What is a Financial Coach and why you need one

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If you’ve never heard of a Financial Coach, you’re not alone!

Financial Coaching or Money Coaching is a relatively new profession that many people don’t know anything about.

Honestly, I didn’t know what one was until a few years ago (and I am a Money Coach)!

Looking back, my husband James and I have been helping people with their money for over 15 years without the title “Financial Coach.”

James & Amberlee at a Financial Coach Seminar

What a Financial Coach isn’t

Most people think of a Financial Advisor when they hear Financial/Money Coach. Financial Advisors help their clients with their investment portfolios, not their day-to-day financial lives.

Financial advisors are usually affiliated with a certain company or product. While they may charge for advice or planning services, they often make their fees from the sale of financial products.

Source: betterup.com

As a coach, we do not sell you any products or insurances. We’re 100% here to help you move forward like never before on your financial journey. I love that we are able to help our clients with THEIR best interest in mind. We will never pressure anyone to buy or sign up for anything.

We know that sharing your financial life with anyone is downright scary. It’s like opening the back curtain to your real life. Being vulnerable with your finances can be a challenge. We’re used to keeping our financial life to ourselves (and stressing about it in silence). Our goal is to truly help you with no-strings attached. There will be no surprise pitch to buy insurance or invest in a certain product, I promise!

We don’t manage investments

Money Coaches do not handle your investments like a Financial Advisor does. We help our clients free up money, so they are able to invest consistently every month. Sounds great, right?!

Truthfully, we do the job that most Financial Advisors don’t like. Most advisors love the investment side and keeping up with the latest stock-market trends, not the practical, day-to-day behaviors of managing money. And that, my friend, is our jam.

If you’re looking for a Financial Advisor, we will help equip you to know what to look for when deciding which advisor would be the best fit. Personally, we have a Financial Advisor to help us with our investments. If you don’t know where to start, we have several Financial Advisors that we can refer you to.

We’re like a personal trainer for your money

The easiest way to understand what a Money Coach does is this: we’re like a personal trainer for your money. A personal trainer meets with their clients individually, gets to know them, their lifestyle, what has worked in the past and what hasn’t. They create a custom plan, provide accountability, and share their expertise to help their clients reach their health and fitness goals.

People hire a personal trainer when they want to get results fast and not waste any time in the process. Maybe they’ve tried everything, and they’re not getting the results they want, so they hire a fitness coach. Having accountability and a custom plan that is tailored for them makes all the difference!

We do the same thing, but with money.

A financial coach wouldn’t be able to help you with strength-training guidance or bullet-journaling techniques, but they can provide you with strategies to organize your finances, so you can make wise decisions in the future.

Source: nerdwallet.com

Financial coaching gives clients the accountability they need, the tools and processes to help them reach their financial goals, and expert advice along the way.

Misconceptions about Financial Coaches:

Many think that the people who hire Financial Coaches are those who are near bankrupcy or in a major financial crisis, but that just isn’t true. Most of our clients from an outsider’s perspective are doing well, but internally they are stressed about their current financial life and their financial future.

They keep saying to themselves, “I shouldn’t be this stressed about money.” They typically have good paying jobs, but they never seem to have enough or be able to get ahead. Many of our clients are debt-free except their home, but they feel financial pressure. They are worried about not being prepared for the upcoming years and their future retirement.

Many of our clients hire us because they’ve tried to do this on their own, and they just aren’t getting the results they want. They’ve read books, blogs, and tried all the budgeting apps, yet they’re still stressed out about money and not making the financial progress they want.

There are crazy amounts of financial information out in the world. There are countless books, blogs, and resources out there, yet people are not in a better financial position. What people need is personalized expert help and accountability from someone they can trust, and that’s what we do as Money Coaches.

Financial Coaching isn’t for everyone

Every person on the planet could benefit from coaching. The reality? Some people don’t want financial help of any kind. They don’t want to change what they are currently doing. Many people feel like they’ll always be in debt or be bad with money. If someone has this kind of belief, they are unlikely to hire someone to help them.

Not everyone hires a personal trainer, because some people don’t have that as a high value or a priority. In the same way, people who don’t want to change their financial lives won’t be looking to hire a Financial Coach.

Coaching is NOT right for you if…

  • you aren’t coachable
  • you don’t want to change
  • you want to get rich quick
  • you don’t put in the work
  • you don’t show up

Coaching IS for you if…

  • you’re tired of treading water with your finances and getting nowhere
  • you want to have a safety net of savings, but you never seem to be able to make that happen
  • you think and stress about money way more than you’d like
  • you want to be prepared to retire someday, but you also want to enjoy life right now
  • you’ve tried just eating rice and beans, and that just didn’t work
  • you make good money, but have nothing to show for it
  • you want to be able to be a stay-at-home parent or homeschooling parent and still live comfortably

Next Steps:

James and I started Rich Living Coaching together because we know that when we help someone with their money, it has an insane ripple effect. Our clients are less stressed and are able to show up better for their job, their family, their spouse, their friends, and themselves. Money touches every area of our lives and is tied to everything.

Money isn’t just about numbers. Emotions and behaviors directly affect how someone manages their money. This is why we take a holistic approach, and don’t just talk about numbers. When you focus just on the numbers, you end up getting on a financial diet that isn’t sustainable (and not fun).

We help our clients discover their financial values, and line up their spending, saving, and investing with what matters to them. This makes it so much easier to fund what you love and cut financial waste. When our clients do this, they are able to enjoy their money with no guilt or shame. They can fund trips they’ve been dreaming of, tackle their debt, be able to stay home with their kids, pay off their home early, have more family time, and so much more.

One-on-one Coaching with us will change your financial life AND your whole life. If you know Coaching would be helpful for you, schedule a FREE Q&A Session with us. We’ll ask you some questions to help you discover what is really going on in your current financial life and how we can help you in the process. This is the first step on your journey of experiencing JOY with your money!

Written By Amberlee Rich

Amberlee is a Money Coach, content creator, podcaster, and avid reader who is passionate about intentional living. She's a recovering couponing addict and aims to help others break free from survival mode. With her husband, James, they're certified financial coaches and have been helping people experience joy with their money for over 15 years.

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