, Bryant explained why it was so important for him to pursue these ventures after retirement:
“Once you retire, you don’t have that source of income that’s coming in, right? So even if you save over a 15-year career, your spending habits remain the same, and eventually, that wells gonna run dry, right? So unfortunately for us athletes, the retirement age is 32, 34, or, if you’re lucky, 37, like myself. What comes next? So the question needs to be what comes next? What can I do? What is my passion? Not where I can create the most value or generate the most revenue but what is my next passion? When you find that next passion, everything else will make sense but that’s the hardest part for us,” Bryant explained.
The Mamba mentality outside the court
It’s not a coincidence that Bryant mentioned how an athlete’s spending habits remain the same even after they retire. There have been multiple former NBA players in the past, like Lou Williams, who have admitted that it’s easy for them to go broke after retirement. That has a lot to do with the fact that they continue to live lavish lifestyles while not having the means to sustain that after their NBA careers.
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For Bean, it was different. He continued to apply the same mamba mentality post-retirement in pursuit of finding that next venture he was equally passionate about after basketball.
“You have to constantly learn, and that’s why our mantra is value growth because to grow, you have to constantly learn. You have to constantly move and improve. I mean, that’s the key. That’s what makes life fun I think,” Bryant added.
Kobe’s investments
After Bryant retired from basketball in 2016, he spent his last four years building his investments with Body Armour, where his stock reportedly skyrocketed from $6 million to $400 million in 2021. On top of that, the five-time champion partnered with entrepreneur Jeff Stibel to launch a venture capital company called Bryant-Stibel, which invested in technology, media, and data companies. According to CNN Business, Bryant-Stibel counted more than $2 billion in assets by 2021.
Aside from his business investments, Bryant also founded Granity Studios, a private media company that is focused on storytelling around sports. Through Granity Studios, Kobe was able to create and publish several stories and audiobooks such as “Dear Basketball,” “The Wizard Series," and “Detail,” among others.
Suffice it to say that the Lakers legend achieved his goal post-retirement, which was to find that next chapter in his life, but unfortunately, it didn’t last for a long time.
