It's really common for people to criticize professional athletes for trusting unscrupulous business managers, but I've always wondered how many of those people fully understand their own investments. Do they trust a CFA's word? Do they have there entire 401k invested in a vanguard target date fund but do they comprehend what its composition is?
You don't need to fully understand what is in a Vangaurd target date fund to have high confidence that it isn't a ponzi scheme that's going to go to zero. You can't say the same thing about the ultra-exclusive off the market opportunity that some business manager wants to put you in.
For a pro athlete looking at making millions for a few years and then facing a sharp drop-off thereafter, a Vanguard target date fund is probably not close to optimal. But you could do far worse and many do!
When you make that kind of money suddenly you're an accredited investor. It's supposed to mean you're a sophisticated enough investor to take on riskier investments, but the way it's implemented it only measures if you can take a loss (either you have > $1mil in assets or make $200k+/year). Thus people like athletes are exposed to much riskier investment deals than they really have the ability to comprehend. I don't blame anyone for losing money, let alone athletes.
To answer your question, I personally don't know all the details about my Vanguard fund, though I understand the basics. But that's very different from a slick salesman in a suit selling me an opportunity to invest in Brazil in a high-risk high-return investment scheme.
