Kanye West says he's $53 million in debt — here's how he can get out of it

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Kanye West recently claimed that he's deep in personal debt after funding his various business endeavors.

$53 million is a lot — although frankly, it's not that much for someone of Kanye's level of wealth.

But Kanye has some options, explains John Gajkowski, a certified financial planner at Money Managers Financial:

1. He can earn it back.

Kanye has serious earning capacity. His Yeezus tour was the second-highest grossing of 2013, at $25 million. He also brought in $22 million last year and $30 million in 2014, Forbes reports.

The ease at which he could pay it off all depends on his career — "If he's on the upstroke of his career, it's far more manageable that if he's on his down-stroke," Gajkowski tells Business Insider.

Others agree that, based on his earning power, this isn't an unmanageable amount of debt for the rapper and entrepreneur.

At Forbes, Zach O'Malley Greenburg writes:

There's a relatively simple way for West to dig himself out of his financial hole, assuming he is indeed in one: touring. That's where the bulk of musicians' bucks are made these days, and West has a fresh project to promote. With a nightly average gross at $1.1 million according to Pollstar, West could bank tens of millions in just a few months on the road if he can keep costs under control.

And as Fred Schebesta, CEO of personal finance comparison and education site Finder.com, told Business Insider: "I can't see why he can't pay that back in 12 months' time. He could pay it off with one movie or one big endorsement contract."

Plus, thanks to his fame, Kanye may even be able to negotiate the $53 million down, Gajkowski says: "It depends what the debt is and who the debt is to, but he may be able to renegotiate some of these things to bring it down."

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2. He can declare bankruptcy.

"There's different ways he could file bankruptcy," explains Gajkowski. "He can file either chapter 11 or 13 bankruptcy. One being, I don't want to play any more — cash me out. And the other being, I want to restructure it, like Donald Trump did with his casinos and like the airlines have done when they've gotten into trouble."

Of course, with Kanye's earning potential, filing bankruptcy is probably not the route to go, Gajkowski notes. Rather, "Setting up a structured payment program with the people that he owes and working it down over the next year or two would make the most sense," he says.

Kanye seems to have a third option in mind: asking billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page for funds.

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