4 steps to make your money 'your employee': Fmr. NFL player Brandon Copeland

Less than half of US adults consider themselves financially disciplined as more Americans identify inflation as one of the biggest challenges to their finances, according to a Northwestern Mutual study. Life 101 Founder-CEO and former NFL Player Brandon Copeland sits down with Brad Smith to speak about how to build up financial security while saving for a more comfortable future.

"And at the end of the day, I always say, you got to make money your employee — put your money to work for you or you'll always have to work for money," Copeland shares. "So, that's investing, that's retirement accounts, that's a number of different strategies, but you have to become the bank and start to manage your money in a way where you are playing puppet master, so to speak, and trying to get returns on it."

Speaking from experience from his NFL career, Copeland discusses how he learned to become more conscious of where his money is going, including when to say "No" to the people around him, becoming an active day trader, and planning for the future in case of life events like injuries.

"The worst financial decision I ever made was just being complacent. When I came into the NFL, I was day trading, and I would day trade every single day," Copeland, who also teaches these same lessons and more as a University of Pennsylvania professor, says on the greatest mistakes he's learned the most from. "And literally there'd be times I would buy Nike call options and I go into meetings, I look around, and everybody
is wearing Under Armor that day for some reason, I'm like 'You know what, I need to sell out of this."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!

Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

BRAD SMITH: Well, a new study by Northwestern Mutual reveals one third of Americans do not feel financially secure. That is a 5% jump from the prior year, and the highest level of insecurity in this study's decade plus history. Over half of Americans cite inflation as the greatest obstacle to financial security. And to top it off, only 45% of US adults consider themselves disciplined financial planners, a drop of 20% from 2020.

Joining me on set to talk about financial planning and security is Brandon Copeland, the founder of Life 101 and CEO of Athletes.org. And author of the upcoming book, "Your Money Playbook." Great to have you here on set with us. Thanks so much for taking the time.

BRANDON COPELAND: Great to be here. I appreciate you having me.

BRAD SMITH: Certainly. So we got to talk about this study because I mean, it certainly seems in terms of financial planning, there is a lot of insecurity that people still have right now. As you think about and as you even help people with some of their life coaching and financial planning now too, what is step 1 that you tell them?

BRANDON COPELAND: Yeah. First and foremost, you've got to identify your why and create a budget. Create a plan. As a football player, an athlete, we went in every single week with a plan, a plan to stop Patrick Mahomes. A plan-- as much as you tried to stop Patrick.

BRAD SMITH: You try, yeah.

BRANDON COPELAND: But you had a plan, right? And I think that first and foremost, a lot of us go into this battle of reaching financial freedom without a plan. It's let me make as much money as possible, let me get another job, right? But you haven't figured out where you could be losing money because you haven't gotten all your affairs in order.

So first and foremost, creating a plan. I think after that, building up an emergency fund is huge, right? A lot of people talk about it. But having that safety net and that safety cushion gives you the ability to-- weather a storm, right? You can have all the plans in the world, but lives and life happens.

And then you can hurt yourself if you don't have that emergency fund built. Third, I would make sure you're paying off any bad debt, right? Prioritize it, hustle, and make sure that is off of your shoulders and not a burden to you for too much longer. And then at the end of the day, I always say you got to make money your employee.

Put your money to work for you or you always have to work for money. And so that's investing, that's retirement accounts, that's a number of different strategies, but you have to eventually become the bank and start to manage your money in a way where you are playing puppetmaster, so to speak, and trying to get returns on it.

BRAD SMITH: No. That's great advice. And when you think about the NFL player on average versus those of us out here in the workforce, it's a different type of scale but there's a lot of other costs that you factor in along the way as well. Walk us through that push and pull where you think about the earnings that you were able to have and how you go about stretching those over time as well.

BRANDON COPELAND: Yeah. So I mean, specifically from an NFL player as you mentioned, one, first world problems, we are able to be paid like a king, as some folks have said, to play a child's sport. And so that's amazing. However, there are also a lot of costs and things that come with that. For me, I live in 6-- really 7 different places over 10 years. That's new leases, that's new apartments, that's new furniture.

BRAD SMITH: From team to team.

BRANDON COPELAND: From team to team. Right. It's part of the job. I also think that there's, obviously, a target on your back as well too, where you get a lot of people coming after you who some mean well and have great intentions with your money but some are sales people, right? And they're hoping that you don't have focus on what they're doing with your money. So you have to bat that away.

And then the final thing that I don't want to say hurts a lot of players but a dynamic that people have to think about. And it's true for a lot of people. It's just we're under a microscope so you see it more often. But we have family members and parents and really new family members. I got new cousins that I never even met or heard of.

BRAD SMITH: You pop out of the woodworks.

BRANDON COPELAND: Yeah. And they have stories, right? And you know, when you-- I've had random Venmo requests right now. And for people's tuition and books and things of that nature which, again, it pulls at your heartstrings but you have to build up-- all of us have to build up the ability to prioritize ourselves and say, no.

BRAD SMITH: Yeah. In that prioritization of self, it's interesting, while we're talking about the earnings for athletes, what is-- and there's that windfall kind of like right out of the gate. You get drafted and perhaps there's that first check. It clears, it hits the direct deposit.

BRANDON COPELAND: Yes.

BRAD SMITH: But then there are a lot of people who might make the worst financial mistake at that juncture. What is the worst financial decision that you ever made? And how is it a lesson for others?

BRANDON COPELAND: Oh. So the worst financial decision I ever made was just being complacent. When I came into the NFL, I was day trading. And I would day trade every single day and literally there would be times I'd buy Nike call options and I'd go into meetings and I'd look around and everybody's wearing Under Armour that day for some reason. I'm like, you know what? I need to sell out of this. Coach, I got to go to the bathroom, right?

It's probably why I didn't start as great as I would have liked to start in the NFL. But I think by having success day trading for my first year, I got to the point where I thought that it was natural. It was going to happen regardless. And by doing that, I took one of the biggest losses in my own career by trading Nike call options before the end of the year.

And at that time, Greece, there were geopolitical tensions going on over in Greece and the whole market was down. So didn't understand leverage and how to manage my risk appropriately. So that's my biggest financial mistake. I'm sure there's a number of others. I'm going to make more mistakes. Newsflash. But that's what happens when you're trying. Steph Curry is still missing shots but he's still taking them.

BRAD SMITH: That's right indeed. And then just lastly while we have you. I mean, you talk about budgeting for the future beyond sports as well. There are a lot of injuries that athletes have to think about and how they maintain their body, even after that time on the field or on the pitch or on the court after that ends. How have you gone about doing that? Where do you even act as a support system for some of the other athletes out there and letting them know how you're going about it.

BRANDON COPELAND: Yeah. I think when you are an athlete, your job is your body. Right? That is your largest asset. And so you take care of it. Most of us take care of it with like, extreme measure. Whether that's what you're putting into it, that's how you're treating it, and the rehab and the prehab and all those things you do.

And so for me over the last 10 years in the NFL, all of the rehab equipment I was purchasing which in my mind I was like, you know, I'll spend more money here to have this machine at home so that I can spend more time on it so that it may give me one extra game, then it pays for itself. But now, continuing to use that stuff, right?

Like, a lot of us we get off the bandwagon, and I fell victim to that as well too. I got off the bandwagon. And for the first time in 24 years, I didn't have to work out. And in 10 years, I wasn't fined if I didn't show up to a workout, right? So I stopped working out. But you got to continue to take care of your biggest asset as if you're going to play again on Sunday because it's going to pay off for you in the long run. So stacking up all that rehab equipment and making sure that you don't forget that you are an athlete even if you're not suiting up for the Baltimore Ravens this week.

BRAD SMITH: There is a Health is Wealth conversation and an entire segment, and perhaps an entire show or week's special within that. We got to leave it there for today though. Brandon Copeland, founder of Life 101 and author. Check out the book there. We got it on screen. Upcoming book, "Your Money Playbook." Thanks so much for taking the time. And see you.

BRANDON COPELAND: Thank you for having me, Brad.

BRAD SMITH: Appreciate it. Definitely.