Pro skateboarder Tony Hawk was making $160,000 before most kids got their driver’s license. It was the late ‘80s and Hawk was widely considered to be one of the best competitive skateboarders in the world. (With inflation, that would be nearly half a million dollars.)

But in the 1990s, skateboarding’s popularity took a nose dive. And so did Hawk’s income. In a sitdown interview with influencer Vivian Tu, Hawk opened up about what he’s learned from his financial ups and downs.

Here are some excerpts from the interview, featured in the latest episode of the Youtube series Richer Lives by SoFi.

On managing a large income as a teenager:

I didn’t have very good perspective on it. My dad was trying to guide me and warn me, ‘Hey, this might not last forever.’ And when you’re that age and the money comes so consistently, you don’t see an end in sight. And so I just spent it carelessly.

On what he regrets spending money on:

Sharper Image was a big thing back then. Sharper Image was like where all the new tech toys were, and they were super expensive. And I would just go there and blow through the store, get whatever was new. And probably, the most ridiculous purchase was a tanning bed. I thought, somehow, that would be cool to have a tanning bed. I live in Southern California. Why am I buying a tanning bed?

On the money lessons he’s learned:

I definitely was not making as much as I was spending.

I had a water bill that I had to go make payments on.

That’s when things got really tricky and a little scary.

And it was a wakeup call. You should always be living so that you know you have savings.

It was hard, man. We were living on top of the world, and all of a sudden, it’s like, do I have to go to a 9-to-5?

On how having a child changed his thinking about money:

That’s when I really started cutting back on all expenses. And I mean, it was definitely Taco Bell, Top Ramen, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

It made me hustle like never before and take every odd job I could to make ends meet.

On balancing family and work after the success of his video game:

Suddenly, I just had all kinds of crazy opportunities. And it was hard for me to shake the mindset that I had, where I had to hustle to make ends meet. I had to take every single opportunity.

I learned to say no. It’s so hard. It’s hard. Especially when you had to struggle to pay your bills, and then suddenly, things are wildly successful. How could you turn it down?

On how the video game changed his life:

It just allowed me to explore what would be possible in skating while having this fantastical success with video games. It was amazing. I mean, it still is.

If you hear someone say my name, it’s not certain that they’re talking about me as a person, or they’re talking about a video game. It’s more likely they’re talking about the video game series.


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