The Lebron James-Chris Bosh-Dwyane Wade ESPN free agency signing decision documentary is a great example for people to learn some risk assessment lessons when deciding whether or not to relocate at a given time. Sure, pundits were highly critical of the idea of the telecast, saying it marked a new low in athlete narcissism, as well as how it was carried out. But nevertheless, Lebron James had been an extremely basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chris Bosh an extremely effective power forward for the Toronto Raptors, and Dwyane Wade an athletic all-around player for the Miami Heat. However, it has been a choice between safety and loyalty vs. ambitions and accolades. Ultimately, the ambition of winning championships on a better team won out in James’s mind. This post analyzes some sports related relocation examples and how it applies to us as normal workers or entrepreneurs trying to decide if and when to relocate.
Many people refuse to relocate perhaps due to the perceived comfort and security (even though security is really non-existent these days) of status quo aside from staying close with their friends and families. Money is also an issue for common employees as well as some professional athletes. In the case of Lebron James, money is not an issue for him, as he generates more income from commercials than his payroll on any team. Money isn’t an issue for Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade either. In fact, all three athletes stated in the interviews that they are willing to take less money in order for the team to have enough money left over to sign other support players. What matters to them is winning championships. Championships fall in the achievements and accolades category, which makes one’s life more interesting. However, Amare Stoudemire left for the New York Knicks when opting out of the final year of the contract with the Phoenix Suns perhaps because money, as he signed for a maximum dollar figure contract as per the collective bargaining agreement. However, the Knicks have been spending boatloads of money in the past signing the wrong players and stayed consistently in the bottom cellar, while the Suns would have actually given Stoudemire better chances of winning a championships as they consistently progress deep into the postseason.
The dynamic trio in South Beach is still no guarantee of ultimate success of winning championships (need to be reminded about the star-studded Los Angeles Lakers team in 2004?). Using professional hockey as another example, recent athlete who demonstrated this choice on an annual basis for the past three years is Marian Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks, the current defending Stanley Cup Champions of the National Hockey League. In 2008 NHL Trade Deadline, unlikely to resign a new contract with his team, Atlanta Thrashers, unlikely to make the playoffs at the time, his contract was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins with another player for a package of young roster players and prospects. The Pittsburgh Penguins progressed all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals that year, only to lose to the Detroit Red Wings. During the offseason that year, Hossa turned down numerous lucrative multi-year offers (including the Pittsburgh Penguins) to sign a 1-year deal with the then-defending champions, Detroit Red Wings. Ironically, his Detroit Red Wings team lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals. After having a lackluster post-season with the Detroit Red Wings, and potentially unable to attract a lucrative long-term contract if he chose the same decision of signing another short-term contract, he ultimately signed a 12-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks (which was very close to having the pieces to win a championship, and they did last month). A very concrete example of making relocation choices not necessarily translating into successes contributing to a more interesting life.
According to the research from Nattavudh Powdthavee of University of London shows that to make up for the decrease in happiness that you experience when you leave family and friends, you would need to make $133,000 more than you were earning before the relocation. However, I disagree in some respects to this argument. Not everyone has the same level of happiness when dealing with family and friends. Heck, not everyone has the same number of family and friends, as some people have very few family and friends. Relocation for the latter group may make marginal differences when it comes to family and friends. Furthermore, very few people know how to work on income muses to take the factor of money out of the equation in terms of assessing relocation options. Relocation should be ultimately about better odds of doing what makes you happy. From the perspectives of myself and like-minded people such as Everett Bogue and Karol Gajda, we have very firm control of when and where to relocate, as the lifestyles resembles long-term backpackers where relocations happen in a matter of weeks to months rather than pondering the possibility of staying at a certain place supposedly “happily ever after.” This behavior resembles selected professional athletes who are professional journeymen (some bounce between 4 different teams within a calendar year), although most circumstances are out of their control (the team either does not have enough money to resign that player or he/she is just not playing well enough to stay on the team for more than 1 year or two). Money and risk bottlenecks in the decision can be eliminated by income muses generated by publishing products of what enough people care enough about to pay for them (there are numerous guides to get started on this topic out there, but mainly revolving around some recommendations in the 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss), working in short-term opportunities along the traveling itinerary, and gutting or selling whatever you are afraid to lose.
There is one statement that I agree with Penelope Trunk’s analysis of the Lebron James’s decision: screw trying to make everyone happy. Obviously, you can’t, and often you will suffer consequences from trying to do so. When it comes to tough decisions, make sure your self-interests have been met first before thinking about other factors.
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