NFL’s Gronkowski Names Overlooked Apple Shares His Best Deal
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Retired four-time NFL Super Bowl champion tight end Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski says the best investment he ever made was $69,000 of Apple stock he bought and forgot about until years later, when he discovered his investment had increased over the years and he now had stock worth $250,000.
Gronkowski did not blow the millions he earned from his 11-season stint in the NFL. However, he is apparently willing to take investment advice from a man who was building a house for him. Gronk told Fortune magazine that the man simply would not shut up about Apple stock. Gronk finally gave in and invested a small amount in AAPL stock. Well, a small amount for a Super Bowl-winning tight end, anyway.
Financial Advice From an Unexpected Source
“Every time I saw him, when we were building the house, he kept saying, ‘Get Apple. Get Apple,'” Gronkowski said. “So after the 50th time, I got it. And let me tell you, it’s the best investment I’ve ever had in my life.”
“I [had] never been involved in stocks,” he continued. “I really didn’t know how stocks work.”
“So I call up my financial advisor. I’m like ‘put $69,000 in Apple’,” explains Gronk. “My own money, with no advice like this, is just from the guy who built my house here in the New England area.”
The Forgotten Investment
Gronkowski says he then forgot about the investment until two years later. When he checked on his Apple stock, he found that the stock had performed quite well for him. His initial $69,000 had grown to $250,000.
It turned out the home builder couldn’t have picked a better time to push Gronk to invest in Apple stock. Apple had just had a poor financial year in 2013, and in what proved to be a big blunder for money managers, it had been predicted that 2014 would bring more of the same.
Instead, on the back of the debut of the Apple Watch, unexpectedly strong Mac sales, and a super-successful launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple blew away analysts’ predictions, resulting in a dramatic jump in the price of AAPL shares.
Gronk Holds On To His Apple Stock
Gronkowski didn’t take the money and run. Instead, he’s hung on to his Apple stock and enjoyed the returns over the years, watching his investment continue to grow in value.
“Now to this day, I have over $600,000 in Apple stock, all because of the investment I made in 2014 having no idea what I was doing,” said Gronkowski, “but just listening to the guy that built my house here in New England.”
While Gronk doesn’t know whether the house builder actually invested in Apple, he’s happy with the investment advice the builder gave him.
“Let me tell you, he built my house, and he gave all the money back to me by telling me to invest in Apple,” he said.
Gronkowski spent 11 seasons in the NFL, the first nine playing for the New England Patriots, playing pitch and catch with GOAT quarterback Tom Brady while they won three Super Bowls. While Gronkowski retired at the end of the 2018 season, Brady lured him out of retirement when he moved to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where the duo led the Bucs to a Super Bowl win.
