Nuffnang

Thursday, May 31, 2012

DeShawn and the ATM



That is Nets shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson in his home kitchen. He posted that on his Instagram account. You'll see a lot of things that you would normally see, except for that one little thing to his right.

That one little thing is an ATM machine.

Now why would someone have such an item installed in his house? According to SB Nation's Andrew Sharp, he views it as an alternative means of avoiding surcharges. Someone also thought of this from one of the commenters of SB Nation:
Here’s a different perspective. Say Stevenson is the type of person who needs large amounts of cash on hand at any given time (and can’t make it to a bank when he needs it). If so, then that money is sitting dead in his house, not gathering interest. But if he has it in the bank, and can pull it out at any time with the ATM, it’s gathering interest AND he has the same access as if the money were sitting under his mattress. Not to mention the protection from robbery, FDIC insurance, and other intangible benefits.

If this is the case, then the proper cost-benefit analysis compares the ATM rental to the interest earned on the maximum amount of money the ATM can hold.

$65 * 12months is $780. So it costs him $780/year to keep the ATM. Using the simple interest formula (for simplicity!) I=Prt, t=1 and I = 780. You can then plug in different interest rates to see how much money the ATM needs to hold for it to be better than keeping money in a safe.

For example:
2.5% interest = $31,200
5% interest = $15,600
7.5% interest = $10,400
10% interest = $7,800

Etc.

Maybe he’s just a man who needs cash handy, but hates losing money. Maybe DeShawn Stevenson is the wisest of us all.

Considering how NBA players need to have cash on hand at the ready given their spending habits, it makes sense in Deshawn's thinking to have an ATM at home. It is also important to note that this is also the same guy who has Abe Lincoln tattooed on his neck.

DeShawn, who was an integral part of the Mavericks' run for the championship last season, averaged 2.9 points in 51 games for the New Jersey Nets, making 30 starts. He made $2.5 million last season.

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