Personal Finance
It’s not always ‘a sexy thing’ to be a millionaire: Brandon Copeland
Brandon Copeland
Copeland Media
Brandon Copeland is a former NFL linebacker turned coach. But the type of coaching he gravitates to isn’t in the realm of sports — it’s in personal finance.
The 33-year-old — who played for six teams across 10 seasons in the National Football League before retiring last year — started co-teaching a financial literacy course to undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, his alma mater, in 2019 while playing for the New York Jets.
The course, nicknamed “Life 101,” was inspired by his own experiences with money, according to “Professor Cope,” who is also a member of the CNBC Global Financial Wellness Advisory Board and co-founder of Athletes.org, the players’ association for college athletes.
Now, the Orlando resident has written a new book, “Your Money Playbook,” that reads as a football coach’s blueprint to winning the financial “game.” It touches on topics like budgeting, paying down debt, saving, estate planning and starting a side hustle. (Just don’t call it a “side hustle,” as he explains in the book.)
CNBC reached Copeland by phone to discuss his journey into financial education, why becoming a millionaire “is not a sexy thing” and how it helps to think in terms of Chipotle burritos.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
‘Put the money to work for you’
Greg Iacurci: What got you interested in teaching personal finance and financial literacy?
Brandon Copeland: Feeling unprepared for some of the major financial decisions in life. We go to school for all these years and we [learn] about the tangent of a 45-degree angle, but we don’t talk about appliances and how to buy them, or how to make sure you protect yourself when you’re renting your first apartment and what renters insurance is.
I always thought it was crazy that I had to make it to the Baltimore Ravens to learn what a 401(k) was. That was 2013, my rookie year. I learned what a 401(k) was when the NFL Players Association came and told us about the benefits you get for contributing.
Fast forward to December 2016: My wife and I, we bought our first house, in New Jersey. When we bought that house I was in Detroit playing for the Lions. My wife was at the closing table and she called me and [asked], “Hey, does everything look right on this?” They e-mailed me the closing documents; it was 100 pages and I had no idea what I was looking at. I could see the purchase price was the price that we agreed to, but then I saw all these other titles and warranty deeds and this and that. And I’m like, “I have no idea if I’m getting screwed right now.” One of my biggest fears being an NFL player has always been, somebody’s taking advantage of me.
GI: What do you think is the most important takeaway from your book?
BC: The power of growth. That was the big discovery for me as I started to make money. I had no idea that existed as a kid. I always tell people, you either put the money to work for you or you go to work the rest of your life for money.
There’s a lot of folks who are afraid of the [stock] market. And I’m like, well, everyone’s an investor. If you have a dollar to your name, you’re an investor. If you take your money, you put it under your mattress, you do nothing with it, you put it in a safe in the house: That’s an investment decision. That’s a 0% return. If you take your money, you put it in a regular checking account, that’s a 0.01% return. You put it into a high-yield savings account, it’s a 4% to 5% return. The stock market, you put it in an index fund, the S&P 500, that may be an average 9% to 10% return.
All of those are investment decisions, you just have to choose wisely. [People] can put their money to work for them and get out of the “rat race” at some point.
‘That’s a lot of Chipotle burritos’
GI: For someone who is just starting out — let’s say they have been hesitant to invest their money in the market — how would you suggest they get started?
BC: I think the first thing you’ve got to do is download the [financial news] apps — the CNBCs of the world, the MarketWatch, Yahoo Finance, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg — and turn on the notifications. Those notifications are starting to explain to you what is moving the market and why, and you’re starting to learn the language of money. Whether you choose to invest money or not, you’re at least starting to get comfortable with, “Oh, the market’s down today. Well, why?” I think that’s important to start to develop your stomach.
The other thing is, start to look at where [your] money is: What account your money is sitting in and how much is in those accounts. By doing that, you’re starting to look at your money from a 30,000-foot view. You can start to determine, “I have X amount of dollars over here in my traditional checking account. Maybe I can take some of that money and put it over into a high-yield savings account that is now giving me 4% interest on it annually. And by getting 4% interest on it annually, maybe that’s generating me $500 a year that I otherwise wouldn’t have had.” Now you’re starting to put yourself in the game of money. What is the limited amount of effort I can do and still be generating money on my behalf?
As a kid, if somebody said, “Hey, man, I’ll give you $500 to do nothing, to press two buttons,” you’d be like, “Sign me up!” I always break that down as, that’s a lot of Chipotle burritos, that’s a lot of dinners, that’s a lot of time with my family at the water park. By doing that, it makes it more of a priority for me to hurry up and make that investment decision.
Brandon Copeland
Copeland Media
GI: One of the first things that you encourage people to do in the book is say aloud to themselves, “I can be wealthy.” Why?
BC: In football, your money or your job can be taken away from you overnight or through an injury. A lot of times, as I was making money, I was always just kind of looking around the corner. Even to this day, I still think about it as if somebody can rip the rug out from under my feet. So I’m still sometimes in survival mode. I think that although you can be making money, there are still ways where you can have anxiety around money, your lifestyle and when you spend money — all those things.
Starting to have positive affirmations — “I deserve to be rich. I deserve to have money. I deserve to not be stressed about keeping the lights on. I can be wealthy. I can do this” — sometimes you’ve got to coach yourself on that. Because where else do you go get that positive affirmation that you can do it?
Doing those things over time not only reinforce positive connotations about yourself, but they also genuinely have a real effect on your mental wellness. It is really, really hard to walk out of the house and be a super productive human being in society when you don’t know if the doors will be locked or changed the next time you get there.
Why being a millionaire ‘is not a sexy thing’
GI: You write in the book that the journey of financial empowerment will require people to confront their “inner money myths.” What’s the most common myth around money that you hear?
BC: For lot of communities that I serve it’s, put your money in the bank.
GI: You mean keeping it in cash and not investing it?
BC: Exactly. I think it’s a myth because you put your money in the bank, and the bank goes out and invests your money: They invest it in other people’s projects, other people’s homes, and then get a rate of return on your money. Not to say banks are bad and saving is bad, [but] you’ve got to figure out at some point when can I get to the point where I can put my money to work for me?
I think that some of the myths are about whether wealth is for you or not. A lot of millionaires, it’s not a sexy thing. A lot of times you feel like you’ve got to go and create the next Instagram or Snapchat or TikTok in order to ever be wealthy, when really you’ve just got to make simple, consistent, disciplined decisions. That is the toughest thing in the world, to have delayed gratification or to subject yourself to delayed gratification.
I think a lot of times, we don’t prepare for the situation we will be in one day or could be in one day.
GI: How do you balance today versus tomorrow?
BC: I went to a school a couple weeks ago and [asked] the athletes there write out what they want their life to look like five years after graduation. By doing that and saying, “Hey, I want this with my life. I want it to look like this, and I want vacations to be like this,” now you can always look at what you’re actually doing and determine whether your current actions [are working toward] your future, the future things that you want for yourself.
I think a lot of us never spend the time write out what we actually want or to visualize what we actually want with life. And so you end up going to school, you go to college, and you’re there just to get a good job and make money, but you don’t really map out what that job is and what you like to do versus what you don’t like to do. You end up being just a pinball in life.
I literally put people in my life to help hold me accountable. The best way I’d say to balance between delayed gratification and enjoying where you are today is having those accountability buddies who can tell you straight up, “Hey, you’re slacking,” or “Hey, you’re doing a good job.” But you can also map out against your own goals and wants for yourself, and [ask], are my actions actually adding up to this?
GI: You write in the book that carrying high-interest debt, like credit card debt, and simultaneously investing is like putting the heat on high during the winter in Green Bay, Wisconsin, while also keeping the windows wide open. Can you explain?
BC: Sometimes folks are putting money in the market to try to get 6%, 9%, 10%, 12%, whatever, when they may be making the minimum payment on their credit card or no payment at all, which would be even worse, and they’re paying 18% [as an interest rate].
You are automatically locking in a losing scenario for yourself that you’re not going to be able to outpace.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday.
In what could be Jerome Powell’s last as chair before President Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-confirmed nominee Kevin Warsh takes the helm, central bankers maintained the federal funds rate in a target range of 3.5% to 3.75%.
Inflation has surged since the war with Iran began, leaving policymakers with limited room to act, according to Sean Snaith, the director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting. “We’re in a kind of suspended animation — between Iran and the Fed transition,” Snaith said.
Before the oil shock, inflation was holding above the Fed’s 2% target but not worsening. Now the jump in energy costs could have longer-term inflationary effects, economists say.
For Americans struggling in the face of higher gas prices and overall affordability challenges, the central bank’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged does little to ease budgetary pressures. “The cavalry isn’t coming anytime soon,” Snaith said.
How the Fed decision impacts you
The Fed’s benchmark sets what banks charge each other for overnight lending, but also has a trickle-down effect on many consumer borrowing and savings rates.
Short-term rates are more closely pegged to the prime rate, which is typically 3 percentage points above the federal funds rate. Longer-term rates, such as home loans, are more influenced by inflation and other economic factors.
Credit cards
Most credit cards have a short-term rate, so they track the Fed’s benchmark.
After the Fed cut rates three times in the second half of 2025, the average annual percentage rate has stayed just under 20%, according to Bankrate.
“Without Fed rate cuts, there’s not much reason to expect meaningful declines anytime soon, so carrying a balance will remain very expensive,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree.
Mortgage rates
Fixed mortgage rates, on the other hand, don’t directly track the Fed but typically follow the lead of long-term Treasury rates.
Concerns about how the Iran war will impact the U.S. economy have already pushed the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage up to 6.38% as of Tuesday, from 5.99% at the end of February, according to Mortgage News Daily.
That leaves homeowners with existing low mortgage rates “feeling stuck,” said Michele Raneri, vice president and head of U.S. research and consulting at TransUnion. “Mortgages, more than any other credit type, work on a churn,” she said, referring to how a dip in rates can boost borrowing activity.
Student loans
Federal student loan rates are also fixed and based in part on the 10-year Treasury note, so most borrowers are somewhat shielded from Fed moves and recent economic uncertainty.
Current interest rates on undergraduate federal student loans made through June 30 are 6.39%, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Interest rates for the upcoming school year will be based in part on the May auction of the 10-year note.
Car loans
Auto loan rates are tied to several factors, including the Fed’s benchmark. Because financing costs remain elevated, new car buyers are taking on longer loans to keep their monthly payments manageable, according to the latest data from Edmunds.
Even so, with the rate on a five-year new car loan near 7%, the average monthly payment on a new car rose to $773 in the first quarter of 2026, an all-time high.
“Car buyers are in a tough spot right now because they’re getting squeezed from both ends: high sticker prices and high interest rates, with neither showing any signs of letting up,” said Joseph Yoon, consumer insights analyst at Edmunds.
“Until the rate picture shifts, buyers will keep stretching loan terms to make payments work, which only adds to the total cost of ownership down the road,” Yoon said.
Savings rates
While the Fed has no direct influence on deposit rates, the yields tend to be correlated with changes in the target federal funds rate. So, although rates on certificates of deposit and high-yield savings accounts have fallen from recent highs, they are holding above the annual rate of inflation.
For now, top-yielding online savings accounts and one-year CD rates pay around 4%, according to Bankrate.
“Yields on high-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit are down from their peaks of a few years ago, but they’re still strong compared to what we’ve seen for most of the past decade,” Schulz said.
Milan Markovic | E+ | Getty Images
The average tax refund is 11.2% higher this season, compared with about the same period in 2025, according to the latest IRS filing data.
As of April 10, the average refund amount for individual filers was $3,397, up from $3,055 about one year ago, the IRS reported on Friday.
The IRS data reflects about 114 million individual returns received, out of about 164 million expected through Tax Day. Next week’s filing update is expected to include data through the April 15 deadline.
President Donald Trump‘s 2025 legislation, rebranded to the “working families tax cuts,” was a key talking point for Republicans on Tax Day.
With the November midterm elections approaching and Republicans defending slim majorities in Congress, many GOP lawmakers have highlighted Trump’s tax breaks and higher average refunds.
Meanwhile, affordability has been top of mind for many Americans amid rising costs of gas, electricity, food and other living expenses.
For filers who expected a refund this season, nearly one-quarter, or 23%, planned to use the funds to pay down credit card debt, and the same share said they would save the payment, according to the CNBC and SurveyMonkey Quarterly Money Survey, released in April. It polled 3,494 U.S. adults at the end of March.
Who benefited from Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’
“It’s been a great tax season for the American people,” many of whom have benefited from Trump’s tax breaks, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a White House press briefing on Wednesday.
More than 53 million filers claimed at least one of Trump’s “signature new tax cuts” — the deductions for tip income, overtime earnings, seniors and auto loan interest — the Department of the Treasury also announced on Wednesday.
Those filers, who claimed the deductions on Schedule 1-A, have seen an average tax cut of over $800, according to the Treasury. Tax cuts can trigger a higher refund or reduce taxes owed, depending on the filer’s situation.
Some filers who itemize tax breaks have also seen benefits from the bigger federal deduction limit for state and local taxes, known as SALT. Trump’s legislation raised that cap to $40,000, up from $10,000, for 2025.
The latest SALT deduction limit change is expected to primarily benefit higher earners, according to a May 2025 analysis of various proposals from the Tax Foundation.
The Treasury has not released data on how many filers have claimed the SALT deduction during the 2026 filing season.
Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on April 16, 2026.
NYSE
U.S. stocks climbed to record highs on Thursday against a backdrop of war, an oil supply shock and economic forecasts warning of stunted growth amid a protracted conflict.
Many investors may be thinking: Why?
Largely, it’s because the stock market is a barometer of what investors think will happen in the future, rather than an assessment of the present day, according to economists and market analysts.
Investors are essentially shrugging off the Middle East conflict as a blip that will be resolved relatively quickly, they said.
“The stock market isn’t trying to price what’s happening today,” said Joe Seydl, a senior markets economist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. “The stock market is always trying to price what the world is going to look like six to 12 months from now.”
Why stocks have been ‘resilient’
The S&P 500, a U.S. stock index, fell about 8% in the initial weeks of the Iran war, from the start of the conflict on Feb. 28 to a recent low on March 30.
But stocks have rebounded since then, erasing all losses since the beginning of the war. The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on Thursday — about 11% higher than its nadir at the end of March. That followed a record close on Wednesday.
“The market has remained very resilient in the face of the war and has rallied strongly on the prospect that it will be resolved,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s.
A ship waits to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following the two-week temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran, which is conditional on the opening of the strait, in Oman on April 8, 2026.
Shady Alassar | Anadolu | Getty Images
And while investors cheered the possibility of a diplomatic off-ramp to the conflict, the temporary ceasefire has appeared tenuous, with the U.S. and Iran each accusing the other of breaking the agreement.
Nations haven’t been able to reach a peace deal ahead of the ceasefire’s end. Vice President JD Vance said U.S. officials left peace talks in Pakistan over the weekend after the Iranian delegation refused to agree to American demands not to develop a nuclear weapon.
The markets ‘have memory’
Ultimately, the stock market is signaling a collective belief that tensions will ratchet down, the war will end in the near term and oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz will normalize, economists said.
That’s largely because investors have been conditioned to believe that President Donald Trump will back off if the economic pain becomes too intense, economists said — the so-called “TACO” trade, shorthand for “Trump always chickens out.”
“Investors strongly believe — and have been conditioned to believe — he’s going to stand down, find a way to pivot, declare victory and move on,” Zandi said.
Trump has pushed back on the notion of backing down, framing his brinkmanship as a savvy negotiating tactic.
Economists pointed to a recent example of this dynamic: in April 2025 during so-called liberation day, when the Trump administration levied a host of tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
Within days — after the stock market had cratered more than 12% — Trump announced a 90-day pause on those tariffs. Stocks then saw one of their biggest daily rallies in history following Trump’s reversal.
Investors remember that Trump often de-escalates geopolitical shocks — which is why they’ve seized on positive headlines that hint at progress in peace talks, for example, Seydl said.
“The markets have memory,” Seydl said.
AI stocks and the ‘tech boom’
Traders celebrating at the New York Stock Exchange on April 15, 2026, as the S&P 500 closed above the 7,000 level for the first time.
NYSE
There are other factors underpinning market resilience during wartime, economists said.
One is the investors’ enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and technology stocks, which account for almost half of the S&P 500’s market capitalization, Zandi said.
“Those stocks run on their own dynamic independent of anything, including the war in Iran,” Zandi said. “I think we would have been down a lot more and it would have been harder for us to recover had it not been for the very, very optimistic perspectives on AI.”
We’re in the middle of a “tech boom” — and investors are likely to remain optimistic until they think the tech cycle has run its course, Seydl said.
More broadly, stock investors are essentially making a bet on the future earnings growth of a company — and the earnings backdrop has been “pretty solid,” Seydl said.
Consumer spending appears to be stable, for example, economists said. And companies are getting a boost to their after-tax earnings from the GOP’s so-called “big beautiful bill,” which, among other things, made it easier to write off investments upfront and therefore reduce their tax liability, Zandi said.
Going forward
Experts said there will be an economic hit from the Iran war, though.
“Despite the recent news of a temporary ceasefire, some damage is already done, and the downside risks remain elevated,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, director of research at the International Monetary Fund, wrote Tuesday.
A protracted conflict risks deep and global economic pain, he wrote.
Even if the conflict is short-lived — as the broad market expects — stocks are unlikely to march much higher until it’s clear the U.S. is on the other side of the war and its economic fallout, Zandi said.
If investors are incorrect, and President Trump doesn’t back down or quickly extricate the U.S. from the war, the stock market may see a “full-blown correction” or worse, Zandi said. A stock market correction is a decline of at least 10% from recent highs.
“Everyone thinks they know what the script is,” Zandi said. “Now they just need to follow the script. If they don’t, the market will have some real problems.”
The uncertainty provides yet another example of why the average investor with a long time horizon should stick to their investment plan and ignore the noise, experts said.
“Trying to time the market is very difficult if not impossible for the average investor,” Seydl said. “It’s better to take a long-term perspective and ride out bouts of volatility.”
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