In a recent interview published by Cash App, Serena Williams revealed the first thing she bought with her own pocket money. “What’s the first thing you bought with your own money,” the interviewer asked. “I remember, I used to get a little allowance.
I would buy a box of donuts, like the dozen. And I would sell them for a dime each. The box was 99 cents and actually I would sell them for a quarter each. So I was always, you know, turning and trying to make cash,” Serena Williams answered.
“Baby hustler, I love that,” the interviewer mentioned.
The best financial advice Serena Williams got from her father as a child
Serena spoke to former NBA player Jay Williams during a Chase Chats webcast in which she shared the best financial advice that her father shared with her when she was a child.
“My dad always said ‘athletes lose their money. He always talked about the importance of not losing it once you get it and not just buying everything you see. That has stuck with me for my whole life”. Although that advice stuck with her, Serena says she wished she had learnt more about money at a younger age.
“Honestly, I wish I had learned more about banking and how it works — what happens in a savings account versus what happens in a checking account versus what happens when you put your money investing with the bank.
I didn’t learn that until way later and I really wish I would have learned that sooner so that I could have made my money work for me in different ways sooner and probably better,” said Williams. Serena also has her own venture fund – which invests in other businesses and is already trying to teach her daughter – Alexis Olympia – some of the basics of finances early on.
“When it comes to finances, I told her the other day, ‘if you break that, you have to pay for it. I’m already trying to tell her a little bit about the financial responsibilities,” said Serena.
