Tom Brady is one of the most decorated players in the NFL history. What’s Tom Brady net worth, and what can we learn from him?
Tom Brady net worth is estimated to be an impressive $300 million according to Celebrity Net Worth. In a year alone, he earns approximately $45 million and is ranked #64 on Forbes list of wealthiest celebrities.
Tom Brady is also one of my favourite athletes of all times. Today, I thought it would be very interesting to provide a detail blog post on Tom Brady’s net worth, including how he got started, how he made his money, where he is now, and the lessons we can learn from his path to wealth.
Table of Contents
Tom Brady’s net worth: Basic stats
Here is a summary of Tom Brady’s basic stats:
- Full Name: Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr.
- Birthday: August 3, 1977
- Famous for: football
- Source of wealth: his career as an American football quarterback, endorsements, and entrepreneurial efforts
Tom Brady net worth: Early life and personal life
Tom Brady was born in San Mateo, California on August 3, 1977. His parents are Galynn Patricia (née Johnson) and Thomas Brady Sr. Tom Brady has three older sisters, Nancy, Julie, and Maureen, and was raised as a Catholic. His father is of Irish descent, while his mother has German, Norwegian, Polish, and Swedish ancestry.
When Brady was young, he was a fan of quarterback Joe Montana, a legendary quarterback played primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Tom Brady has called Montana his idol and one of his inspirations. He attended Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, where he graduated in 1995. He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school.
Tom Brady was married (but now is divorced) to Brazilian supermodel, Gisele Bündchen, who is a successful businesswoman in her own right. She alone has an estimated net worth of about $400 million. Together, the power couple is worth $600 million.
My wife makes a lot of money.
Tom Brady
Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady have two biological kids: a son named Benjamin Rein (born in December 2009), and a daughter named Vivian Lake (born in December 2012). Brady also has another son, John Edward Thomas Moynahan (born in Aug 2007), with actress Bridget Moynahan.
Tom Brady net worth: Career and path to riches
College football career
Brady played college football at the University of Michigan from 1995 to 1999. He had a serious struggle to get playing time, which caused a lot of frustration and anxiety.
He worked closely with assistant athletic director Greg Harden, who met with Brady every week to build his confidence and to maximize his performance on the field. Brady told 60 Minutes in 2014: “He will always be somebody I rely on for sound advice and mentorship. He has helped me with my own personal struggles in both athletics and in life. Greg really pushed me in a direction that I wasn’t sure I could go.”
Professional career in the National Football League (NFL)
Tom Brady was a lightly regarded prospect coming out of college. He was selected with pick number 199, a compensatory pick, in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.
But things took a dramatic turn as soon as he started in the NFL.
Over his career, Brady has won three league MVP awards, six Super Bowl championships, and four Super Bowl MVP Awards. A 14-time Pro Bowler, Brady has also twice led the NFL in passing yards. As a result of his highly successful career, Brady is rated among the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
He spent 20 years of his career with the Patriots under the head coach Bill Belichick – an NFL record for the longest time playing quarterback for one franchise. Due to his late selection and his massive professional success, to this date, Brady is still considered the biggest “steal” in the history of the NFL Draft.
On March 20, 2020, Brady signed a two-year $50 million deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The deal includes a $10-million roster bonus per year.
Retirement
Brady announced his retirement on February 1, 2022, after 22 seasons. However, on March 13, 2022, just 40 days after initially announcing his retirement, Brady announced he would return to the Buccaneers for the 2022 season. This decision is rumoured to have directly contributed to the divorce from his now ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen.
On February 1, 2023, Brady announced on social media he was retiring, “for good”.
Tom Brady’s source of net worth
Tom Brady is an accomplished American football player. Below are his main sources of earnings.
His salary as a professional quarterback
Tom Brady is among the highest-paid NFL players. Throughout his 20+ year career as a star quarterback, Brady has earned an impressive $260,166,804 in total professional career earnings.
Here is a breakdown of his earnings by year, salary and bonus:
| Year | Salary | Bonus | Total earnings |
| 2000 | 193,000 | 38,500 | 231,500 |
| 2001 | 298,000 | 74,160 | 372,160 |
| 2002 | 375,000 | 3,503,780 | 3,878,780 |
| 2003 | 450,000 | 8,679,700 | 9,129,700 |
| 2004 | 535,000 | 5,469,200 | 6,004,200 |
| 2005 | 1,000,000 | 11,004,180 | 12,004,180 |
| 2006 | 4,000,000 | 10,004,840 | 14,004,840 |
| 2007 | 720,000 | 11,785,160 | 12,505,160 |
| 2008 | 5,000,000 | 3,001,320 | 8,001,320 |
| 2009 | 5,000,000 | 3,000,000 | 8,000,000 |
| 2010 | 7,500,000 | 9,000,000 | 16,500,000 |
| 2011 | 575,000 | 19,175,000 | 19,750,000 |
| 2012 | 950,000 | 11,050,000 | 12,000,000 |
| 2013 | 1,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 13,000,000 |
| 2014 | 2,000,000 | 17,000,000 | 19,000,000 |
| 2015 | 800,000 | 12,210,663 | 13,010,663 |
| 2016 | 764,705 | 14,009,596 | 14,774,301 |
| 2017 | 1,000,000 | 14,000,000 | 15,000,000 |
| 2018 | 4,000,000 | 11,000,000 | 15,000,000 |
| 2019 | 1,750,000 | 21,250,000 | 23,000,000 |
| 2020 | 15,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 25,000,000 |
| Total | 52,910,705 | 207,256,099 | 260,166,804 |
As you can see, approximately only 20% of his income is basic salary. The rest 80% comes from the bonuses, including signing bonus, roster bonus, workout bonus, restructure bonus, option bonus and incentives.
Endorsement deals
As a popular athlete, Brady also has a second and lucrative stream of income: endorsements.
Throughout his career, he has earned an additional approximately $100 million from endorsements.
His past and current endorsement partners include Under Armour, Aston Martin, TAG Heuer, Molecule Mattresses, Upper Deck and IWC watches. The Under Armour deal is his most lucrative deal, and it includes a Brady line of athletic shoes, workout clothes and sports gear.
His entrepreneurial efforts
TB12 lifestyle brand
In recent years, Brady has focused on his lifestyle brand. The brand sells apparel, food, supplements, equipment and accessories and has locations in Boston and in Foxborough at Gillette Stadium.
199 Productions
He also recently launched a production company, 199 Productions, to develop documentaries, films and television programming. The name is a reference to his NFL Draft position, which was 199th overall.
Tom Brady net worth: Lessons learned from his path to wealth
With seven Super Bowl rings on his hands, five Super Bowl MVP titles and three NFL MVP titles, Tom Brady is certainly one of the greatest quarterbacks of all times. Although we may not necessarily be able to replicate his talent (unless you are an evil alien from Space Jam), we can still learn a lot from him.
Here are a few key lessons we can learn from Brady’s path to wealth:
Don’t give up
Nobody predicted that Tom Brady would turn out to be as explosive of a force on the professional football field as he proved himself to be. As he said himself,
I was the kid that was the 199th pick that never had the body for it. People didn’t think I’d play one year in the NFL.
Tom Brady
I remember watching this documentary on Brady’s draft story on YouTube and feeling disappointed for him and his family. It truly was a journey that no one wanted. Even today, there are still plenty of people saying mean things about him. For more information, you may want to check out his appearance on Jim Kimmel Live, where he read mean tweets alongside other NFL stars including Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Corey Clement, Joey Bosa, Devin Funchess, Sony Michel, Todd Gurley, Jay Ajayi, Clay Matthews, Jared Goff, Michael Irvin and Terry Bradshaw.
Can you imagine what would have happened had Brady given up on himself? We would have missed the chance of witnessing a football legend.
Don’t give up. Have faith in yourself, even if the world is doubting you.
Have multiple streams of income
As I showed you above in the chart, Tom Brady doesn’t just rely on his professional income to amass such an impressive wealth. In addition to income from the Patriots and now the Buccaneers, he also has earnings from endorsements. He even goes out and start his own companies, and have found success in his own lifestyle brand and production company.
Having multiple streams of income is a great strategy that all of us should implement. Its importance has been made extra apparent in the ongoing pandemic. With unemployment rates sourcing around the globe, many have lost their main sources of income. Even for the lucky ones who still have our primary jobs, it is difficult not to worry about what would happen if we get laid off unexpectedly.
Here are some great ideas to start a secondary or a tertiary stream of income for yourself.
- Join online surveys sites like Swagbucks, MyPoints, and Survey Junkie
- Check out my reviews on Swagbucks, MyPoints and Survey Junkie!
- Take advantage of cash-back apps and sites like Drop (check out my Drop app review here!) and Rakuten
- Sell unused items online
- Run some errands by becoming an Instacart Shopper
- Participate in the gig economy by becoming a DoorDash driver or a Rover pet sitter
- Invest in dividend-paying stocks with Acorns (Acorns review here)
Learn how to negotiate your total compensation package
As you can see in Brady’s income numbers, a much larger portion of his income comes from bonuses. As you progress in your career, this will gradually become your reality as well. This makes it extremely important to not only negotiate your basic salary, but also your bonus. A small percentage increase in bonus can lead to a fairly big increase in actual income you receive.
Aside from bonuses, it is equally important to negotiate other subsidiary items like your vacation day and health benefits. At the end of the day, learning how to negotiate your total compensation package will ensure that you get paid fairly.
Establish and maintain a routine
Tom Brady is known for his strict and someone controversial regimen, known as the TB12 Method. He advocates drinking 1/32 of one’s body weight in water each day, and has himself admitted to consuming “a couple hundred ounces” daily. He also avoids consuming most fruits, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, coffee, Gatorade, white sugar, flour, gluten, dairy, soda, cereal, white rice, potatoes, and bread.
Although we may not necessarily need to adhere to such a strict diet, Brady’s success has demonstrated that routines are critical to maintaining optimal performance level. I recommend that you start by establishing a productive morning routine. It establishes the tone for our days and helps us feel motivated to tackle all the challenges there is to come.
Brady’s regimen focuses on what he eats because the food he consumes has a direct impact on his health. If you want to improve your personal finances, you may want to try another form of diet, called a cash diet. It is very effective in curbing your overspending habits.
Favourite quotes from Tom Brady
Here are some of my favourite quotes from Tom Brady. I find them particularly inspiring.
A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don’t ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren’t blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.
Tom Brady
To me, football is so much about mental toughness. It’s digging deep, it’s doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.
Tom Brady
Summary: Tom Brady’s net worth and lessons learned
Tom Brady’s net worth is an astounding $200 million. He amassed his riches primarily through his successful career as an American football quarterback, but he also has earned significant amounts through endorsement deals and his entrepreneurial efforts.
I hope you have all learned a thing or two from his story. Although we may not necessarily become the next six-time super bowl champion, these principles are applicable for us all:
- Don’t give up
- Have multiple streams of income
- Learn how to negotiate
- Keep up with your routine
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