There are a ton of lifestyle related coaches out there nowadays, and it seems like anyone can become one. There are life coaches, relationship coaches, business coaches and of course money coaches. The two big differences between these types of coaches and say accredited advisers or counsellors is that you don’t have to have a PhD to become one and the industry is unregulated (at least in Canada and the U.S.).
As far as a money coach goes, at first I thought it was a scary idea to pay a fee for someone to look at your finances and give you advice when they weren’t a certified financial planner working for a bank or financial institution — but then again, maybe it’s not that scary after all?
Personally, I’ve never really trusted any of the professionals or advisers I’ve had to deal with at financial institutions. No matter how many times they explain how they are compensated or tell me that they have my best interests in mind, at the end of the day their job is to make their company money and to sell products. They are sales people first and advisers second.
On that note, even though they can provide advice on what to invest in and retirement planning, they don’t generally give you guidelines on the smaller things like budgeting, maximizing credit card rewards or tracking your spending or net worth on a regular basis. Moreover, although they are financial planners, you’ll never really know if they practice what they preach. I know for a fact that there are a ton of financial professionals out there who give advice, but are terrible when it comes to their own personal finances. I’d much rather take financial advice from someone who has found success through personal trial and error than someone who is just spewing what they learned at school.
Now, the reason I’ve been thinking about money coaching lately is because it was brought up in a off-record conversation with one of my upcoming podcast guests. We talked a bit about it as an idea for a side hustle and I told them that it was actually something I was thinking about pursuing a few years back. After almost 4 years of blogging about money, I am still just as passionate about personal finance as I was when I first started Mo’ Money Mo’ Houses. But at the time I wasn’t really confident that it was something I could pull off and so I eventually let that dream fade away. I figured I would need to go back to school and dedicate a huge portion of time to get the ball rolling, and I was more interested in pursuing my career in digital marketing.
Fast forward a few years and a lot has changed. I did end of going back to school, instead to hone my skills in digital marketing, and have now worked in that field for over a year. I’ve also successfully launched a personal finance podcast (something I also didn’t think I could pull off), and the more guests I talk to on the show, the more I realize it’s about time I looked back into becoming a money coach again.
There are so many inspirational personal finance bloggers out there who have come out with some great products and services, like Cait from Blonde on a Budget with her Mindful Budgeting program and Bridget from Money After Graduation with her Master Class Money and Debt Crushers courses, this just seems like the right time to do something new too.
I’ve always loved giving advice to my friends and family, only when they’ve asked of course, so I’m seriously considering working on a personalized money coaching program. Not only would it be on-brand alongside my personal finance blog and podcast, but what I’ve realized doing my podcast is that I really love talking to people one-on-one. I love learning about people’s money stories and would love even more to help out others who just need someone to give them a clear roadmap to reach their financial goals.
This all being said, I would really appreciate your feedback! This isn’t something I’d just start up right away, and I am actually considering completing a few courses through the Canadian Securities Institute to be as prepared as I can. I’d love to know what you think, especially if you’d trust a money coach who wasn’t a certified financial planner. Let me know in the comments!
(Image: Viktor Hanacek)
The post Would You Trust a Money Coach with Your Finances? appeared first on Mo' Money Mo' Houses by Jessica Moorhouse