Brandon Copeland, a linebacker with the New York Jets, believes in saving and spending wisely. Nearly 60 percent of his post-tax revenue is going closer to “safe, lengthy-time period” investments, 30 percent goes in the direction of financial savings, and he lives off what’s left. He doesn’t claim to be a non-public finance expert. However, he teaches what he’s learned to undergraduates at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. Here he talks about non-public finance and the class he leads.
Q: Early on in your NFL career, you traded stock alternatives and flipped homes in Detroit at the aspect. Why jump to non-public finance education now
A: Something I’ve constantly wanted to do is to make monetary understanding public and available. Whether I’m speakme to my own family and buddies about making an investment or teaching college students approximately Roth IRAs, the goal is to make the records available and humble, not overwhelming.
Q: College college students don’t seem like the most receptive crowd for retirement planning. Where do you begin?
A: You’d be surprised! These things are probably a ways off, and it isn’t easy to care approximately a selection that’s years away, but all the college students realize they’ll cope with it in the end. We begin with budgeting — understanding each dollar you have got coming in and going out. People are stunned to peer how a whole lot they’re spending on little things that pile up.
The different aspects we do, which will be uncomfortable, have college students interview their dad and mom or mentors approximately their budget. However, it’s no longer smooth after they follow what we’re speakme approximately in class to their lives; it makes it actual, and that they begin to pay attention.
Q: You’re a professional athlete. How does that translate to the study room?
A: Personal finance is a lot like non-public fitness. When issues come up, we tend to push them to the side and hope they depart. But for health and finances, I think you have to attack your troubles. That’s something you learn as an athlete: When you assault injuries with therapy, you beat them. Personal finance is a talent, and talents need to be practiced.
Q: But don’t plenty of athletes make numerous terrible money decisions? How do you manage that belief?
A: You listen about athletes blowing their money, but it’s no longer athlete-precise trouble; it’s a wellknown populace trouble. It’s information when we blow our money due to the fact our salaries are in the information. But anybody is struggling with private finance control problems.
