What is the difference between coaching and advice?
Who benefits from coaching?
My clients come from many walks of life, however I especially work with successful, mid-career professionals who want to feel as confident about their finances as they are in other areas of their lives.
These are smart, capable people who have realised that for whatever reason they aren’t managing their money as well as they would expect. This can be due to personal or family history or changes in circumstances such as an inheritance, divorce, rapid promotions, or other career changes. It can also just come from a lack of financial education in childhood, which has left them “muddling through” instead of consciously planning.
A person doesn’t have to be primarily driven by money to feel the value of financial empowerment. In fact, knowing that their finances are sorted allows my clients to put money in it’s right place in their lives and focus on what really matters.
What issues can coaching overcome?
Each client’s issues are a unique combination of the emotional and the practical. This is just a small sample:
I have a good income, but my credit card debts just keep rising. Help me stop overspending.
I have an inheritance and I feel weird about touching it because it doesn’t really feel like my money. Help me work out how to decide what to do next.
My partner and I love each other, but we find ourselves arguing about money and it’s damaging our relationship. Help us get on the same page when it comes to this important area of our lives.
I am beginning to receive increasingly generous annual bonuses. I want to make a plan so I use these for my long term goals, instead of wasting them.
I have a complicated relationship with a family member who makes lavish gifts one month and then asks to borrow money another. How can I balance the emotional and financial aspects of this relationship?
My income varies significantly month to month and that makes budgeting difficult. How can I stop having good months and bad months?
““I’ve been singing your praises. Money coaching... everyone should do it.””
What happens in coaching?
Coaching sessions are led by my client’s priorities. Each session begins with a progress review and then the we work on whatever is uppermost in my client’s mind at that time.
During the sessions I use a range of tools including reframing challenges and sticking points, powerful questions to uncover deeper motivations, mind-mapping, creative exercises, games, self-assessment quizzes, and visualisations.
I may also explain financial concepts and jargon in plain English, or ideas from psychology, which clients may find useful in overcoming the challenges that they are facing.
The point is always to help clients build their confidence, skills and motivation to run their financial lives in the best ways for them.
After each session there will be a set of actions to complete. This may include must-do priority actions and nice-to-have bonus actions. Actions may be practical, such as looking up the date when a promotional interest rate ends, or mindset related, such as journaling about “my best financial decisions”.
It is very important that you make time to complete these actions or you will not feel the real benefit our work. It’s a good idea to set aside at least 30 minutes a week for this.
What about the logistics?
Most coaching is done online via Zoom, although face to face sessions are possible by arrangement, especially if you are based on London. Sessions are booked and paid in advance using my online booking system.
Before the first session I ask clients to complete a questionnaire, which helps me get an overview of their areas of concern, as well as a financial statement covering their usual monthly income and outgoings, assets and debts.
I begin all coaching with a two-hour initial session, so I can really get to know you, your motivations and goals. After this we will arrange one-hour follow up sessions weekly, fortnightly or monthly depending on what will work best for you. Monthly sessions allow more time to practice and integrate what has been discussed. More frequent sessions provide greater accountability helping to sustain motivation and momentum.
Experience has taught me it’s best for clients to begin with a minimum booking of five hours in order to have enough time and support to make a meaningful change. That is to say, one session of two hours and three follow-up sessions of one hour each.
While I do allow clients to book sessions singly, typically those who do so make less progress and have a less enjoyable experience.
I use an secure online system to store coaching notes, links and resources and share a private link with each client to their personal section so that they can keep, refer to, add to and edit these between sessions.
Do you work couples?
Yes! I enjoy working with couples as well as individuals. It’s very rewarding helping couples to navigate their connected financial lives, preventing or mitigating conflict, and supporting them to achieve their goals together.
One thing to note is that it’s important that both parties are committed to the coaching process. If one person is enthusiastic about coming to coaching, while the other is just doing it for a quiet life, it is much less likely to be successful.
If you are thinking of pressuring your partner to attend financial coaching because you don’t like the way they manage their money and think “they need to be taught to do things properly”, I’m probably not a good fit for you both.
My role isn’t to tell someone that they are doing things wrong, it’s to find their strengths and the approaches that will work for them and build on that. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for money management and I am not going to judge or take anyone’s side in a coaching conversation.
Couples coaching is most successful when each person:
Approaches each issue with an open mind, aware that their partner may have reasons for what they do, which they themselves may not fully understand or may have struggled to communicate.
Seeks a win-win solution to each challenge and prioritises the health of the relationship over being “right” or “winning” on any specific point.
Accepts that there are many different ways to accomplish financial goals, and that sometimes what looks like the rationally “best” way is not practical or sustainable for everyone in every context.
Balances this with expressing where a particular issue is important to them, so that each partner understands the other’s needs and priorities. That way resentments don’t build up due to unspoken and unmet expectations.
Accepts the possibility that they may have made mistakes or caused hurt in spite of good intentions, and makes a good faith effort to understand their partners point of view instead of dismissing this or jumping to defend their actions.
Accepts responsibility for past mistakes and seeks ways to proactively prevent future issues individually and together.
Is ready to make time between sessions to complete any actions they have agreed to in the session.
Remembers that having different habits and attitudes to money from your partner can be a strength in the relationship. When you are communicating well, the sources of conflict often become the ways in which you best complement and balance each other.
“Thank you so much for our chat this morning. Both M & I found it immensely helpful.”
Can I pay for someone else’s coaching?
Yes! It’s quite common for a parent, spouse, or even an employer to pay for my clients’ coaching for them. This person or entity is usually referred to as the client’s ‘sponsor’.
I also work with clients who are claiming the DWP’s Access to Work grant money to cover the cost of their coaching (for example, for clients who have a diagnosis of ADHD, autism or another neurodiversity and find that their challenges managing money affect their ability to do their jobs).
If you are considering sponsoring another person’s coaching, please remember that the client-coach relationship remains the same as it would be if the client were paying for their own coaching.
Fundamentally, the client is the expert in their own life and coaching is the process of supporting them to accomplish their own personal goals by the methods that work best for them individually. This doesn’t change when a sponsor covers the cost of the coaching.
Paying for someone else’s coaching means accepting that they may choose to work towards goals that are not the same as yours, using systems and methods that are different from those you would have chosen.
If you are sponsoring someone’s coaching in the hopes that they will make specific changes to how they manage their money, this will only happen if the client is equally and genuinely, enthusiastically committed to making those same changes. Sponsored coaching is not a tool for forcing change on another person.
Related to this is the fact that client-coach confidentiality doesn’t change because a sponsor is paying for the coaching. The client may chose to disclose what has been discussed during coaching, or they may prefer to keep it private. This is their decision. I will not disclose the contents of a coaching session to any third party unless I have a legal obligation to do so or unless I have the client’s explicit consent.
As long as everyone is happy and comfortable with this arrangement, sponsored coaching can work brilliantly and my clients who have received sponsored sessions have made fantastic progress towards their goals.
Sponsors can pay me directly (through my booking system or by requesting an invoice), may request receipts and refund the client for sessions booked, or may choose to give the money for the sessions to the client who will then book and pay me. I can provide estimates and/or pro forma invoices to facilitate this process.
What’s the charge?
Pre-paid blocks of five hours coaching or more are charged at £100 per hour. That’s to say an initial investment of £500.
Typically, clients whose goals include reducing overspending, saving more and/or getting out of debt, take actions within the first two sessions that save them over £500.
If you choose to book sessions singly, these will be charged at £120 per hour.
A limited number of low cost or pro bono sessions may be available.