Category Archives: Pop Culture

Financial Independence, Investing, Pop Culture

LA28 Olympic premium tickets $5,000 price tag costs more than a mortgage

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Happy Spring!! The weather is slowly warming up and that means new concerts and the summer movies season has begun. The Mario Galaxy movie has brought in over $800M+ worldwide.

This weekend the Michael biopic exploded or should I say moonwalked to a $200M+ global box office opening!

Not only are the movies generating a lot of buzz, but so is the upcoming Olympics. This is the first time the U.S. will host the games since 1984. Therefore, demand for tickets are sky high! This will all go down in Los Angeles in 2028 (LA28). However, tickets are dropping a full two years prior to the start of the games.

LA28 Olympic ticket prices average under $200 per ticket, with approximately 75% of all tickets priced under $400. While over 1 million tickets start at $28, premier seats for high-demand events exceed $1,000. Ticket purchases include a mandatory service fee of roughly 24%.

Reports stated that premium events could fetch as much as $5,000 per ticket. That’s insane!

Key Pricing Details for LA28 (as of April 2026):

  • Average Cost: Stated by LA28 to be under $200.
  • Budget Options: Over 1 million tickets are available for $28.
  • General Availability: Roughly 50% of tickets are under $200, and over 75% are under $400.
  • Premium Pricing: About 5% of tickets, primarily for high-demand events, cost more than $1,000.
  • Fees: A ~24% service charge is added to ticket purchases.
  • Inventory: The first drop sold 4 million tickets, with subsequent, more expensive inventory expected in late 2026.

Although, the Olympic committee states that there are one million $28 tickets, those sold out fast. That’s when the backlash started.

According to Fox news Los Angeles, LA28 Olympic ticket sales have sparked backlash, with many marquee event tickets listed as premium seats exceeding $5,000 during the initial “Drop 1” in April 2026. While organizers emphasize that 30%–50% of total tickets are under $200 and many are $28, high-demand events like the Opening Ceremony are seeing significantly elevated prices.

Key details regarding high-priced tickets and ticket sales:

  • Pricing Structure: While “premium” or marquee event seats can exceed $5,000, LA28 states that only 5% of tickets are priced over $1,000, and 75% are under $400.
  • Ticket Drop 1 Issues: The initial global sale, which began on April 9, 2026, saw high demand, with many users reporting only expensive, premium, or hospitality-level tickets remained for top events.

The 1st ticket drop just happened two weeks again and already the low cost tickets are basically all sold out!

2028 Olympic Opening Ceremony tickets range from approximately $329 to over $5,500 for a single seat in the initial sales, with many lower-priced options selling out instantly. While 75% of total, general tickets are under $400, premium, high-demand tickets for the ceremony are reaching $5,000+ per seat, often carrying a 24% service.

That means other drops have not even happened yet so many folks will not get to see the historic Olympic games. And for those Angelenos that did not win the ticket lottery to the first drop, many of them will be priced out of the games happening in their own backyard.

Keep in mind that the average mortgage payment for all homeowners is $2,005.

According the the National Association of Realtors, as of early 2026, the average monthly mortgage payment in the U.S. has exceeded $2,000 for the first time, with some estimates putting the average closer to $2,300–$2,700 for new buyers when including taxes and insurance. Payments for existing homeowners are generally lower, while new buyers face higher, record-setting costs due to increased interest rates and home prices.

That means if you want those marquee seats for LA28 events such as the opening ceremony, then you have to pony up two whole months of mortgage payments!

Most folks cannot justify spending thousands of dollars for a 2-3 hour sporting event.

A recent article in Forbes reported that had you invested in this one stock just one year ago, you would be a millionaire today.

Based on April 2026 reports, a $35,000 investment in SanDisk (SNDK) one year prior would be worth over million today. The stock surged by $2,700%. If I had a crystal ball, I would have bought this stock instead of vacationing in Florida!

Just earlier this year in February, it was reported that 50% of Americans have $0 saved for retirement. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Says ‘Almost No One Is Close’ To Saving The Nearly $2.1M Americans say they need.

If so many people are unprepared for retirement, there is no way they can afford $1,000+ tickets for one event.

These ticket prices even made me blush and I have been preparing for retirement for years!

I cut expenses to the bone, paid off expensive debt including my $450 car payment, and starting saving and investing money like it was an Olympic sport (pun intended)!

That’s how your girl eventually ending up getting the greenlight to be a story featured on Business Insider.

See my post How this FIRE blogger got featured on Business Insider

My investment portfolio has only gone up from there.

I went from starting at $0 to eventually over $551,000!

My inital goal when I started keeping this digital scorecard was $100,000. After I blew past that, I went to my next goal of $500,000.

Going from zero to half a million took over a decade!

The next rung on the retirement success ladder is $1M.

All I know is if you are lucky enough to get your hands on $5,000, then you may want to invest in real estate or stocks. These assets and investments will go up in value over time.

See my post about real state investing with a Roth IRA

When I get my hands on any excess discretionary funds, I tend to go with putting it in my Roth IRA. It may not be as fun and sexy as going to the Olympics, but over $500,000 in investments later, I do regret my decision.

My advise is simple: skip the ticket buying queue and go buy some stocks!

About the Author

Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.

Pop Culture, Wealth

You’ve Got Gold: Net worth of US Olympians with Gold Medals won in Paris

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As I write this, the USA has won the most medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, ranking them number one overall. Some of the most exciting events included track and field, swimming, gymnastics and basketball.

And as of today, Monday 8/12/2024, the Olympic flag has arrived in Los Angeles ahead of LA 2028. That’s right. The next Olympics will be played on US soil.

I’m not going to talk your head off so let’s get right down to it. Sourced from a variety of sources from a quick Google search. Here are the US athletes with the most medal wins and highest net worth’s. You know, just in case you were wondering.

Credit: AP

And although he is not a USA athlete, I had to give honorable mention to Carlos Yulo. He became the Phillipines first male gold medalist and was gifted a 3-bedroom condo worth over $500,000 and prize money of approximately $346,000 plus free food for life!

KD is dropping buckets and minting money at a breakneck pace. As part of team USA, Durant won gold medals in 2012, 2016 and 2020. And after his last win on 8/10/24 this year, he has become the most successful athlete ever in an Olympic team sport.

Steph Curry also known as Chef Curry has become an Olympic Gold Medalist. The NBA All-Star first signed with Under Armour in 2013 in a deal worth about $4 million per year. Then he re-upped and got an even bigger contract, this time with an equity stake in the company. He helped the men’s basketball team bring home the gold in an electrifying finish in the last quarter.

And the richest USA Olympic athlete…LeBron James ofcourse!

Off the court, he is a shrewd businessman, who has his hands in multiple million-dollar endorsement deals with Nike, McDonald’s and Pepsi. he is said to earn $55 million yearly just from endorsements. It’s good to be King.

Concert Tickets, Pop Culture

Beyonce concert tickets securing the bag

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Beyoncé anuncia turnê 'Renaissance World Tour': veja datas e locais!
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It has been a long road to get to a point where wearing a facial mask is now optional.

Like most of the world, I too am suffering from pandemic fatigue. After watching the stock market drop 20%, housing prices skyrocket, inflation go through the roof, new car price sticker shock and the cost of food and college tuition go up, it would be great to go to a live concert as a way to unwind.

People, Woman, Dark, Night, Worship

Alas, this too seems to have priced people out.

In February, Beyoncé announced her fist World Tour in six years. There was only one catch: you had to be a Beehive member or a Citi credit card holder in order to get your tickets through Ticketmaster in the presale, if you wanted a chance to secure your spot.

Beyoncé tickets securing the bag

If you were not previously a Beehive fan club member prior to tickets going on sale, then you were out of luck as you could not sign up just to get in on the presale.

However, you could apply and get approved for Citibank credit card, but there are no guarantees there.

Basically, you had to be a person of considerable means to get concert tickets. Either through internet access or good credit.

According to the United Nations, an estimated 37 per cent of the world’s population – or 2.9 billion people – have still never, ever used the Internet.

And then there are those that are not the best off financially and lack good credit scores.

According to the FDIC, an estimated 4.5 percent of U.S. households (approximately 5.9 million) were “unbanked” in 2021, meaning that no one in the household had a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union.

There are many people who do not have credit cards, let alone with just one issuer. This means that billions of people had no way to buy concert tickets. Only those with means were able to do so in the presale.

And for those with means, you would not believe the lengths they were willing to go through to get them. Some even bought tickets out of the state or even the country to get access to them cheaper.

It is also hard to get tickets after the presale as the Beyoncé concert had a lottery system. If you did not get an access code, after winning the lottery, then you were sh*t out of luck.

Getting concert tickets are starting to be harder than getting into college.

The new status symbol: concert tickets

If you wait until after the presale, most tickets are gone.

Snatched up by the folks that could get access and then resold for a higher price. There were tickets going for as high as $9,800 on sites like StubHub and Vivid Seats.

I can’t even imagine paying anywhere close to $10,000 to go to a three-hour concert. That’s just insane! This is a one-night only event.

There were even tickets that were ranging for $500 all the way up to $3,500 for VIP. That is more than many folks are even paying for their mortgages across the country. There is no way to justify spending that type of money on one item or experience, if you truly do not have the resources.

ticetmaster.com

Money like that could be used for down payments or closing costs on houses.

It is becoming more expensive to go see your favorite artist. Concert tickets are starting to become another status symbol and only for millionaires.

My suggestion is to create a fun savings account so that you have funds readily available when you do want to go to concerts, sporting events or travel. Do not put this on credit. You could wind up paying for this expense for years just to have fun for a few hours.

My advice: skip anything that puts you into debt, even concerts. Better to have your financial house in order than having fun. The fun will come after the money is in your bank account and not when its on empty.