Money advice Alex Rodriguez would give his younger self and pros

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Alex Rodriguez was the first overall draft pick in 1993 and played for the Seattle Mariners from 1994 to 2000

While life as an athlete can be incredibly lucrative, as Rodriguez notes, it can also be short-lived. On average, an MLB player can expect their career to last 5.6 years. The average career length for other professional athletes is even shorter: less than five years for NBA players and just 3.3 years for NFL players.

Despite the short career length, “you have an incredible opportunity if you’re frugal and you’re smart and you put your money away early,” says Rodriguez. “The ability to have compound interest over 20, 30, 40 years — you can be a very wealthy young person in a very short period of time.”

Rodriguez, who played his last game as a Yankee in August 2016, is now transitioning to a career in business as CEO of A-ROD CORP, the holding company he started 15 years ago for his various investments.