Tennis superstar Serena Williams is one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, but money has never gotten to her head.
"I've actually never played for money — I just thought you would go out there and hold a trophy," Williams told sports business manager Maverick Carter on the personal finance video series "Kneading Dough." "Not once did I think about a check."
In fact, she was so unconcerned about cash, that when she got her first million-dollar paycheck, she didn't spend it — or even take photo of it as a keepsake.
She simply deposited it and let it be.
"I never touched [the money] — just put it in the bank," she told Carter. "And I remember I went through the drive-thru to deposit my check, and then they were like, 'I think you need to come in for this,' and so I ended up going inside, so I was like ... 'Just put it in my account!'"
The 35-year-old, who made $27 million last year, credits her parents for teaching her the value of a dollar at a very young age.
"I never ever ever felt broke," she told Carter. "Looking back, I'm like, 'Wow, we lived in a two-bedroom house with seven people' ... I don't know how my parents were able to make me feel that way, but they did, and that was something really special. So I never felt when I came into money that I needed to go buy this [or that] because I never wanted anything, so it was a great way [to grow up]."