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Former NFL player Brandon Copeland drew from his own financial experience to create "Life 101," a course at the University of Pennsylvania that addresses all of the financial decisions the average person needs to make. On the latest episode of Financial Freestyle with Ross Mac, Copeland discusses three financial literacy principles that he says everyone can incorporate into their lives.

Copeland's first piece of advice is to learn the language of money. He recommends keeping up with financial news, including sites like Yahoo Finance, and turning on phone notifications to see what the markets are doing. "Just by osmosis over time, you're [going to] start to pick up things that now you'll double-click into and learn and read about more."

Second, he says to create a budget that allows for life's changes. He compares a good budget to a game plan in football, saying, "by sitting down creating a budget, you are also giving yourself the opportunity and the space to create a game plan for where you [want to] save up next and where you want to make cuts to next, as well."

Third, Copeland advises people to pay down debt before they start investing. While he acknowledges that "the pressure of debt can seem overwhelming and at times, I'm sure insurmountable," he says those who skip to investing and don't pay down debt, "have no chance of keeping up and creating the, the lifestyle that you want."

Listen to the full episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.

For expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch more Financial Freestyle.

This post was written by Meredith Lawrence.