I must admit that I am fully in the grip of  the Tiger Woods Twelve Days of Mistress saga. As this maelstrom continues to swirl I find myself dragged to the filthy, murky, depths of the Interwebs (also known as TMZ) gleefully feeding on every juicy morsel of rumor, innuendo and pseudo-news ginned up by the press.

I am by no means alone in this regard. Internet traffic has surged since this story broke, with hits to some sites up 600 percent.  But I’m not looking for pics of his paramours (although I don’t object to seeing a few shots of hotties in bikinis here and there) or info from the police reports.

See, I don’t care about his floozies or his family, I want to know about his finances.

Unless your cable has been cut off for nonpayment or you’ve been hiding from bill collectors with all the lights shut off, you already know the story. Tiger Woods, the world’s greatest golfer and most recognizable athlete, crashed his Cadillac into a fire hydrant and tree in the wee hours on Thanksgiving night. Woods was found bloodied on the ground and taken to the hospital where he claimed that his wife Elin had to use a golf club to bust out the windows and free him. He refused to meet with police to discuss the incident.

Rumors surfaced about an alleged affair by Woods and a different use of the golf club by Elin. With the cat out of the bag, a growing cadre of waitresses, hostesses, porn stars and other skanks surfaced with claims of being Tiger vixens, some with proof in the form of sexy text messages and panicked voicemails. Tiger publicly admitted to his “transgressions” and is now taking an indefinite hiatus from golf.

Over the course of his career, Tiger Woods is estimated to have earned over one billion dollars in prize money and endorsements. Mostly endorsements. Upper crust companies like Nike, Gillette, Accenture, AT&T and American Express have hitched their wagon to Woods by paying him to be their picture-perfect spokesman. His sponsors have publicly stated that they’ll stick by him, but how long will that last if he stays away from the game and even more details surface about his infidelity?

Maybe not as long as you think. According to media tracker Nielsen, the last time a commercial featuring Woods appeared on television was November 29th. Before that day, they were just about everywhere.

With his income potentially taking a hit, Tiger’s expenses are about to go up as well. Various media sources are reporting that Elin has negotiated a revision of their prenuptial agreement with new guarantees of $20 million to $55 million, depending on who you ask. The situation is developing very quickly and the couple has always been very private, so how things unfold (and how much his hanky-panky will eventually cost him) won’t be fully known for some time.

So a very bad habit is going to cost a very rich man some serious cash. But he can afford it. Debt blog readers can ill afford the vices that strain the wallet. What are you doing that’s dragging down your earnings or costing you money? Is it procrastination? Smoking? A twice-daily Starbucks fix? A gadget fetish? We’re almost all guilty, we just don’t all end up on the cover of People for our foibles.

So think about what you’re doing wrong (if not morally, then fiscally) that you can cut out of your life to get back on a winning path. Don’t be a Tiger.

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